Rohr’s Four: Four reactions, impressions, reflections, concerns and questions after Nebraska’s 28-21 win over Northwestern
1-If you can change, and I can change…
Remember when you just hoped to limit the damage done by Nebraska’s special teams? Remember when merely successfully snapping the ball back to the holder to be placed was a special teams win? Remember when merely fair-catching a punt was good enough? If you don’t, you’re lucky. You’ve expunged nearly a decade of bad special teams play from your mind. Or maybe Mike Ekeler’s special teams units have just made you forget.
While I was as excited as anyone about the hiring of Ekeler as special teams coordinator in the offseason, I doubted that a total turnaround could be completed in year one. After all, it would take time to shift hearts and minds to run down the field kamikaze style on kick coverage, right? It would take a while to find the right specialists, right? Wrong. Wrong. Flat out wrong.
I was merely hoping the Huskers’ special teams would be passable and occasionally good this year, then hoping for better down the road. Instead, Kenneth Williams has a game-breaking kickoff return for a second time in three weeks. Archie Wilson averaged 55 yards a punt. And Nebraska won average field position by six yards. All that on a day where Kyle Cunanan had a rare miss on a field goal.
Ekeler’s energy on the sideline is apparent. Special teams is so much passion anyway, and Ekeler embodied passion, whether as a scrappy special teamer with K-State or as a fiery young assistant on Bo Pelini’s staff. But as Matt Rhule has noted, Ekeler’s ability as a teacher is what has set him apart from merely being a sideline dancer. He has taught his pupils well, and their efforts deserve to be celebrated.
Simply put, he has been as good a hire as Rhule has made, maybe as good a decision as Rhule has made. It was never a question of having the talent for the third phase of the game. It was merely an issue of teaching them correctly and getting them to play with passion. Ekeler has more than checked those boxes in less than a year in the program. It’s been a resurrection that has been one of the best stories of the season.
2-Dana adjusts, too
Nebraska’s offensive gameplan against Minnesota left much to be desired. If you didn’t believe that watching the game, just ask the head coach, who on Monday said that the Huskers should focus more on what they do well and less on trying to find favorable matchups. It was apparent very early in the game that message was received by offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen. The first drive of the game was a nine-play march. Six of those plays were handoffs to Emmett Johnson. Otherwise, Dylan Raiola was moving around, throwing the ball on the run quickly. Much better behind Nebraska’s still-struggling offensive line, which saw Gunnar Gottula miss the game due to a leg injury and Teddy Prochazka leave the game with a leg injury.
Holgorsen’s offensive gameplan included a heavy dose of Johnson (27 carries and two catches in 61 offensive snaps) and plenty of moving pockets for Raiola to mitigate the offensive line’s struggles to protect him. Raiola was sacked just once, though he threw an interception.
It was good to see Holgorsen try to put the O-Line on the attack early, plus get Johnson into a rhythm. While it didn’t pay off with a big play-action pass downfield, you could see that happening in the future. The offense wasn’t perfect, but it at least got something going. I think run-heavy is a good strategy anyway, but especially for an offensive line that’s struggled pass blocking: let them come after the D-Line. Let them fire off the ball. Early run helps foster aggressiveness. It was precisely the change we were looking for.
3-The most popular man in town
Flip on Big Red Reaction on KLIN after the game, and you heard plenty of calls for TJ Lateef. Some want him to take over entirely. others would like to see him take over for a series. Never has some late damage against Akron and Houston Christian gone this far.
The expectations on Dylan Raiola are nuts. He was a five-star recruit, a quarterback, a legacy, a can’t miss kid. 16-for-22 for 141 yards, a touchdown and an interception isn’t a bad line. The interception wasn’t Raiola’s finest hour, basically a bullet pass right to Northwestern linebacker Mac Uihlein, but other than that, Raiola managed the offense, got the ball, and led the Huskers to 28 points against a Wildcats defense that has shutout Purdue last week.
Especially as Johnson emerged as the entree of this offense instead of a side dish, perhaps some of the heat on Raiola will back off. After all, he’s doing fairly well. And when he needs to come up big, he does. On the game-winning drive, he was five-for-seven for 47 yards.
4-Deja vu, all over again
Here we are again, I thought, as the teams trotted to halftime with Nebraska leading, 7-6. Of course, last week, Minnesota held a 7-6 lead at intermission, but never has one point felt like that big a difference. The Cornhuskers came out in the second half with obvious fire and focus, building a 21-6 lead before Northwestern stormed back to tie the game at 21 before Nebraska went on the game-winning drive.
I wondered how the Huskers would respond with the 7-6 score at half, even though Nebraska was ahead. I’m sure it was not lost of the Huskers heading to halftime that they found themselves in the same spot they were in last week. But instead of what they did last week, they attacked, early and often.
This game felt like a big do-over from the week before. Yes, Minnesota was on the road while the Wildcats were at home, but they’re both Big Ten that bring a level of physicality and football smarts to the game that frustrates the opponent. Nebraska lost the first time like that, but they won the second.
Now, they get a second mulligan. After a huge helmet-game loss to Michigan, the Huskers have an opportunity to knock a name-brand, good-but-not-great opponent in USC. The stakes don’t get much bigger.