Nebraska football without key defenders against Michigan

The Nebraska football team is going to be starting Heinrich Haarberg against the Michigan Wolverines. It will also be without two key defenders.

As if the Michigan offense wasn’t hard enough to stop already. After hearing for most of the week that there was a pretty decent chance that linebacker Luke Reimer would be able to play this week, he was officially ruled out according to the Nebraska football injury report.

Reimer was joined by another defender whose talents would have been helpful for the Huskers against the Wolverines. For the second straight week, Cam Lenhardt will be inactive this afternoon.

That news is especially bad because it continues to underline the timing of the injury being just when the freshman defensive end was starting to get some real notice. There’s also just the fact that the Nebraska football team could use the services of someone who had two sacks in the last complete game he played against Colorado.

Nebraska football quarterback gets third start

For the second straight week, opening day starting quarterback Jeff Sims is not listed on the injury report. However, for the third straight game, Heinrich Haarberg is getting the nod.

This particular move isn’t remotely a surprise. The coaching staff was very clear this past week that while Jeff Sims is still progressing nicely from a high ankle sprain suffered against Colorado, he’s not near 100 percent.

It would seem the Nebraska football program is not keen on playing an injured player, who was already struggling mightily when he was healthy. I can’t blame them.

While Haarberg hasn’t looked great as a passer (in fact he’s looked straight bad on deep routes) he’s clearly comfortable running the offense; especially when they’re running the ball.

If the Nebraska football team wants to have any chance of upsetting Michigan, they’re going to need to play mistake-free football and run the ball well.