What Do You Want To See From Nebraska Against Akron?

Nebraska's next two opponents are not tough. With that in mind, what do the Cornhuskers need to show ahead of the big matchup against Michigan? Jack Mitchell and Josh Peterson unpacked that in this week's edition of I-80 LIVE.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation about the Cornhuskers/Zips matchup.

Jack: I don't know what I could even see that would make me, I guess, if somehow it was a very close game, that would make me upset. I'm not sure what could make me happy, right? Because I have no idea. You know what? A few things that would make me happy? Mekhi Nelson or another running back getting a lot of work in and looking good. I think that would be something that I would take from this. There's not much else, Josh.

Josh: No injuries.

Jack: No injuries. And is for two weeks! I'm still excited for Saturday. I'm really excited for Saturday night. Low stress. Night game. TV for me. Now, the second week of it might be a little much but the first one? First one's gonna be fun. I'm good. I'll enjoy that.

Josh: A couple comments. “What would make you happy?” [Subscriber] Stewmanji writes, “tight ends blocking would be cool.” Joe says, “backup running back minutes would be cool for sure.” Dave Feit has a list of four things, “the make me happy list. One, no injuries. Two, shut out.” Dave's been on the shutout train for a while this week.

Jack: Last time would have been Arizona in the Holiday Bowl I believe.

Josh: His third and fourth were, “running backs numbers two and three look good.” [A shutout] would be really nice.

Nebraska running back Isaiah Mozee picks up two yards on a catch from quarterback Dylan Raiola. — Nebraska running back Isaiah Mozee picks up two yards on a catch from quarterback Dylan Raiola against Cincinnati in Kansas City. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Jack: I completely agree with Dave's list, but I don't have much to add to it. Jalyn Gramstad with five touchdowns; I would add that.

Josh: John [Bishop] asked a question to me today. He said, “when do you want to see the backups in this game?” And I said like middle of the third. That would be nice. Middle of the third.

Jack: Plenty of snaps for Lateef particularly.

Josh: That would be really nice. If we got to see TJ Lateef, that is a thumbs up.

Jack: I assume you will!

Josh: Yeah, I think so. [Subscriber] Jim in O'Neil; “after shutting Akron out, Rhule will say ‘Nebraska's back and we're here to stay.’” Get the whale trophy!

Jack: [Subscriber] Connor; “Haarberg should get some snaps too just for fun.”

Josh: So yeah, those are the those are the things we're looking for, which presents a very interesting conundrum, I think, over the next two weeks, because this is exactly the conversation that we are going to have over the next two weeks. Where it's just, “get out of the game without any injuries, win comfortably.”

Jack: I'm curious. Are there other things people want to see besides that? I'd be interested.

Dylan Raiola, Marques Buford Jr., Henry Lutovsky, and Derek Branch were Nebraska's game captains vs Cincy. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Josh: [Subscriber] JB says, “a few deep plays.” [Subscriber] Ryan adds, “the offense needs to look more explosive.” I would really like to see a more explosive offense.

Jack: Yeah. Absolutely. Agreed on that. I'd like to see a few Dylan highlight plays before he goes out. Like Dylan against UTEP. I'd like to see that. A couple of those passes just to kind of get his and my confidence up together. I think that would be nice. I'd like that.

I'd like great special teams games.

Josh: What does that mean? Like a long return?

Jack: No missed field goals. How about a return? I'll take it.

Josh: No, I mean, because you said great. “Good” is missing no field goals. What does great mean though? What do you want to see?

Jack: Okay, here we go. In the next two games, I want to see a punt or a kick taken back for a touchdown. It's going to be a punt. Jacory Barney take a punt back for a touchdown.

Josh: That would be nice.

Jack: You know what? I think he will. Put that on the [247] HypeCast right now.

Watch the entire clip below!

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