The Huskies face their toughest task yet this week in Husky Stadium, a top-ten Nebraska team. We know a little more about Nebraska than the first two teams of the season just because they don’t have so many question marks. That being said, there are still a few unknowns for the Huskers. Nebraska hasn’t played anyone good yet. They played Western Kentucky the first week and beat them 49-10. Last week they beat Idaho 38-17 in a very sloppy game. Let’s looks at this Good Guy’s style, position by position:
Quarterback: Taylor Martinez starts for Nebraska. If you have read anything at all about this game you’ve probably heard Martinez’s name come up. He’s a red-shirt freshman that surpassed last year’s starter, Zac Lee, during the off-season. Martinez is fast. Jake Locker fast. He’s said to have 4.5 40 and has run up and down the field against his first two opponents. Martinez is averaging 13.8 yards a carry and has the capability to break a huge run. I could see him running right by the Huskies defensive ends the entire game. Throwing may be a different story. He’s said to be perfectly capable with his arm but hasn’t proved that yet. Frankly, Nebraska hasn’t needed to throw the football very much yet. Martinez is 22-34 on the season throwing the football. That’s a good completion percentage, but keep in mind the competition. Martinez, and the Nebraska offense as a whole, has been a little turnover-prone in the first couple games. Last week, the Cornhuskers fumbled 8 times! Yes, 8 times! They lost 3 of them and Martinez also threw an interception. All in all, the quarterback position seems to be in good hands at Nebraska. Still, it’s the first road start for a freshman in a Husky Stadium that should be louder than it has in years. Martinez is a stud but still unproven.
Running Back: Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead are Nebraska’s main backs. Helu is supposedly the lightning to Burkhead’s thunder. Burkhead is a very solid guy with a good burst but is lacking the big-play speed. He is also a good receiver out of the backfield. Helu is a lot the same except he isn’t used as a receiver quite as much. Helu did rush for 1,147 yards last year. Obviously, he’s a proven, good player. He may have a little better overall speed, but Martinez is the big play guy in the Nebraska backfield. The Huskers go without a fullback generally, because of their spread offense attack. Think Oregon as far as formations go. Burkhead has also lined up in the Wildcat quite a bit. I don’t really understand why the Huskers would do this since they have Martinez now but don’t be surprised if you see that on Saturday.
Wide Receiver: This is probably the biggest question mark for Nebraska. They have two really big guys, Niles Paul and Brandon Kinnie, who are both over 6’2″, 220. Paul also runs a little bit in a fly-sweep type play. The two guys I mentioned are possession type receivers, but given their size, it seems like they would be pretty good down-field, also. The Huskers don’t really have any proven deep threats, yet. We’ll see if they take any chances this week. Mike McNeil plays a tight end/receiver type role. He’s another giant, standing at 6’4″, 230. The rest of the receiving corps is an unknown and they seem to lack consistency as a whole.
Offensive Line: Nebraska returns 4 of 5 starters on the offensive line but did lose their best player to graduation. The line doesn’t have any huge stars but they’ve been solid thus far, leading the Huskers to 324 rushing yards a game. The line wasn’t great last year, but wasn’t bad either. Their line might not be quite as good as BYU but it’ll be a tough match-up for the Dawgs up front. The Huskies will most likely bring a lot of guys in the box to try to stop the rushing attack. The Husker line is pretty strong, all in all.
We’ll get to the defensive side of the ball after the jump. Continue reading
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