Indiana football will face off against the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the first time since October 2019, where the Hoosiers marched into Lincoln and handed Nebraska a 38-31 loss. Many believe Nebraska could be a top 15 team by the time they reach any hard parts of their weak schedule, besides a matchup with preseason-ranked #9 Oklahoma.
We review and prepare for the confusing Nebraska Cornhuskers squad and preview the team before Indiana football travels to Lincoln for the first time since 2019:
Opponent: Nebraska Cornhuskers
Date/Time: Saturday, October 1st at 7/7:30pm EST
TV: TBD
Location: Memorial Stadium – Lincoln, Nebraska
All-time Head-to-Head Record: 10-8-3 (.548)
Offensive Key Player(s)
Casey Thompson – #11 – QB
One season makes all the difference, and that’s no different for Nebraska’s new starting quarterback, Casey Thompson, who spent his last four years at Texas and started all 12 games last season for the Longhorns. Thompson ended last season with 2,113 passing yards and completed passes at a 63.2% clip with 24 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. In 2021, the Oklahoma City native had three games with five or more touchdowns and 300+ passing yards.
Thompson was named the starting man under center less than a week ago and this has Huskers fans thinking Nebraska will be a 10-win team this season. It’s not that far of a stretch with their easy schedule and Thompson’s talent with his arm will help the Huskers dramatically.
https://twitter.com/truthnjustice19/status/1561239054796001281
Defensive Key Player(s)
Luke Reimer – #28 – LB
As a sophomore last season, Reimer led all Cornhuskers in total tackles (108) on the season and finished fifth in the Big Ten in total tackles and eighth in solo tackles (60). Credit to his hard work paying off as Reimer was awarded Honorable Mention All-Big Ten in 2021 and seems to be headed into an All-Big Ten season in his junior season as well.
Luke Reimer is an absolute treasure. Hope we see a couple plays like this in Dublin. #GBR #Huskers pic.twitter.com/IPr9YYmfQu
— HuskerBR (@HuskerBr) July 31, 2022
Garrett Nelson – #44 – EDGE
One of four team captains for Nebraska this season, Nelson is looking to put together another solid season as he led the Huskers in tackles for loss (11.5) and sacks (5.0), and ranked tied for fourth on the squad in total tackles (57) on the season. By the end of the regular season, Nelson had the seventh most tackles for loss in the Big Ten. Needless to say, the junior finds himself in the backfield more often than not, and Indiana football’s offensive line needs to keep their head on a swivel looking for #44 from the edge.
Overall Outlook
This will be the second week of back-to-back road challenges for Indiana football taking on Nebraska in Lincoln. While I’m sure the Cornhuskers will be a heavy favorite in this matchup, don’t be surprised by the Hoosiers becoming true road warriors and bringing home, hopefully, win number four on the season to go into a matchup against the highly talented Michigan Wolverines in Week 6.