Bowl Game or Bust: The pursuit of 15 more points

What if I told you all that stood between Nebraska and six more bowl appearances since 2017 was 15 points?

Photo courtesy Nebraska Athletics

What if I told you all that stood between Nebraska and seven more bowl appearances since 2017 was 15 points?

“I don’t know that all of the sudden we’re going to score 50 points a game, but if we can get 15 more points a game, we can recover a few more third downs,” coach Matt Rhule said Monday. “The hope is that we find what we do well and build on that.” 

The context, of course, is that Rhule elevated Dana Holgorsen from the analyst role he held for one week to Nebraska’s offensive coordinator for the remaining three games of the season. He’ll make his play-calling debut for the Huskers on Saturday against USC. Rhule made the move – subsequently demoting Marcus Satterfield, who will continue to coach the tight ends — because he needed something more. 

Nebraska was averaging 20.8 points and 333.5 yards per game on offense through 21 games under the direction of Satterfield.¹ In his time as a coach, Holgorsen had helped his offenses average 37.9 per game — or just over 17 points more per game than Nebraska is currently average.

Perfect when you’re chasing 15.²

Let’s break this down.