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Keys to the Game: Maryland · Husker Buzz

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, Shano, we've got Maryland coming in here tomorrow. I
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: watched their game against UCLA, and I saw a defense
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: that had never played the game of football before. I
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: don't know if you saw the same thing, but you
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: could go watch a Class A, lower-level Class A team,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and they would cover crossing routes better than Maryland did
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: last week.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they gave up quickly in that game. If you've
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: ever been to College Park, that place is not a
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: great atmosphere, so I can't imagine... what it was like
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: in their stadium Saturday as they got beat 54-3 from UCLA.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: You generally don't see the cross-country traveling team play that
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: well in the Big Ten. The data and the history
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: we've seen have shown that those games are always a
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: little like USC went out to Rutgers. It was a
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: seven-point game. And you could argue Maryland's better than Rutgers.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: And UCLA went out there and just hammered them in
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: their own place.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: So what does this mean? They have people. They actually
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: have a couple of good defensive players. They've got a 350,000-pound
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: nose guard. They've got a linebacker that will hit you.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: So is it just coaching and experience? Exactly what is
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: it in your view?
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I used this analogy a couple times this week.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: They're like the basketball team. When you go through warm-ups,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: you're like, holy cow, we've got to play these guys.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, they look really good in warm-ups off the bus.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I remember last year watching them on field level and warm-ups.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I'm like, man, they've got to have good-looking guys on
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: this roster. But they're not connected. I think that's the issue.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: You can have a lot of talent on a team,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: but if you don't play connected and things go wrong.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: They've had some key injuries, too. Their starting running back
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: could be back this week, but he's been out. One
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: of their best defensive players, if not their best defensive player,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: got hurt in training camp. They've had a couple of
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: setbacks recently. early in the year that have hurt them
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: because they're not a good running team, but they have
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: good pass rushers and athletic ability on the edge on defense.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: They will rush the passer, and Nebraska's going to probably
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: combat that with the screen game. We saw that last
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: year in College Park. Isaiah Hunter had that huge screen
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: play in that game last year because of just the
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: way Maryland plays and the aggressive style they play on
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the edge.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Well, it seems to me that Nebraska, which has committed
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: to the run through the first four games of the year,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: there can be no arguing about that. Nebraska's been averaging
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: 40 rushes per game through the first four games. That
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: is tied for first place in the Big Ten Conference
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: with a goal of 150. But it seems to me
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: that given their defensive problems, we're going to see the
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: ball in the air a lot tomorrow.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of it, too, is the running back situation.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Jamal Rule listed as doubtful, and guys, Mekhi Nelson showed
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: up on the report yesterday as questionable. I don't know
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: if he got dinged up in practice this week or
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: where he's at, but the running back situation health-wise is
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: something to keep tabs on for Nebraska. As Isaiah Mosey,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: obviously healthy, Vince Genitone, what will that picture look like
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: in this game?
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, so the Sean Callahan keys to the game would be?
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Don't let quarterback Lake Washington get early confidence. He's a
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: guy that's talented. He's an NFL-level guy. Don't let him
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: get going. Find the big plays in the run game.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: I think Nebraska last week had just three runs over
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: 10-plus yards in the game, only two from the tailback.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Play a clean game on special teams. I think that's
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: a given for Nebraska. That's been kind of an issue
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: the first four weeks. Win the early downs on defense
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: because you don't want Maryland to go up-tempo. Up-tempo has
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: been a problem, at least last week it was, for
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Nebraska's defense. So win the early downs. Then Rob Orridge
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: can sub all his exotic packages in on third-down passing downs.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: And then don't get caught looking ahead. We know what's
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: coming next week. All right. A big stage to Lincoln,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: but don't get caught looking ahead.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, big guy. Thank you. And remember, we've got the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Husker Online pregame show at 6 o'clock tonight on your
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: way to your favorite high school game. If you want
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the actual, real, high-caliber, high-quality, great insight pregame show on radio,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: this is the one, which means you can spend all
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: tomorrow doing chores before the Nebraska game. But that's at
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: 6 o'clock tonight on 1110 KFB.