The HuskerOnline Friday Forecast: Nebraska Football vs UTEP I Nebraska Huskers I GBR

well Husker fans the wait is almost over Friday forecast time UTEP comes to town 135th season of Husker football nearly ready to kick off Sean you've seen all of Camp what was your big takeaway coming out of camp with this Nebraska team a lot of new pieces but a lot of experience I would say a lot of status quo and that's the sign of a veteran team the only ores that we saw on any depth chart positions were running back which I think we kind of thought was expected and then kicker um and those questions with CH alvano other than that across the board I mean this defense is very much established nine of the um you know 11 starters are single digit Jersey Wars and on offense we know that offensive line and their makeup um you know the receiver in group the receiver group is kind of interesting I thought Jan iron boner very notable that he's emerged in this new role where he's a true number one slot guy uh but I'm excited let's play a game now yeah we got banks in neor as well newcomers on the wide receiving Corp and obviously I a lot of people want to see what Carter Nelson brings to the table but we can't go any further without talking Dylan Rola he won the job the true freshman just the second in husker history first since Adrien Martinez to start the opener as a true freshman right and and you look at I I think riola is a lot further ahead right now than where Martinez was because if you remember Martinez's first spring he was coming off the shoulder injury so he's very Rusty returning and we really didn't know he was going to win that job back then over jebby it went all the way down to the wire before they went with Martinez is um this situation I think we've almost known really since April that it was going to be Rola it just a matter of how and when and he's operated and you know gone about it as if he's the starter with his approach and and that's been impressive I think it's going to be interesting too because last year under Matt rule they had to kind of pivot offensively because they lost their starting quarterback and really had to redesign their entire offensive scheme this year we'll get a better picture of what this offense is all about in Marcus saterfield will we not no there's no doubt the old saying it's not the X's and O's it's the jimmies and the Joe's in Nebraska was down Jimmy Joe and JN last year I mean it was it was not it was it wasn't every it was not when you think about it their top two running backs their top group of receivers and they essentially went with who was their third quarterback Hunter carberg was almost an afterthought when you think about where it was going into the year because you had Jeff Sims you had chubba pie you had all these things in place um and then Harbor kind of winning that role it's a much different feeling here not only that with r Rola but even harburg's experience I think helps his football team no question and harber did win five games and he's that the ready it should something happen to Dylan defensively they're going to get a test because UTEP has a high Play Count they want to move the tempo and they want to they want to snap the ball quickly do they not yeah Scotty Walden a high Tempo coach from Austin P 34 years old uh I believe the youngest in FBS if not by like oneyear separation one of the youngest for sure in the game of football he had 11 transfers Andy follow him from Austin P including four wide receivers along with his starting running back and one of his quarterbacks so a heavy group of those skill players came with him and and you're going to see those guys they will not look like a year one group because these guys all played for Walden a year ago and the same coaching staff yeah Walden's 34 years old second youngest in college football in terms of a head coach his offensive coordinator is Jake Brown a guy who coordinated Louisiana Tech so he knows all about Matt rule and Nebraska yeah and it was funny at the satellite camps this summer those guys were there and you know ran into a player that was on that Louisiana Tech Team from another team that transferred to the school we were at there and he he he said that we thought we had Nebraska he goes we looked at that game you know was really a tight game at Halftime and we thought we could win the game and so he's very confident he knows Nebraska's Personnel they are not coming here just to get a paycheck obviously we've seen week zero in some of the results with Georgia Tech even Nevada nearly beating uh SMU as a four touchdown Underdog should get your attention yeah no question Matt rule said this team UTEP is coming here not to play they're coming here to Lincoln to win so that kind of gets your antenna up what are you expecting on Saturday well I think Nebraska's secondary really helps them I I think you've got grown men back there they're physical and look these receivers for UTP I don't look at them as big physical bodies they're going to try to cross you up kind of create confusion that's where Nebraska I think has an advantage in this game with the experience they have on the back end and the physicality to tackle um and then the defensive line can Nebraska's defensive line control the line of skirmish to allow Nebraska to keep seven or even eight guys in coverage at at certain moments of this game um you know the West Morland who is The Edge rusher for UTP NFL level player he was a first Team allconference USA player stayed on the team would have probably been a power five transfer so the left tackle play or the right tackle wherever they move him around is going to get a challenge here from West Morland um is a very good Edge rusher and finally we got to mention special teams obviously the return units didn't do a whole lot last year we'll see what happens if they take another step but obviously the kicking game has been a major point of of concern here in Camp yeah I think Tristan alvano it's almost been good that John Hall has come in and looked good because he can't just kind of casually walk back into his role he knows he's got a legitimate Contender how that's handled I would think John Hall does the kickoffs now it's the field goals um on short kicks would they go with alvano and then on longer ones would be Hall I mean I you wonder if there's going to be a plan or how they go about this here in the opener and finally I got to ask you this or talk about this they're switching Sidelines so a new look for Husker fans Huskers are going to you got to fly in your forehead as we go into our final take the Huskers are switching Sidelines so it's a new look for them and there's a couple new rules I want to mention yeah new sideline but you talk about the two-minute warning now or the two-minute timeout I think NL must have that copyrighted but they're going to get that in the second and the fourth quarters there's going to now be eight tablets so hopefully the beefed up Wi-Fi Troy Danon and the athletic department put into the stadium is going to help those 18 white they might have to say hey everybody get off their internet because we need our iPads working on the sidelines 23 headsets but the the helmet headsets as well for the quarterback and uh one of the linebackers whoever they designate as the player to have that so big changes and they'll get live feeds essentially of plays as they happen um which will help coaches and eliminate things that we saw maybe at Michigan a year ago we'll see what happens Nebraska almost a four touchdown favorite to take on and beat UTEP on Saturday kickoff at 2:30 at Memorial Stadium