3 reasons for overwhelming optimism after Nebraska football's win over UTEP
I am not, by nature an optimistic guy. Having said that, I haven’t felt this good about a Nebraska football win in a long … long time. UTEP or not, the Huskers seemingly did almost everything right on Saturday afternoon as they kicked off what is supposed to be a brand new age.
We’ve heard all offseason about how confident head coach Matt Rhule is with this team. He’s said over and over that he believes this team has a chance to be really good. After Saturday, it’s certainly easy to believe be believes it.
With so much good happening in the 40-7 win here’s the top three reasons why every Husker fan should be excited not only about this win, but what it could mean for the rest of the season.
Nebraska football never let the moment get to it
Yes, again, I know the team they beat is a UTEP team that is going to struggle to win many games this year. But it’s not as though the Huskers always take care of business against lesser opponents.
There was a brief moment in this game where you could feel the tension in Memorial Stadium. The Huskers had just allowed a UTEP touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 on three plays. Then Dante Dowdell (who had been having a good start to the day) fumbled the ball inside the Miners’ 10 yard line.
We’ve seen this movie. In years past, UTEP would have put together a drive and either scored, or showed enough to make us all nervous. Even if the Huskers would have still won, it would have been too close for comfort.
It turns out that wasn’t the movie today. Today, Nebraska got a sack in the end zone for a safety to make it 9-7. Then they hit a 59-yard touchdown pass to make it 16-7 and the rout was on.
It’s been YEARS since Nebraska football picked itself up and right itself rather than slide into worry and frustration.
Dylan Raiola is the real deal
Anyone who has seen the freshman quarterback practice and scrimmage has known for a while that he’s as good as advertised, but he still needed to prove it in a live game.
He wasn’t perfect. Against a better team he might have even thrown a pick. But he can make all the throws. He’s got a cannon of an arm. He’s a good decision maker. And he’s confident in the pocket.
Raiola is just the second true freshman to start an opening game for the Nebraska football team since World War II. He finished it 19-of-27 for 238 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. And he got to leave in the 3rd quarter.
Nebraska’s defense flew around the field
It wasn’t just that the Huskers held UTEP to 7 points and that the only points they scored were on a sort of gimmicky hurry up attack that caught NU on its heels. It was the fact that Miners’ quarterbacks looked absolutely terrified on every snap.
The Huskers flew around the field, they forced two turnovers, they had 9 tackles for loss even if they only had 1 sack. They look like a defense that is going to give Colorado fits next week.
The Nebraska football team didn’t really have an aspect of the game where they offered up a reason to worry. It feels like it’s been years and years since that was the case.