It has now been over three months since the Michigan football team raised the national championship trophy back in January at NRG Stadium in Houston. It was a season to remember in college football as it was the last year of the four-team College Football Playoff, and it was also the last year of the Pac-12. There are going to be a lot of changes next season, and there have also been a lot of changes in this offseason already in terms of coaching moves and the transfer portal. Now, spring football is well underway, and a sense of hope has returned to college football fans. Nebraska football has their spring game next week, and Cornhuskers fans can’t wait for that, and also the season.
Spring football is a special time of year as fans across the country get to see their new team in action for the first time. It’s hard to tell much about a team from spring practices, but it’s still fun to see the teams on the field competing against each other, and football fans are all eager for the new season to roll around. The first few months of the offseason are tough to get through and the football season seems so far away. Now, the weather is warming up, and you can sense that the new season is nearing. There is still a ways to go, but it’s coming.
This next season of college football is going to be an exciting one, and there are a ton of reasons to be looking forward to it. There are a lot of changes coming to the game like rule changes, coaching changes, conference changes and playoff changes. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the new season will be the new conferences. The Pac-12 is gone, and the Big Ten and SEC are going to be loaded. They both seem to be on the verge of forming super conferences.
The SEC will be welcoming Texas and Oklahoma to the conference next year, and the Big Ten is getting a good crop of Pac-12 teams as USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are all joining the conference. Both the Big Ten and the SEC are going to be absolutely loaded next year, and it seems like more schools will potentially join the conferences in the future.
Next season, the College Football Playoff will look different as well as it is expanding to 12 teams. There will also be first round games on college campuses. More teams will have a chance to make the CFP, and there will be more games. It’s going to be fun.
Nebraska football needs to have a good 2024 season
The past decade hasn’t been kind to the Nebraska football team, and the Cornhuskers are a traditional college football powerhouse. They have one of the best fan bases in the country, and the fan base demands excellence. It has been a long time since they got it. When Scott Frost took over as the head coach for Nebraska, it looked like they were close to getting back to the top of college football. Frost had a lot of competitive teams, including maybe the best 3-9 team ever, but he never got the Cornhuskers back.
Now, Matt Rhule is the new head coach of the Nebraska football team, and his first season in charge looked very similar to those Scott Frost teams. There were a lot of chances for wins, but when it got time to crunch time, they often folded. The Cornhuskers yet again failed to make a bowl game, and now the pressure is on a little bit more in year two for Rhule.
This season is going to be a big one, and Rhule needs to make sure that he has his best players out on the field to give his team the best chance to win. There a lot of good position battles to keep an eye on during the offseason, and here are some of the most important ones.
Quarterback
The most important offseason position battle to keep an eye on for this Nebraska football team is at the QB position. The QB position has been an issue in recent years for the Cornhuskers, and it certainly could be holding them back a little bit. However, Matt Rhule got by far his biggest commitment since coming to Nebraska in the 2024 class when Dylan Raiola flipped his commitment from Georgia to the Cornhuskers.
Raiola is one of the top prospects in the 2024 class, and he is coming to play for Nebraska. That was a massive pickup for the Cornhuskers, and Raiola is so talented that he can definitely win the starting job as a true freshman.
The biggest threat to Raiola winning the starting job is Heinrich Haarberg. Haarberg was the backup to start the year last year before taking over the starting QB duties. There’s no question that Raiola is the more talented QB with a higher ceiling, but experience will go a long way for Haarberg in this battle. No matter how talented a player is, it is still difficult to come in and be a starting QB as a true freshman.
Nebraska fans definitely want to see Dylan Raiola win the job and they are hoping that he can help turn the program around. There’s no question about it, he is the future of this team.
Running back
Seeing how Matt Rhule handles the running back situation is going to be interesting. He has a very talented RB room this year that includes two returning upperclassmen in Gabe Ervin Jr. and Rahmir Johnson, but the Cornhuskers also picked up a huge commitment in the transfer portal from Dante Dowdell, who came over from Oregon.
It will be interesting to see who ends up getting the RB1 level carries between Ervin Jr. and Johnson, and it will also be interesting to see how often Dowdell gets touches. He has a ton of talent and he was a huge portal get for the Cornhuskers, but he doesn’t have the experience that those two returners have.
Nebraska has a lot of good talent at the RB position, and it will be interesting to see how each player is utilized.
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