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McMaster's Keys to the Game: Nebraska vs. Louisiana Tech
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 won just by talent on the field but by strategy and weeks of game planning.
Nebraska is looking to capture its second win in a row this week against Louisiana Tech. Here are a couple of things the Big Red will need to do to avoid a letdown one week before welcoming the Michigan Wolverines to Memorial Stadium.
Manage the backs
Unfortunately for Nebraska, injuries were the biggest stories after the Huskers' dominant 35-11 win against Northern Illinois. In one fell swoop, NU lost top running backs Gabe Ervin Jr. and Rahmir Johnson for the remainder of the year.
In one game, Nebraska's backfield went from being the team's strength to a significant question mark. Anthony Grant is now the lead back after being in the doghouse and getting zero carries against Colorado. Behind Grant are redshirt freshman Emmett Johnson and true freshman Kwinten Ives.
Ives and Johnson are supremely talented backs with impressive high school résumés. Ives rushed for over 3,000 yards in two seasons, including 14 straight games of over 100 rushing yards in New Jersey. Johnson rushed for more than 2,500 yards and scored 42 touchdowns his senior season on his way to being named Minnesota's Mr. Football.
Despite their talent, both are young and inexperienced, having never carried the ball from scrimmage in college. Putting these young guns in the right situations will be essential for early success and gaining confidence on the field.
As for Grant, he seemingly gained his confidence back after totaling 46 yards for one touchdown on seven attempts last week against Northern Illinois. If you're Nebraska, you have to hope Grant's ball security issues are behind him and he can be trusted as the feature back like he was just a year ago. Johnson and Ives will be vital for the run game, but as it stands right now, it's the Anthony Grant show.
Balancing the weather
Saturday's game in Lincoln will feature less-than-ideal weather. The current forecast calls for wind gusts of 25 mph and a chance of rain. Through three weeks, the team's biggest issues on offense are fumbling and throwing the ball. Nebraska ranks 108th out of 132 teams in the country in completion percentage and is tied for last for most fumbles lost. Those problems become much harder to avoid with these volatile conditions.
Head coach Matt Rhule has been preparing to play in environments like Saturday since the offseason.
"We did some wet football stuff (Wednesday)," Rhule said. "We don't go inside in camp during the rain, we don't go inside during the spring unless we absolutely have to … so we've gotten a lot of reps in the rain."
Play calling based on weather is a balancing act.
You can't throw the ball too much because of the wind and rain, but you can't make yourself one-dimensional by only running the ball. In the run game, you can emphasize protecting the ball, but in doing so, you sacrifice speed and big-play potential. Louisiana Tech will face the same problems, and this game will be all about who weathers the storm better.
Beware of ball hawks
Because of the weather, Nebraska will not frequently throw the ball. But when throwing, Heinrich Haarberg or Jeff Sims must be aware of the aggressive Louisiana Tech secondary.
The Bulldogs have four interceptions from four different defensive backs through four games. LaTech is aggressive at the point of attack and will look to make the big play.
Whoever plays quarterback needs to take advantage of their aggressive style of play and be aware that there will always be a Bulldog looking to pounce on a bad read.
