Nebraska football midseason report card: Who's good, great and needs lots of work

It's the midway point of the season for Nebraska football and a bye week couldn't come at a better time as they gear up for a big game against Indiana.

With six games down and six to go, it's the perfect time for a report card. Let's look at each area for the Huskers.

Grading Nebraska football after starting the season 5-1

Overall: B

With a 5-1 start, I can't be too hard on the Huskers. Matt Rhule has done almost everything fans had asked of him in year two (well, except fix special teams, but we'll talk about that in a moment).

You've heard it a lot this year: an ugly win is better than a pretty loss. Thanks to NIL and other factors, college football is more competitive than ever. It's hard games, especially in the Big Ten. Wins count more than anything in my grade book.

Passing offense: B-

Dylan Raiola has been as advertised. He's been so good that we've almost taken him for granted already. One bad game against Rutgers doesn't change my mind on this grade because Raiola didn't do anything in the passing game to lose the game. Solid QB play has been a revelation for Husker Nation, hasn't it?

Nebraska's pass protection has also been better than anticipated this year (again, the Rutgers game being an exception). Raiola has had plenty of time to throw and a good pocket for most of his drop backs.

I downgrade the Huskers passing game a little for two reasons. First, while wide receivers Jamal Banks and Isaiah Neyor have solidified a young receiving corp, they struggle to separate in man coverage at times. Second, Nebraska needs to figure out how to get their tight ends more involved. There's too much talent at the TE spot not to get 3-5 targets per game.

Rushing offense: C-

Nebraska has failed to establish a serious run game with their running backs. There also hasn't been one guy in that RB room who has separated himself as "the guy." I think Emmett Johnson is close, but I'm not at practice every day.

But more than the backs, it's the run blocking that begs for a C- grade. Rarely are their holes on inside run plays--and when there is, they close quickly. The line has to get nasty again, pure and simple. Like with the RBs, the personnel has to get figured out. Micah Mazzccua is Nebraska's best run blocker. Will he get back into the starting lineup going forward?

Will we see more wildcat with Heinrich Haarberg in the second half of the year to generate some rush yards?

Finally, Nebraska needs some more creative running plays with their running backs The reverse plays to Barney and Bonner are run to perfection. But it seems that most runs with a back are simple dive plays. Low creativity equals high predictability--and that will always earn a low grade.

Passing defense: B+

I want to give Nebraska an A- here but I can't for one reason: the Illinois loss. The breakdowns in that game tarnish what has been a solid season so far for John Butler's crew. Nebraska overwhelmed pass-happy Colorado, but most other teams didn't have a legitimate passing threat. We really haven't seen Nebraska's secondary tested all that much. We will in the next two weeks.

Where Nebraska has been greatly improved is in their pass rush. Nebraska is seventh nationally in defensive sack percentage at 10.4%. That means their sacking the opponent's QB more than one out of every 10 drop backs. Last year it was 7.42%.

Rushing defense: A

I know to fans it may seem that Nebraska's rush defense may feel in worse shape than their passing defense. But the stats say otherwise. (Shoutout to Eric Hess for helping me understand the Expected Points Added metric in a recent podcast conversation with him.) Nebraska is also still fourth in the country in rushing defense, allowing just 73.2 yards per game.

Nebraska has struggled on misdirection plays (hello, Illinois) and cutbacks (hello, first quarter against Rutgers). Overall, however, their run game has been stingy. The six-play goal line stand against Rutgers is evidence of that.

Special Teams: D-

This could easily be an F. But let me tell you why it's not: Brian Buschini was the special teams player of the week last week--even with two of his punts blocked. That award has to be worth something right?!

Now let's be real: the special team units look pathetic. With a dedicated special teams coordinator, there's really no excuse to be this inept on field goals and snaps, coverages, punt/kick protection, and punt returns.

This was the one area coming into this season--outside of turnovers--that fans begged for Rhule to fix. Play even or better and you'll win. Nebraska has managed to play worse in almost every game and, so far, it's only resulted in one loss (the missed field goal late against Illinois). How long before it will improve?

Game management: B-

Game management is a junk-drawer category for clock management, personnel, in-game adjustments penalties, strategy, play calling, etc. It's difficult to bunch all of these together and give one grade. B- feels appropriate because outside of being out-schemed by Illinois, the Huskers have navigated these facets of the game and have either 1) overcome mistakes to get the win or 2) forced opponents into situations where they make worse game management mistakes.

Two areas stand out the most: penalties and offensive play calling when Nebraska has the lead.

With the penalties, Nebraska hasn't been great. But their opponnents are even more penalized. On playcalling, yes, I want to see Nebraska be more aggressive. But how much is that execution? Losing focus with the lead? Or not having a killer instinct? It's impossible to know where the problem lies.

Nebraska football looks to keep momentum in the last six games

When was the last time Nebraska was 5-1 and fans felt as disappointed as they do this year? Isn't that a great feeling to have? Nebraska has yet to put a complete game together, and yet they are one bad overtime away from being 6-0 and in the top 15.

I expect this bye week to help the Huskers get healthy, focused, and ready to surprise some people in the second half of the season. I still feel really good about my preseason 8-4 prediction for Nebraska football. I'll dig into the Huskers vs Indiana next week, but it's safe to say a game of this magnitude (against a ranked conference foe on the road) will tell us everything we need to know about Nebraska football down the stretch.