Be like Bud

Nebraska’s defense is cooking and the return game has juice. Now the goal is to carry that through HCU before the conference curtain rises.

Photo by Erin Sorensen

Nebraska’s season is only two weeks old but the calendar has already circled a date in red ink: Sept. 20 against Michigan. The Wolverines lost at Oklahoma on Saturday and coach Sherrone Moore will be suspended when they arrive in Lincoln. Opportunity is suddenly staring at Matt Rhule’s program.

But the Huskers can’t skip ahead. Not after what happened last year, when a Week 2 high against Colorado turned into a month-long struggle to regain momentum. The challenge this week is to keep Houston Christian from becoming a distraction.

Saturday’s game against the Huskies should be a mismatch. HCU plays in a 5,000-seat stadium, has never produced a winning season at the Division I level and just lost at Eastern Kentucky. Nebraska will enter as heavy favorites. 

Still, how the Huskers handle this assignment says something about whether they’re built to take advantage of the window Michigan’s stumble just opened.