Huskers need a bounceback performance

While every game is important, chances are very few would have circled Saturday’s game for Nebraska against Arkansas State as a pivotal contest but that’s exactly the position the Huskers are in after Saturday’s 36-30 loss at UCLA.

Sun Belt teams very seldom inspire fear but the Red Wolves are hardly a pushover and while the Huskers looked a long way from being a BCS bowl team last week, they need to win this one to keep those hopes even remotely alive.

Arkansas State might not have a roster littered with guys that will play on Sundays but head coach Gus Malzahn, who is Auburn’s former offensive coordinator, is a very good offensive mind. The Red Wolves gained up 530 yards on Oregon in a 56-34 Week 1 loss. Granted, many of those yards came after the Ducks raced to a 29-0 lead after one quarter but Nebraska’s defense had its own troubles in giving up the most total offensive yards in school history (632) against UCLA. That futility exceeded even the nightmare 2007 season under then defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove.

Arkansas State isn’t going to sniff a BCS bowl this season, but the Huskers had visions of such before the season. The loss to UCLA, however, dropped Nebraska out of the Top 25 and there’s no guarantee the Huskers return to the Top 25 even with a decisive win Saturday but lose this game and doubts will continue to fester.

 

Offensively, the Red Wolves have a talented quarterback-running back combination with Ryan Aplin and David Oku, who is not known for his power, but he can go the distance whenever he touches it. Oku has 211 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries. While Oku is not in the class of UCLA’s Jordan Franklin, who had a 200-plus yard rushing day against the Huskers, he can cause problems.

The Red Wolves won’t throw it deep a whole lot, but their short passes can be problematic. You won’t find them huddling up, and they don’t allow defenders to rest for a second. Nebraska’s pass rush has been absent the first two games.

For Nebraska on offense, running back Rex Burkhead is listed as questionable with a knee injury, in which case the onus falls on quarterback Taylor Martinez. The junior signal-caller has thrown for 533 yards, five touchdowns and one interception so far this season. He looks like a completely different passer in the pocket, and his 100-plus rushing yards in Week Two show that he can still move.

The Huskers enter the contest as a 24-point favorite but after their performance last week it’s hard to imagine them winning that decisively but the Huskers have normally rebounded well under head coach Bo Pelini after poor performances.