Kenny Larabee, KLIN
Stukenholtz: Examining Nebraska’s Offensive Options
Football is a weird sport with a weirdly shaped ball. College football in particular gets even weirder, with its silly quirks, odd rituals and strange traditions.
Nonconference games can get especially weird. Not just any noncon matchups; I’m talking about a Power 5 school hosting a Group of 5 school. The haves versus the have-nots.
Many times, they go the way most people expect, with the power team winning comfortably at home over the non-power team. For example, last week Nebraska beat Northern Illinois 35-11.
Sometimes the results are unexpected, which is too often what Husker fans have experienced the last few seasons. Georgia Southern. Troy. Northern Illinois (2017 version). Arkansas State. BYU. Sure, the gap between haves and have-nots has certainly closed, but we all know NU’s level has dipped, too. The task for coach Matt Rhule is to raise that level to where it once was.
It’s funny that Louisiana Tech is up next. If you think about it, the Bulldogs are sort of the original weird non-con experience. 1998, first post-Osborne game, Frank Solich’s debut as head coach, and Troy Edwards lights up Memorial Stadium with 21 receptions for 405 yards. That’s still a single-game record, by the way.
So, should we expect comfortable from Nebraska’s offense against LA Tech on Saturday?
Comfortable would be the starting quarterback – Jeff Sims or Heinrich Haarberg – to have a turnover-free afternoon. It would be building some more chemistry in the pass game with Marcus Washington and Billy Kemp IV, and to build on the emergence of Thomas Fidone.
But weird could have its place, too. Like offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield figuring some stuff out with some younger players. Even though Nebraska may only need two receivers and a tight end to be an average offense, there’s still Nate Boerkircher and Alex Bullock getting plenty of snaps. There are still freshman receivers everywhere, like Malachi Coleman, Jaylen Lloyd and Jaidyn Doss.
Play some young receivers and get them some experience so they’re not so skittish in Big Ten play. It might make for some uncomfortable moments in a game, but it could also pay dividends later this season. Plus, I doubt Nebraska can win more than a couple of Big Ten games averaging 21 pass attempts per game. Give me a deep ball or two per game; the law of averages says they’ll hit one eventually.
As for the run game and the running backs, it sure was sad to hear Gabe Ervin and Rahmir Johnson had lost the rest of their seasons to injury.
That does open the door to former starter Anthony Grant, who logged over 200 carries and almost 1,000 yards last year. He’s going to have every chance to carry the offense on his back. In fact, Grant getting a 100-yard game with no fumbles would be awfully comfortable. He did it five times in 2022.
We could also get weird with the run game. Here’s hoping we see some Emmett & Kwinten today.
Emmett Johnson, redshirt freshman from Minnesota, and Kwinten Ives, true freshman from New Jersey, are now second and third on the depth chart. Give each of them three to five carries. Maybe we get weird with Wahoo walk-on Trevin Luben, who closed down Memorial Stadium last week with a fun 19-yard bouncing-off-tacklers carry.
Regardless of which non-Anthony Grant backs get some touches, identify what they’re good at and do that. Let’s see a gameplan that emphasizes their strengths. Throw them the ball a couple times a game. And, with no obvious power back available, I want to see some fullback carries as the new battering ram to wear out defensive lines. The fullback part isn’t weird, though. In this state, fullbacks get folks quite comfortable.
What has been weird, but in a good way, is hearing a bit less noise about the offensive line. There was the bad bust on the Haarberg sack-fumble last week, but they’ve been serviceable in pass protection at two sacks allowed per game. There was the costly false-start penalty at Minnesota, but NU also had the Gophers on the ropes due in large part to the O-line’s efforts in run blocking. 2022 set a low bar, but I’d say I’m more comfortable with this bunch in 2023.
Rushing for over 200 yards per game doesn’t happen by accident, either. There’s been a bit more consistency up front, which is good considering they’re the only position group with assistant coach stability from last year. Much credit is owed to Donovan Raiola with the steady gains thus far, along with the big guys themselves. Ethan Piper even made an ESPN offensive line-centric pancake segment with Jeff Saturday going crazy over his pulling block in space on a Haarberg run.
Then there’s the quarterback conversation. OK, we might already be in weird territory here.
No question Haarberg looked better in his one start than Sims did in his two. Sure, you consider the opponent disparity, as Sims threw against much better talent in Minnesota and Colorado’s secondaries. But regardless of opponent, Sims dropped two shotgun snaps that became lost fumbles in a still-in-doubt matchup with Colorado. He just hasn’t appeared very comfortable when dropping back to pass.
Haarberg, on the other hand, looked pretty cool for a kid starting his first college game for his home-state school. He doesn’t mind firing lasers at his receiving corps. He also boasts the most impressive pass play of the young season in his sideline tightrope toss to Fidone on a third-quarter 3rd-and-long last week.
Now, based on some of Rhule’s comments, it sounds like Haarberg would not have started had Sims been healthy. While it could be difficult to pull Haarberg now after such a good-vibes performance, we may see if Rhule allows a starter to lose his job due to injury. It could also be justified as a performance-based switch based on back-to-back three-turnover games by Sims.
I think it would be weird to jump back to Sims at this point. If Haarberg can stay under control and play mistake-free football while still moving the offense a few times a game, it would be weird not to leave him out there. Ride the hot hand, and if he falters, then give Sims a second chance. Either way, the decision will make some folks uncomfortable.
The Blackshirts seem to know what they’re doing. They’ll keep Nebraska in most games. The question is, what can the offense do to support them? You know where this is going…
Let’s. Get. Weird.
