On Saturday afternoon, the Nebraska football team will face its biggest game of the season. If you thought the Rutgers Scarlet Knights would be that game, in the Huskers’ sixth game of the season, then it’s time for you to play the Powerball. But here was are.
Rutgers, sitting at 4-0 on the season has wins over Virginia Tech and Washington in back-to-back games. And now they’re looking to really announce their presence with authority in Lincoln. Meanwhile, Huskers fans are still a bit nervous that this game will look a lot like their first loss of the first season to the Illinois Fighting Illini. In other words, that it will be another close loss to a team they don’t really have any business losing to.
However, when it comes to picking who will win this contest, ESPN College GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit believes the Nebraska football team will win thanks in no small part to its defense. And he went head-to-head against Nick Saban in that pick. The legendary head coach said he believes the Scarlet Knights could win because it’s going to be windy and that will hamper Dylan Raiola’s passing ability.
“Well, you know, it depends on how Raiola can handle that,” Herbstreit responded. “Raiola is, you know, he throws a good ball, he's big and powerful.” The Colege GameDay analyst then went on to talk about the Huskers defense and how he thinks they’ll shut down Greg Schiano’s team.
I think this @HuskerFootball defense isn't talked about enough!#CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/fBmk7xqRNJ
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) October 5, 2024
Nebraska football defense isn’t ‘talked about enough’ ahead of Rutgers game
“Kaliakmanis is a quarterback that I think Nebraska is going to try to put the game on him,” Herbstreit added. “Take away their ability. Nebraska has not given up a rushing touchdown all year, so you talk about the wins, you guys talk about the physicality … I think that favors Nebraska personally. I think their defense is not being talked about a lot, because it seems like everybody talks about Raiola, I think they'll be locked in today in Lincoln.”
Now that Nebraska football has the confidence of Herbstreit, they need to go out and take care fo business on Saturday afternoon. A win does far more than prove him right. It moves them to one win away from a bowl game and shows its fans things have changed for the better.