The Huskers started their season 5-0. They have since lost four straight games, three by one score and the latest defeat at Illinois brought a change on offense. With Dana Holgorsen out, Glenn Thomas will call the plays Saturday at Rutgers.
Nebraska is playing a 2-7 Rutgers team that struggles to stop the run, has issues protecting its quarterback and will be without its best receiver. The Huskers still have one of the better defenses in the country and have moved the ball well enough statistically to win more than five games.
At some point, the numbers have to turn into points. Saturday would be a good place to start.1
Nebraska at Rutgers
When: Saturday, Nov. 14 | 11:30 a.m. CT
Where: SHI Stadium | Piscataway, New Jersey
TV: Big Ten Network
TV crew: Jeff Levering, Jake Butt, Brooke Fletcher
Radio: Huskers Radio Network
Radio crew: Kyle Crooks, Jay Moore, Jessica Coody
Records: Nebraska 5-4, 2-4 Big Ten; Rutgers 2-7, 1-5 Big Ten
Last game: Illinois def. Nebraska, 24-13; Wisconsin def. Rutgers, 31-10
Series: Nebraska leads 7-0
In Piscataway: Nebraska leads 3-0
Last meeting: Nebraska def. Rutgers, 14-7, in 2024
Weather: Cloudy with a high around 48 degrees. Winds northwest at 10-15 mph.
Setting the scene
Did you know that Nebraska has never lost to Rutgers?
The Huskers are 7-0 all-time against the Scarlet Knights and 3-0 in Piscataway. The last three meetings, though, have all been decided by seven points or fewer. So there is some history here, but not much comfort when you look at it as a whole.
Nebraska is trying to stop a four-game losing streak. Rutgers has lost three straight and will not be playing in a bowl game. One team is trying to salvage a season that began with real momentum, while the other has very little left to lose.
What will actually change on offense?
Matt Rhule made the biggest move of Nebraska’s season on Saturday when he fired offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen. Glenn Thomas takes over play-calling duties, something he has done before under Rhule at both Temple and Baylor.
“Brief conversation,” Thomas said, regarding his discussion with Rhule. “He had kind of told me what was happening and where he thought we needed to go moving forward. From that point on, it’s been all Rutgers, and how can we evolve and adjust and continue to do all the good stuff that we’ve done well and continue to improve on the things that we need to improve on.”
Nebraska doesn’t need to install a new offense in November, and Rhule said as much Monday.
“I don’t think the offense is broken,” Rhule said. “I don’t think we have bad players. I don’t think we have bad coaches. I just think something has to happen now to try to get them to be, and I think the word is we have to be detailed and efficient as a group and so that’s what Glenn (Thomas) and Geep (Wade) and those guys will do. I’m excited to support our players in doing that.”
The Huskers have moved the ball this season. They totaled 426 yards against Illinois. They have produced three scoring drives of at least 95 yards over the last two games. Nebraska still ranks 34th nationally in total offense and 36th in rushing offense.
The problem is what happens once those drives reach scoring territory. There are penalties, missed assignments, turnovers, field-goal issues, you name it.
“Drive-stopping penalties, we haven’t been able to overcome,” Thomas said. “I think that’s probably the big thing, you know, and that’s a continued focus. How do you do that? There’s a discipline component, there’s deliberate practice, which we’re continuing to address.”
Please run the football
Rutgers is last in the Big Ten in rushing defense, allowing 187 yards per game. In conference play, that number jumps to nearly 200 yards per game and 5.66 yards per carry. Nebraska averages 181.7 rushing yards. This is the matchup.
Quarterback Anthony Colandrea remains dangerous with his legs. Mekhi Nelson scored his fifth rushing touchdown of the season against Illinois. Nebraska’s backs are healthy enough to contribute, and the offensive line has played well enough to give the Huskers a chance to lean into the run game.
Rutgers is going to play a familiar style defensively. Rhule described it as a 4-3 quarters-based defense designed to limit explosive plays and stop the run. The goal for Nebraska is not to abandon the obvious. If Rutgers can’t stop the run, make Rutgers prove otherwise.
The Huskers have spent too much of the last month making offense harder than it needs to be. This is a week where simplicity would be more than welcome.
Rutgers can still make Nebraska work on the ground
The Scarlet Knights have struggled offensively but their backfield is legitimate. Antwan Raymond leads the Big Ten with 789 rushing yards and has forced 40 missed tackles. Clay Thevenin adds another 475 yards.
Nebraska, meanwhile, has built its defensive identity around killing the run. The Huskers allow 90.3 rushing yards per game overall and just 81.7 in Big Ten play. They held Washington to 32 yards, Michigan State to 39 and Indiana to 65. Illinois managed only 84 last week.
