Nebraska Needs Improved Offensive-Line Play to Make Running Game Go

Rhule knows if his team is going to be successful, the running game must improve. By definition, that means Nebraska needs improved offensive-line play. Michigan pushed around the Huskers O-line, as the Wolverines do to most O-lines.

“We’re all going to get punched in the face,” Rhule said. “Some people whine about it. Some people cover up. Some people swing back. There were times we swung back.

“We didn’t swing back nearly enough. So they know what they need to do. That’s a group of guys that love this university and love the football team and give everything they have.

“But we’re going to face another big, powerful unit on both sides of the ball. Michigan State’s offensive line and defensive line are going to come in here and try to push us around.

“We have to be ready for that … So if we get punched in the face, we can’t cover up. We got to come out swinging. I know they’re going to come out swinging, so I expect us to.”

Emmett Johnson’s season

Nebraska’s best back, Emmett Johnson, gained a solid 67 yards on 19 attempts, a 3.4-yard average. Rhule recently called Johnson an “NFL back”. His longest gain against Michigan was 14 yards. Nothing explosive there. Mekhi Nelson was the Huskers’ second-leading rusher with 19 yards on three carries.

For the season, Johnson is the fifth-leading rusher in the Big Ten with 391 yards, a 97.7 average per game.

Throughout the season, Rhule has talked about developing running-back depth. Lately, he has tinkered with the offensive line, looking for the right combination.

“I think we have a really good plan [coming off the bye week],” Rhule said. “We won’t say anything until Saturday. You guys will see it.

“But we came out of the bye week feeling really good about a lot of guys in terms of where they’re at. I think the team got a lot better last week.

“We have some clarity and we’ll have some things still to go on this week. Some guys battle things out as we go into Tuesday and Wednesday, but I think we feel good where we are.”

Huskers’ bye week

Rhule said the Huskers used the bye week to regroup and improve skills.

“We are not there running the football, we are not there stopping the run and obviously we talked about … protecting the pocket,” Rhule said.

“There’s areas we need to get significantly better at and I don’t know how to get better at running the ball and stopping the run other than practice.

“It takes all 11 guys to run the football and stop the run. That being said, I think everyone got better during the bye week and also had a chance to catch their breath over the weekend and they came back ready to work last night, we’re off today [Monday] and we’ll get after it tomorrow.”

With a quality quarterback like Raiola — who praised his O-line moments after the Michigan loss — the offensive line should know it’s urgent to protect him. Michigan sacked him seven times and pressured him 36 times on 41 dropbacks.

Raiola’s skill can carry the Huskers — if he’s not running for his life.

Nebraska (3-1) will face another challenge Saturday afternoon in the 3-1 Spartans. MSU is ranked 47th against the run at 120.5 yards per game. Sparty isn’t as stingy as Michigan, but not easy, either.