Nebraska Football: Run defense has been a source of strength
Nebraska Football has defended well against the run.
As Nebraska Football gets ready to take on Northern Illinois, there is a positive statistic when talking about the Nebraska defense. 2.1 rushing yards allowed per attempt. That is certainly a great number that Nebraska wants to keep getting lower.
To their credit, Nebraska football held Colorado to 89 yards on 37 attempts. That averages out to 2.4 yards per carry. Although the opposition scored two rushing touchdowns, it was great to see the run defense active and playing well. Particularly in comparison to last year, they certainly are miles ahead of where they were.
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This weekend against Northern Illinois will give them an opportunity to improve upon that number. The Huskies only averaged 78.5 yards per game. Tre Harbison is there leading rusher with 29 carries for 131 yards. In his last contest against 13th-ranked Utah, Harbison rushed the ball six times for 37 yards. Averaging 5.3 yards per carry, he certainly had a decent outing. However, Nebraska football should be able to contain him.
Nebraska football did a great job last week of getting penetration through the offensive line. They stopped the Colorado run, and they were solid with their tackles early on. An argument could be made that over the first couple games of the season, the run defense has been a source of strength for Nebraska. They will need to keep up those efforts on Saturday if they want to be successful against Northern Illinois. I feel comfortable leaving the game in the hands of our secondary and a strong run defense puts the game squarely in the hands of the corners.
I’ll be interested to see what they do on Saturday. This is a defensive unit that has shown some really strong play in certain areas. Now, we just need to be able to see a complete game by the defense in all areas. If the defense can maintain their momentum throughout the entirety of the game, then this unit will be in good shape. The defense needs to turn the page, and it all should start with how they play against the run.