Nebraska Football: Three Surprises, Two Questions and a Prediction Huskers News Matt Rhule Dylan Raiola Jacory Barney Brian Buschini

Three surprises

The two best offensive players are true freshmen.

At this point I would argue that the two best players on the offensive side of the ball are Dylan Raiola and Jacory Barney. I think at the start of the season many would have expected Raiola to play well and be the best player on the offensive side. However, I haven’t heard from anyone that Jacory Barney might be on this list. At this point in the season, he leads the team with 397 all-purpose yards. Raiola, on the other hand, seemed to be something of a revelation with how well he handled the ball, at times making shots that hadn’t been seen on this program in a long time.

The best player on defense is a walk-on from Omaha.

Ty Robinson may have something against me, but at this point I think the best player on defense is John Bullock. He leads the team in tackles and is perhaps my best example of the growth this coaching staff has made in this program. Bullock joined the team as a walk-on in 2019 and received a scholarship from Matt Rhule in 2023.

Rhule said this year that when Bullock emerged, he was playing in the secondary and was possibly 4th or 5th on the depth chart. Rhule then suggested moving Bullock to linebacker, and that seemed to be a great decision. It looks like Bullock is well on his way to playing an all-conference season.

Punter Brian Buschini would win Nebraska a game by punting and throwing a pass.

Did you know that Brian Buschini currently has a passer rating of 352.0?

Yes, that’s a ridiculous statistic since he threw one pass, but that was one of the best plays of the game against Rutgers when he completed a 30-yard pass to Jaylen Lloyd. Especially since this was due to two punts being blocked.

Despite having two blocked punts, Buschini averaged 50.2 yards per punt against Rutgers with a long of 69 yards, which turned the field for Nebraska.

It was that punt that I said out loud to my wife, “Holy _____ Nebraska is going to make it.”

I think it was Brian Buschini’s game.

Two questions

I believe that Marcus Satterfield and Glenn Thomas (co-offensive coordinators) are extremely creative, but I wonder if against a team like Iowa/Wisconsin and Nebraska it takes three yards to win the game, if there is anything, that you can rely on at this moment?

Has Nebraska’s defense really figured it out after the disaster against Illinois, or will it be exposed in the coming weeks?

A prediction

Nebraska will right the ship when it comes to special teams snapping, holding and kicking. Obviously Brian Buschini isn’t the problem, but I think Nebraska will figure it out before it’s too late.

At least I hope so.