The Nebraska football team was all smiles on Saturday evening thanks to a blowout win over the UTEP Miners to open the second year of the Matt Rhule era. The 40-7 win featured a team that did almost everything right.
It’s been a long time since the Huskers have had a game that was that easy, and where they looked that good. In the past, even when they did manage to win comfortably, it felt like there were plenty of moments where things could have completely fallen apart.
After the game, there was a sense of palpable relief and plenty of Nebraska football players and coaches made it clear in their comments they were all breathing a sigh of relief that they’d executed almost exactly how they wanted.
Nebraska football defense ready to pick up the offense early on
One part of the game that brought some real stress is when running back Dante Dowdell fumbled deep in UTEP territory. In the past, it feels as if the Huskers might have started piling mistakes on top of mistakes. However, defensive back Marques Buford made it clear that they weren’t going to do that.
“I just let him know, we good,” Buford said he told Dowdell. Shortly thereafter, the Huskers forced a safety and the blowout was officially on.
Dylan Raiola demonstrates command of the game
One of the plays that really started the ball rolling down the hill for the Huskers was a 42-yard run by Emmett Johnson. After the game, Rhule said that was all his star quarterback’s doing.
Rhule said Raiola “three-checked” into the play and that it wasn’t the original call.
“He checked it, and then they kinda moved, and he checked it back. And so then he checked it again and got us to that run. So when you have a freshman that's checked A, that's an unbelievable job by Sat putting those kinds of things in. Great job by Glenn teaching it, great job by Dylan learning it.”
Jalyn Gramstad given his moment
Late in the game, after both Dylan Raiola and Heinrich Haarberg got their snaps, 3rd stringer Jalyn Gramstad got into the contest. When it was all over, Raiola talked about the fact that it was the starting the first game in Lincoln for both quarterbacks.
"Both our dreams came true. His dream was to play here and obviously my dream was to play at Nebraska."