Considering everything we've learned about Anthony Colandrea since he arrived at Nebraska, it shouldn't surprise anyone that his reaction to Ohio giving the Huskers a tough game was akin to "thank you, sir, may I have another?"
Of course, Colandrea would like his team to roll through the rest of NU's schedule, but he knows when his team needs a wake-up call, and he believes the Huskers got one during Saturday's game. He believes the early-game struggles and the way the Bobcats took it to the Huskers helped him and his teammates come out in the second half and play quite a bit better. In fact, they took control after halftime.
"Yeah, no, I think it was good for us to get punched in the face and have adversity for a second," the Nebraska quarterback said after the game. "And then coming at half, I think Coach Rhule just said, like, play our ball. At the end of the day, we did 21 days of fall camp. Like, we’ve played together. Just go out there and go play football."
Colandrea probably really liked that the team that was punching Nebraska in the face was one he struggled with last year. His UNLV squad took on the Bobcats in their bowl game at the end of last season. That game was the only one of his 2025 campaign where he didn't throw a touchdown
Nebraska football responded after Ohio delivered Anthony Colandrea's desired wake-up call
For his part, Colandrea's head coach, Matt Rhule, agreed about the punch in the face, even if he put it a different way.
"We knew this would be a war of attrition," Rhule said. "We didn’t need to be challenged. This team needs challenges, and they need to learn how to handle challenges. That was a challenge. They were a challenge. The heat was a challenge."
Nebraska fans would have no doubt enjoyed it if the Huskers rolled to a 70-0 win. The first half, especially, was quite stressful for everyone. The defense came out sluggish, and while the offense showed sparks, there were also plenty of misfires.
Both Rhule and Colandrea are right that Nebraska played much better in the second half, and it's entirely possible they did so precisely because they struggled as much as they did in the first half.
If the game against the Bobcats did punch Nebraska in the face and allow the team to gel and regroup and realize how good it is, then that should be evident next week against Bowling Green.
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