Michigan is 5-0 on the season and if they want to get to 6-0, they'll need to get through Lincoln unscathed on Saturday night. How worried should they be? Luckily we have FFFF here to tell us, starting today with the Nebraska offense. The Huskers put up 56 on Northwestern last weekend and have the fanbase riding high. Adrian Martinez is still around and this is definitely a Scott Frost offense now. Let's take a gander at what it looks like:
The Film: Unfortunately, for the offense, we had to use Nebraska's most recent game against Northwestern. The reason is that the Huskers recently reshuffled their offensive line and so even though the MSU tape may be against a much better opponent, it's actually less useful than the Northwestern tape. And I say that despite knowing, as you will see in these clips, that Northwestern is really, really bad. Like, Hard To Believe That They're This Bad After Going 7-2 Last Season bad. So there's only so much that can be learned from this tape due to that limiting factor, but also the OL change was significant enough that we have to go with this tape. There's also less tape to examine as a result, since Nebraska took their starters out late in the third quarter. All this said, we will do what we can with this. Personnel: The picture. Nebraska still has Adrian Martinez at QB and you're going to hear a ton about him in this piece. He's in his fourth year as the starting QB, which means he'll have faced Michigan twice in his career, with his first appearance being featured in the main photo for this article. The RB room in the game I watched was really split between two players, Jacquez Yant and Rahmir Johnson. Yant hadn't been used heavily this season and then suddenly erupted in this game and you'd have to think his nature as the Hot Hand means he'll feature in a starring role this Saturday. Johnson has been a mainstay this whole season and leads the team in (non-Martinez) carries. Markese Stepp and Sevion Morrison also got carries in this game. At WR Samori Toure is the clear #1 option, followed by speedster Zavier Betts and big outside receiver Omar Manning. Old Friend Oliver Martin has been averaging a catch or two per week, and Levi Falck got two catches in the game I saw. Nebraska likes to use two TEs quite a bit, with 6'8" Austin Allen being a humongous and favored target, in addition to a key blocker, while Travis Vokolek is also a used blocker, though not quite the receiving option. The reshuffled offensive line looks like the following: Teddy Prochazka at LT, notable because the 6'8" lineman is an in-stater and top 250 recruit but is also a true freshman starting at left tackle. He was the big change that was made after the MSU game. Turner Corcoran has kicked out to RT after previously starting on the left side, which has demoted the much-maligned Bryce Benhart to the second string after Benhart was relentlessly abused by the Spartans. Nouredin Nouili has now made two starts at LG, while veterans Cam Jurgens and Matt Sichterman are starting at their usual spots of center and right guard, respectively. [AFTER THE JUMP: WE HUSK SOME CORN]