The good for Nebraska heading into the massive showdown against Indiana on Saturday is that the team is mostly healthy. Jamal Rule, Jacory Barney, and Mekhi Nelson are off the injury reports entirely. The bad news is that Thursday night's report added a defensive player the Huskers can scarcely afford to miss.
Riley Van Poppel's apparent injury isn't a big deal simply because he's a defensive lineman, and the Hoosiers' run game is easily the best the Huskers have faced so far this year. His potential absence is also a big issue because Van Poppel's playing time has increased as the season has gone on.
Van Poppel's use by Nebraska defensive coordinator Rob Aurich has, in fact, never been bigger than it has been since Nebraska started Big Ten play. Against Ohio, he saw just 30 snaps. Against Bowling Green, it was down to 18, and he had just 28 snaps against North Dakota. However, he tallied 46 snaps against Michigan State and 44last week against Maryland.
Considering that Van Poppel looked like he wasn't adjusting all that well to Aurich's defense in fall camp and then surged into a situation where he was getting as many snaps as any defensive lineman in the last few weeks, it couldn't be a worse time for an injury to keep him out of Saturday morning's massive game.
Riley Van Poppel injury could weaken Nebraska football front against Indiana running backs
Van Poppel hasn't always been on the stat sheet. He has just 7 tackles, but 2 of those were sacks. He's also got 9 quarterback pressures, including 5 in Big Ten games alone. While his 2 sacks came in non-conference play, he's shown he can make an impact in the trenches, with 2 quarterback hurries and a quarterback hit against the Spartans and 2 more hurries against the Terrapins.
"I think I'm playing probably the best I have in four years right now," Van Poppel said after Nebraska's Week 4 win over Michigan State.
Van Poppel has also been a vocal leader for Nebraska, especially after earning a single-digit jersey last year and being given the option of keeping it this fall. Instead of once again wearing No. 5, he went back to his No. 44, saying he didn't believe he lived up to his own standard of what a player wearing a single digit jersey should be like.
“He (Rhule) gave me the option to keep one, but I don’t see it that way. I want the guys who were truly voted to be the single digits, and if I need to go back to a different number, at the end of the day, it’s a number.”
As is the policy with the Big Ten Availability Reports, it's not a guarantee that Riley Van Poppel will miss Nebraska's biggest game of the year. The Huskers will release two more before game time. One report will update the status of injured players on Friday night, and another two hours before kickoff.
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