Week 1: All that matters is that we won (North Dakota)

Was it pretty? No. Was it fun? Sort of? Was it scary for the first half? Absolutely. Yet, does this matter? Of course not. The Husker football team won a game for the first time in 336 dreadful days.

Before we talk about the negatives, let’s discuss the positives. 

First off, Anthony Grant is our guy. The shiftiness of Ameer Abdullah, the awareness of Rex Burkhead, and the speed of Devine Ozigbo are all talents that Anthony Grant owns. With him burning the Northwestern Wildcats for a 46-yard touchdown run last week to both a 19-yard and another 46-yard scamper score this week, he has led us Husker fans to believe we may have found our new Running Back 1. From utilizing undersized Wan’Dale Robinson, to having our only consistent rusher be Quarterback Adrian Martinez, Husker fans have long awaited a running back to catch their eye. 

Second, Garrett Nelson showed up and showed out. Garrett Nelson after Week 0 left Husker fans afraid of having another vocal leader amount to nothing more than that. After being nearly invisible facing Northwestern’s All-American Left Tackle Peter Skoronski, Nelson was all over resulting in 8 tackles, 1 TFL, and 1 strip sack. Nelson single-handedly brought the passion for the defense all game long being the leader on the field. He fed off his nose being on the ball carrier play after play and so did the rest of the guys. Ochaun Mathis had his first Huskers Sack and Caleb Tannor rallied around the ball every play and was ready to hit someone, and the individual efforts of Marques Buford prevented a touchdown late in the third quarter. While the Husker’s defense played well enough to get the win, there is always room for improvement. 

Finally, the offensive output in the second half was promising. After watching a poor offensive showing in the first half with constant QB pressures, a fumble, and several dropped passes, coming out of the half a new team arose. Rumors are swirling that Scott Frost took over the play calling in the second half from Mark Whipple, but regardless of what the changes were and who decided them, they were effective. Running the ball became a success in the second half. Sprinkling in long ball passes and getting players open over the middle of the field. Even the offensive line seeming to have a little bit more of a push and protection of Casey Thompson, adjustments were made with points being scratched onto the board. 31 points were scored in the second half alone and that put us over the top capping off a comfortable 38-17 victory. 

However, with Husker football, it’s never just good. Coach Scott Frost said it perfectly in the postgame press conference, “This team can be a great team and it’s not right now” Today’s game was a step in the right direction, however. The Huskers won for the first time in 336 days. Meanwhile, the worst negative of this game is the fact that we played an FCS school this close. North Dakota is a good team...for the FCS. They shouldn’t have been able to hang around this Nebraska team for as long as they did. Entering halftime tied and having the crowd boo the Cornhuskers while jogging into the locker room was all that was needed to be said about the fanbases’ expectations going into Week 1. Entering the day the Huskers were -29.5 point favorites and by half, that had been cut -to -13.5 point favorites. While we covered the halftime line, the blowout both Vegas and Husker fans were expecting did not come to fruition. Nonetheless, the Huskers won by 21 giving the fans a more fulfilled feeling going into their first Sunday of September. 

While the first half was far from good, Casey Thompson gave us hope. Him finding his inner scramble artist Adrian Martinez leading us to several big first downs later leading to points were major confidence boosts to the Huskers and their fan. While there is always hope for our linemen to grow into their bodies, we have a good problem to have with our skilled positions having too much talent that not everyone sees the field. Regardless of who plays or how messy it looks, all it will ever come down to at the end of the season is Wins and Losses. And for now, we have Win Number One. 

Go Big Red.