4 | August 2024
HUSKERS PREVIEW
New Big Ten has lights, action. Do Huskers get Hollywood ending?
H ello, Hollywood.
the potential to shine with Raiola air- ing things their way. Pair that with the tight ends in Thomas Fidone, Nate Boerkircher and Luke Lindenmeyer and the running backs in Gabe Ervin, Rahmir Johnson, Emmett Johnson and whomever else gets thrown into the mix and that has the potential to be pretty potent. As long as the turnovers are at a mini- mum. Defensively, take your pick. Tommi Hill. Ty Robinson. Nash Hutmacher. Jimari Butler. Princewill Umanmielen. Isaac Gifford. John Bullock. Cam Len- hardt. Don’t forget about DeShon Sin- gleton either. The pieces are there for Nebraska’s defense to be great once again. The Blackshirts are coming off one of the best seasons in recent memory, rank- ing No. 11 nationally in total defense, No. 8 in rush defense, No. 13 in scoring defense and No. 5 in first down defense in Tony White’s first season with Ne- braska. Not too shabby. Of course, there are things to shore up. More forced turnovers. Tighter pass coverage. Special teams? There’s plenty to fix there, too. Having any punt return presence at all will be better than in previous seasons. Will Nebraska have a punt or kick return touchdown for the first time since the days of JD Spielman? Can Brian Buschini return to his 2022 form? How will Tristan Alvano fare in his sophomore season? Plenty of questions are abound, but the time for talking is over. Because ready or not, it’s showtime. Lights. Camera. Action.
You’re familiar with the Big Ten, right? One of the conferences that used to play in the annual Rose Bowl?
Well, the boys are back in town. But this time, it’s to stay. Not just for the Grand- daddy of Them All. USC and UCLA, as well as Pacific Northwest powers Oregon and Wash- ington, bolted from the disintegrating Pac-12 and joined forces with the Big Ten — that move offi- cially official as of Aug. 2.
Their membership will forever change the con- ference. It’s unclear yet whether it’s for the bet- ter or the worse. There’s the travel component of a coast-to-coast con- ference. Pair that with
AMIE JUST
JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO It’s been a while since we’ve seen UCLA’s blue and gold clash with Nebraska’s scarlet and cream, as it did in this 2012 game in Los Angeles. The Huskers will play the Bruins at Memorial Stadium this season.
unbalanced schedules that no longer feature divisions. On the flip side, there will be some heavy-hitting games like Ohio State at Oregon or Penn State at USC — and those are conference games. Sure, it’ll be hard to get used to at first. Seeing the Big Ten insignia on the USC’s uniform caused double-takes, even though we all knew this was com- ing. The West Coast additions are far from the only new aspects pertaining to col- lege football this year. There’s the expanded College Football Playoff. The rules regarding countable coaches have been relaxed. Helmet communication for quarterbacks and defensive signal-callers has arrived. In the Big Ten, iPads will now be passed around the sideline for real-time evalu- ation. And more will change in the years to come, as roster limits are on the hori- zon. So is revenue sharing.
What does this mean for Nebraska? The Huskers, for better or worse, are in the spotlight. Heading into this season, Nebraska remains the only Power 4 school to not play a bowl game since 2016. Even Kansas and Vanderbilt have been to bowl games more recently. And every offseason in the past eight years has come with some level of op- timism. “This year’s the year,” goes the common refrain. Only for miscues and close losses to break hearts and turn even the most optimistic fan into a jaded one. But, after years of heartache, years of being the proverbial ugly stepsister… could this be the year? Will this be the year that Nebraska gets its Hollywood ending? It could be. On paper, it sure looks like
things could unfold in that direction. The twelve games: home against UTEP, home against Colorado, home against Northern Iowa, home against Il- linois, at Purdue, home against Rutgers, at Indiana, at Ohio State, home against UCLA, at USC, home against Wiscon- sin, at Iowa. Surely there are six wins in there somewhere, right? I think so. Especially when you factor in the starring cast. Presumed starting quarterback Dylan Raiola — five-star generational tal- ent — has the weight of the world on his shoulders. And he’s only 18 years old. But he seems to be embracing the lime- light. The receiving corps — like Isaiah Neyor, Jahmal Banks, Jaylen Lloyd, Malachi Coleman and others — all have
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