Nebraska vs Maryland: No Daydreaming, Just Handle Business

The Profizer's Pigskin Preview

There are a lot of things that Husker fans could get used to after witnessing this past weekend’s game. Road wins of any kind will be taken. A QB who can make something out of nothing. A defense that was getting after the opposing QB. +3 turnover margin. And one of the rarest things of the entire night. The Huskers, that’s right, the University of Nebraska Football team started to get some things to break their way.

Because of this, everyone is going to try and minimize the win. May even claim we would have lost if Michigan State didn’t lose half of their roster to injury throughout the game (admittedly, it was a borderline crime scene out there). They may claim that we got some crazy calls to go our way. They may even go so far as to call Nebraska lucky. I don’t really care what you want to call it. I have seen this program snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory one too many times to care how we win. It’s time to just win baby.

Now, was it a perfect game for the Big Red? Not even close. It still felt like we were letting a bad team stick around too long. Just a real lack of killer instinct. How many times in that first half did Nebraska have to bury them and crush all hope? We nearly didn’t score any points at the end of the first half at all until big Vince Genatone bailed us out with the 13-yard catch and run on a dump-off with :10 seconds left. There is nearly a 1:1 player to staff ratio at this point. Can we please have someone assist in managing the clock? Also, the mystery of the offense coming out of halftime and immediately going into their shells remains. I don’t know what is happening in the locker room during halftime, but it sure as hell is not resulting in productivity on the field in the third quarter.

You can sit and nit-pick all day long, discuss how penalties are beginning to become a real issue, but at the end of the day, the Huskers won the game, and I see plenty that this team can build on. The defense came to play. Yes, Cam Edwards went down, but Aurich’s Blackshirts held up against the first B1G rushing attack it has faced, and it finally turned up the pressure. Free rushers cashing in sacks. And Williams Nwaneri might just be rounding into the edge player that he was thought to be coming out of high school. Anthony Colandrea appears to have found his favorite target in Kwazi Gilmer and continues to make plays with his legs to pick up first downs that just were not happening in years past. And this week, we have a half dead Terrapin coming to Lincoln to attempt to build off this momentum.

That’s right. The Maryland Terrapins are coming limping into Lincoln this Saturday afternoon, licking their wounds after getting blasted by UCLA at home 54-3. Now, I know Bob Chesney has had a lot of success at his stops, and Nico Iamaleava is a talent at the QB position, but to walk into someone’s house and beat them that way was surprising to say the least. It is probably safe to say Mike Locksley is on the hot seat and Nebraska’s job is merely to turn that temperature up. The Huskers’ job is simple: put these turtles back in their terrarium, turn up the heat under Mike Locksley’s seat and keep the momentum rolling toward what could be an undefeated showdown with the defending national champions. But first up, Maryland and The Profizer will be looking for these three things. If they happen, Mike could be flying back to College Park on his own. It’s Nebraska vs Maryland. Huskers vs Terrapins. This is the Profizer’s Pigskin Preview.

1.      No Daydreaming – Yes. This team is 4-0. But this is not a team that can afford to be looking ahead. Maryland took a drubbing last week. That is undeniable. But they still have weapons and a very capable QB in Malik Washington. Just two short weeks ago, he carved up Virgina Tech for 359 yards and 3 TDs.  And you don’t have to look back very far in Husker history to know that last year Malik was able to carve up John Butler’s Blackshirts through the air, completing 74% of his passes for 249 yards and a TD. Now, Dylan did arguably have one of his worst games as a Husker, but the fact of the matter is, we escaped College Park with a 3-point win last year. 2026 brings a different animal, but this Maryland team will be looking to get a real bad taste out of their mouth and may feel like they are playing for their coach’s life. Those are dangerous teams, the ones with nothing to lose. Indiana is going to be there next week regardless of what happens on Saturday. The only question is can Nebraska hold up our end of the bargain and make it a matchup of undefeated teams?

2.      No Fly Zone – Four games in and it would appear that Andrew Marshall could be a lockdown type of player for the Blackshirts. The real question becomes who is playing opposite of him? So far this year we have seen a mixture of Victor Evans, Jerimah Charles, and the true freshman Danny Odem. Odem and Evans appear to be taking the lion’s share of the reps in recent weeks. Stop Malik Washington and you stop Maryland. It really is that simple. This Maryland offense revolves around this young man. Aurich is going to have to turn up the heat on Washington, force quick decisions and allow the backend to go to work. If you let Maryland hit the big play in the passing game, this game will get uncomfortable in a hurry. This will be the Blackshirts’ toughest passing attack faced to date. Malik threw four picks last week. Don’t let Lincoln be where he finds his mojo again.

3.      Re-establish the Run Game – The Huskers, although dominating the rushing statistics in East Lansing, did see a noticeable drop off in the running back production from the first three games of the season. This offensive line and running back group has to get back to owning the line of scrimmage. The rushing attack cannot all be put on the shoulders of Colandrea. Even before Jamal Rule went down against Michigan State, he wasn’t quite ripping them off like he had been. Some of that is going to be a learning curve for the freshman against a B1G defense, but until we can get him back and healthy, it’s time for the older guys, Mozee and Nelson to step in and fill the void. They appear capable and this game can be the one to showcase exactly what they’ve got. If Rule isn’t 100%, this should be a game where Nebraska doesn’t need to force him back onto the field. Nelson and Mozee can carry the load. Maryland just got their asses kicked. Test their will all game long. Body blow after body blow. Do they really want to do that for four quarters? We will find out.

Don’t look now, but this is Nebraska’s first 4-0 start since 2016. That just so happens to be the last time that Nebraska was able to knock off a ranked opponent. With all the rain the past month, it’s been hard to read the stars, but there is a little gurgle in the Profizer’s gut. The feeling you can’t quite put your finger on. Is it a fart? Or is it a shit? More importantly, how much do you trust it? Well, 5-0 can really start answering some questions. Nebraska hasn’t done that since 2010. Big boy FOX has already slated this upstart Cornhusker team for B1G Noon against Indiana. It’s a trap that this team needs to avoid. Nothing has been proven, and nothing will be given. Handle business. Dispatch the Terps. Show we are worthy.

Maybe they’re lucky. Maybe they’re actually good. Maybe we’re all just hopeless Nebraska romantics. Beat Maryland, get to 5-0, and we’ll talk about it all again next week.

Toe meets leather at 3pm in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Turtles will be caged by 6:30pm.

Nebraska 37 – Maryland 20