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McMaster's Keys to the Game: Nebraska at Michigan State
A football game is a long, 60-minute grind. It is truly a game of inches that comes down to hours of practice and tedious preparation. Games in college football are not just won by talent on the field but by strategy and weeks of game planning.
Nebraska football hasn't made a bowl game since 2016, the longest current streak by any Power Five team. The Huskers have an opportunity to end that Season of Job against Michigan State on Saturday on the road. Here are a few things they'll need to do to get the job done.
Run stoppers
Michigan State has a major quarterback problem. Starter Noah Kim is out and, when healthy, was not playing at a high level. They’ve now moved to Katin Houser. Houser played well against Rutgers, throwing for 133 yards and two touchdowns with a completion percentage of 62%. But Houser struggled against Michigan and Minnesota. Houser combined to throw 24-44 for 218 yards and one interception.
His performance against Minnesota earned him a seat on the bench, and true freshman Sam Leavitt replaced him. Leavitt played well, completing 8-of-12 for 73 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Chances are high that both Houser and Leavitt will play, but what stands true is that Michigan State is a bigger threat from the ground than the air.
The key for the Blackshirts will be shutting down transfer running back Nate Carter. Carter has over 600 yards rushing and has gone over 95 yards in half of his games this year. Nebraska has an advantage in the form of running back coach E.J. Barthel, who coached Carter last season at UConn.
Nebraska might have some valuable information about Carter and his tendencies. At the end of the day, Carter is the key to this Spartan offense, and if Nebraska can keep him in check, it will cause MSU to rely on a weak passing attack.
Focus on the task at hand
Head coach Matt Rhule says almost every week that his team is focused on going 1 and 0. While it's a coach-speak cliché, it’s still a good mindset to instill into a team. It clears out a team's thoughts about the results of the past and the implications a certain result can have on the future. It encourages a team to focus on the task at hand and only the task at hand.
This mindset of going 1 and 0 is more prevalent than ever for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Big Red is riding a three-game Big Ten win streak, one win away from qualifying for a bowl game, something they haven’t accomplished in seven years, and are tied for first in the Big Ten West. It’s easy for this team to buy its own hype.
It’s easy for them to look past a 2-6 Michigan State with an interim head coach and look forward to postseason football and even a trip to Indianapolis. But the fact is you can’t look over any opponent, especially in the Big Ten. These two teams are heading in opposite directions, but if Nebraska lets the results of the past and the high hopes of the future cloud their minds in preparation for MSU, it will make them vulnerable for a letdown in East Lansing.
Stop fumbling
Nebraska’s ball security is abysmal. The Big Red has lost 11 fumbles this year, the most in the NCAA. No matter who’s at quarterback, running back, or receiving the ball in special teams, the Huskers cannot seem to stop themselves from coughing up the pigskin.
Thanks to this problem, NU has a turnover margin of -9, one of the worst in the country.
Rhule said ball security was the emphasis at this week's practices.
“We sat down as a staff on Sunday and went through every single fumble,” Rhule said. “We just created drills based upon our body of work to help us.”
The Huskers hope their adjusted style of practice will help them protect the football and come away with a win against Michigan State on Saturday.
