The Unknowables: How good can the NU offensive line be in 2024?

And how good does it need to be?

Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

There was little reason to count TCU among the College Football Playoff contenders entering 2022 and nobody really was. The previous season was a disappointing 5-7 and the program made the tough call to fire Gary Patterson, the coach who already had a statue outside the stadium. The Horned Frogs were starting anew under Sonny Dykes, a well-regarded if somewhat under-the-radar coach with a career winning percentage of .530.

None of the preseason magazines had TCU in their top 25s.¹ The preseason SP+ ratings put the Frogs at 41st, 8.4 points better than the average team. Nebraska, coming of its insane and improbable 3-9 record in 2021, was 44th in those rankings with an 8.3 rating. By SP+, TCU and Nebraska were basically equivalent. They wouldn’t be by season’s end, of course.

What fueled the Frogs’ Hypnotoad trip from middle of the pack to the national championship game? TCU was experienced, ranking ninth nationally in Bill Connelly’s returning production measure.² That always helps, but the real X factor may have been the offensive line. The Horned Frogs returned three starters, including an All-Big 12 guard, but needed two seasoned transfers to deliver on their plug-and-play promise. They did and combined with solid play from some backups, a line projected to be solid—Phil Steele rated the group fourth in the Big 12—was perhaps closer to one of the best in the country.

Which brings us to the Huskers in 2024 and marks a return to The Unknowables, an occasional offseason series focused on things we can’t prove about Nebraska yet. The offensive line belongs in that group, so let’s get to the questions:

How good can the Huskers’ o-line be in 2024? How good does it need to be?