Nebraska football stock report after win over Michigan State

Heading into the first Big Ten road game of the season, Nebraska football is 4-1. The Huskers are 1-1 in the Big Ten with two key road games on tap: Maryland and Minnesota.

Before we look ahead to Maryland, though, let’s look back again at the 38-27 win over Michigan State.

Despite scoring 38 points, the offense only managed 260 yards. It failed to cash in on some turnovers, and Dylan Raiola was sacked five times. However, the wind was a factor. The defense held Michigan State to 240 yards and forced three turnovers.

Nebraska was also nearly perfect on special teams, outside of a failed fake punt. All of those factors contributed to a key win, and here is the stock report after Week 6.

Stock up

Williams Nwaneri

The former five-star recruit is starting to figure it out. He had five tackles, two solos, and 1.5 tackles for loss, plus 1.5 sacks. He’s becoming a guy who can make plays on all three downs.

Nwaneri earned his Blackshirt recently. He’s also become a fixture on the defensive line, which is a great sign for Nebraska football moving forward.

For those wondering about the coaching skills of Terry Bradden — so far, so good. Nwaneri has the talent of a first-round pick, and he’s starting to flash even earlier than expected.

Elijah Pritchett

The Alabama transfer is officially the starting left tackle. He didn’t win the job fresh out of camp, but got the start against Michigan State. He was atop the depth chart released on Monday.

Pritchett was graded as the top offensive player for Nebraska, according to Pro Football Focus, in the win over Michigan State. He had some mental gaffes early in the season. However, he seems past that.

Even if he’s not, he’s clearly the best blindside protector on the roster.

DeShon Singleton

The senior had a huge impact on the game for the Huskers with two interceptions and two pass breakups. Four plays on the ball in one game is stellar. Singleton also had five tackles (3 solo). Rex Guthrie has been working his way into the lineup more, but it won’t be at the expense of Singleton.

Not if he keeps playing like he did against the Spartans.

Stock Down

RB2

The coaching staff talked about RB2 during the week, then nothing happened. Mekhi Nelson got one carry for 11 yards against Michigan State. Isaiah Mozee got three carries for nine yards. Kwinten Ives was MIA.

There weren’t any new wrinkles or anything “we haven’t seen before,” as the coaching staff alluded to. I can’t put my finger on what they were talking about.

Yet, four attempts for 20 yards from the backups isn’t really cutting it. It would be nice to see what they could do with more, but the staff just hasn’t been willing to go there.

Emmett Johnson is damn good. That’s one reason. He just needs to last 12 games. Maybe more.

Dasan McCullough

It was probably just an off day, but McCullough wasn’t very good against the Spartans. He gave up the edge on one of Aidan Chiles’ touchdown runs. He also didn’t get much pressure, despite Michigan State having a backup playing left tackle.

He was graded in the middle of the pack on defense, according to Pro Football Focus (63.1). I just expected a bigger impact. McCullough has been good at times, but disappears for too long, which happened again on Saturday.