Rutgers is likely to lean on Raymond and Thevenin, especially with quarterback Dylan Lonergan unavailable and AJ Surace expected to handle the bulk of the work.
Nebraska knows exactly what is coming. The challenge is doing it with fewer familiar faces.
Owen Chambliss and Andrew Marshall are out, while Dwayne McDougle III is questionable. Jamir Conn is listed as probable.
The secondary will look different
Marshall’s absence is especially notable. He had started every game, earned midseason All-America recognition and has six pass breakups with an interception this season. Chambliss is Nebraska’s leading tackler. That puts more pressure on the next group to maintain what has been an excellent defensive standard.
Rutgers also enters Saturday without its biggest receiving threat. KJ Duff is out for the season after ankle surgery. He had 45 catches for 774 yards and nine touchdowns and was comfortably the Scarlet Knights’ most dangerous downfield target. No other Rutgers receiver has more than 18 receptions.
That helps Nebraska but Rutgers still averages 14.66 yards per completion. The Huskers can’t simply assume the passing game disappears without Duff.
The other opportunity comes up front. Rutgers has allowed 25 sacks. Nebraska’s pass rush should have chances to affect Surace, particularly if the Blackshirts can win early downs and force obvious passing situations.
Nebraska cannot overcomplicate this one
Rutgers is 2-7. The Scarlet Knights rank near the bottom of the Big Ten offensively. They turn the ball over. Their starting quarterback is out. Their best receiver is out. Their rush defense is last in the conference.
Nebraska is favored for obvious reasons. Yet, none of that guarantees anything after the last month.
That is where Nebraska’s own mistakes matter. The Huskers commit roughly four more penalties per game than Rutgers and give away significantly more yardage through flags. They have also had the worst placekicking operation in the Big Ten.
Rutgers, meanwhile, has made 9-of-10 field goals.
If Nebraska allows this game to become a collection of penalties, missed kicks and empty trips inside Rutgers territory, all of the statistical advantages start to matter less.
The defense can’t keep being asked to save everything
Nebraska remains first nationally in third-down defense at 25.4%. The Huskers rank 12th in total defense, 17th in scoring defense, 11th against the run and 17th in pass-efficiency defense.
They have held opponents under 100 rushing yards six times and held their first eight opponents to 23 points or fewer.
“When I look at us defensively, I see a group that’s in the top 10, in the top 20 in a lot of categories,” Rhule said. “I see one of the top defenses in the Big Ten, and when people have gotten hurt, they’ve just continued to put new people out there and they continue to get better.”
Again, Nebraska’s offense doesn’t need to be completely different Saturday. It instead needs to stop making the defense play games where 17 points feels like a mountain.
Against Rutgers? That should be possible.
Burning in some firefight
Many long-held beliefs about Nebraska have been challenged during the Huskers’ Big Ten era, but at least one has held—Nebraska doesn’t lose to Rutgers. The two scarlets have met six times since the Knights joined the league in 2014. Nebraska has won them all, though the gap has narrowed from an 18-point win that first season to the last three games, all decided by one score.
What the numbers say
7-0 — Nebraska’s all-time record against Rutgers.
90.3 — Rushing yards allowed per game by Nebraska.
187 — Rushing yards allowed per game by Rutgers.
199 — Rutgers’ rushing yards allowed per game in Big Ten play.
181.7 — Nebraska’s rushing yards per game.
41 — Receptions for Jacory Barney Jr., his third career season with at least 40 catches.
Odds and ends
>> This is Nebraska’s second consecutive road game and the only time this season the Huskers play back-to-back away from Lincoln.
>> Justin Evans, a New Jersey native, will make his 41st career start Saturday. He became just the fifth offensive lineman in Nebraska history to reach 40 starts last week.
>> Archie Wilson is averaging 44.9 yards per punt and has placed 14 of 33 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
All Nebraska needs to do Saturday is win. No pressure, right?
There will be plenty of time later to decide what Glenn Thomas’ offense looks like, what changes stick and what Nebraska needs to become next season.
For now, Rutgers is giving the Huskers a fairly clear assignment: run the ball, stop the run and quit killing drives with penalties. Even more, make the kicks you’re supposed to make. Doing those things will keep a 2-7 from finding extra life against you.
Nebraska has spent four weeks finding ways to turn winnable games into losses. Saturday is the chance to finally make the obvious result happen.
The good news for Nebraska too is that it made it to New Jersey despite the ground stop that halted flights nationwide and prevented a number of teams from making it to their destinations. One of those teams is Minnesota. As for officials, looks like all is well on that front.