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Huskers, Hoosiers Have a Lot of Unknowns Thus Far · Husker Buzz

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Sean, there are two teams in the country that need
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: this game more than Nebraska-Indiana. I can't find them because
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: neither one has played much of a schedule so far,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: so their stats have to be taken with an asterisk.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: What say you?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you look at just who Nebraska and Northwestern, or
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Indiana play at Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan State for Nebraska, Maryland,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Rutgers for Indiana. Just no real test in the non-conference.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: It is a measuring stick. I mean, this is a
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Hoosier team. That's the defending national champions, but they had
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: eight draft picks a year ago that are gone. They've
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: got some new transfer players. So you don't have a
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: full feel of how good of a team this is
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: for them. We think it's a playoff team, but we
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: still don't know what type of playoff-level team they are.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Nebraska's 5-0, and nobody nationally is really giving them the
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: respect until they win a game like this.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Both teams gave up a lot of yards on the ground.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: in their first Big Ten games, Nebraska against Maryland and
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Indiana against Northwestern. Northwestern played very, very well at Bloomington
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, and Nebraska had its moments of, uh-oh,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: here we go again against Maryland. What was your take
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: from those two games?
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, the rushing defense for Nebraska wasn't as bad as...
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: think it was. When you break down the numbers, Maryland
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: had 151 rushing yards, but they did average 6.3 yards
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: on sack-adjusted rushes. They didn't run it a lot versus Nebraska,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: but they were effective enough. They got down. They had
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: to throw it more. I think the up-tempo is what
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: can hurt Nebraska when you can't sub and get the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: packages on the field that you want to get out
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: there at times. That's where we've seen maybe Nebraska's defense
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: have some issues with Obviously, a couple breakdowns in coverage
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: have led to the biggest plays all year. The Caleb
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Benning breakdown Saturday and then the Jeremiah Charles breakdown from
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: the first game of the year in coverage. Those are
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: the two big busts that we've seen. Other than that,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I think Rob Orch's crew has been really good. They
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: lead the conference right now in sacks, so they've done
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: some good things effectively. But Indiana is going to test them.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: They have two backs that... are essentially averaging 100 yards
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: per game turbo. Their main guy has more 20-plus yard
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: runs already than they had all of last year from
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  Speaker 2: their starting running back. So they've got a big play
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: element with the running backs that really would concern you
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: if you don't wrap up and tackle while it's game.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Josh Hoover, their transfer quarterback from TCU, has
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: a 203 quarterback rating. That's very, very high.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's Kurt Cignetti. He took Fernando Mendoza as
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: a solid Cal quarterback and turned him into a Heisman.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: He's just got a gift of developing these quarterbacks and
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: putting them in the right place and kind of putting
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: his fingerprints on everything they do. He's not flashy by
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: any means, but he does everything right. And that's why
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: they wanted him. He's the guy they brought in. They
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: could have taken Brandon Sorsby, obviously. They're glad they didn't
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: go down that road. They were on Hoover right away
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: and brought him in.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he probably knew exactly who he wanted. Cignetti knew
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: exactly what he was looking for, and Hoover was that.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Of course, the overarching... A millstone around the Nebraska program
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: right now, Sean O, is 0-30 in their last 30
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: games against ranked opponents. And Luke Lindenmeyer, you were probably
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: there listening to it. He's got a little chippy. He
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: says we call it rat poison when you talk about
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: how Nebraska's not been able to beat ranked teams. I mean,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: do you think they're feeling the pressure on this a
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: little bit?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's just one of those stats you
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: can't really put a finger on because you It's unthinkable.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, when you have 30 opportunities, you're going to
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: get one. I mean, Nebraska's got none. So it is
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: a tough one, and they're going to play two back-to-back
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: playoff-level teams in the next two weeks in Indiana and Oregon.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: They'll get a chance at it. They're going to be
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: underdogs in both games. So that's the thing, guys, when
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: you talk about the 0-30 situation. I don't know how
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: many of those games Nebraska really has been a favorite
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: in over the years of those 30. But you still
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: should be able to pull one off. Mike Riley pulled
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: one off against Michigan State when they won the Big Ten.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: So you should be able to do it. It just
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: takes playing the perfect game or playing to your standard.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: And we just haven't seen Nebraska get up and play
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: at that level. And these games that matter, they've come close. Again,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: it's like Ohio State before and Michigan. But they just
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: haven't been able to finish these types of games off.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: All right, buddy. We'll talk about special teams tomorrow. That's
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: KFB Husker Info strongman Sean Callahan. And remember, the online
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: pregame show is Friday night at 6 on your way
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: to a high school game. Just tell everybody in the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: car to shut up. Do a Chuck Grassley. Tell them
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: to shut up. Are you ready to shut up? Yeah,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: tell all the people in your car to shut up
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and then listen to Sean and the guys do the
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: online pregame. The Husker online pregame show, 6 o'clock Friday night.