When Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule talked about his team's preparation for Ohio this weekend, he hinted that figuring out what the Bobcats players can do is a bit like cracking a mystery.
Rhule said that in this era of college football, roster turnover is just a way of life. Because of that, he and his coaches can't approach watching game film the same way as they used to. These days, there's much more detective work done because, when it comes to transfers, coaches need to have an idea of what a player can do and then watch film from their old schools to see if there's something that stands out as an aspect the Huskers need to stop.
"I think you're looking at five new receivers coming in," Rhule said about what he expects from the MAC team's depth chart. "You're looking at five new offensive linemen coming in. Some of the players that we think will start for them have played there, but you can't turn on the last year's opponent and see seven or eight returning starters."
It's especially difficult to know exactly what Ohio is going to do because not only has there been plenty of roster shakeup, but the school is on its third head coach in three years. Add that Ohio is expected to have exactly one returning starter on offense, and Nebraska has its work cut out for it figuring out what John Hauser's crew brings to the table.
Nebraska football faces Ohio offense with one expected returning starter
The difficulty of figuring out what Ohio will do on offense was underscored earlier this week when it named Nick Poulos as the starting quarterback. Coming into training camp, the thought was that New Hampshire transfer Matt Vezza had the inside track at QB1
Instead, this will be Poulos' first season as the starter after spending his last two seasons as a backup. In 12 games, he has thrown for 290 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception while completing only 45.6% of his passes. Ohio runs a spread option offense, and Poulos is a little more effective on the ground, with 184 yards and 1 touchdown in his career.
Ohio is coming off a 2025 season that saw the Bobcats finish with a 9-4 record and a victory over UNLV in the Frisco Bowl. Still, with a new coach, an offense that might have one returning starter, and a defense that will likely have only around 5 starters returning, it's difficult to know just what Nebraska will see on Saturday morning. Here's hoping Matt Rhule is a great sleuth.
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