When The Mirror’s head is down and typing the play-by-play on home Saturday’s at Memorial Stadium I often wonder what other people are thinking as they watch the football game.

Surely, on Saturday most everyone was in a good mood, right? Nebraska looked like they played pretty good football in a 40-7 (great teams cover) win over Texas-El Paso.

We noticed a few things, but are going to try to keep it to three quick points (with grades at the end) in our first “in-season” edition of The Rear View Mirror. Maybe we’ll have more words after Deion comes to town on Saturday. But, it looked like Nebraska might be a team that could turn a corner in 2024. We hope so anyway.

Before we get going, head over thank our sponsor South Central Chiropractic in Sutton. And, if you missed the preseason version, it’s right here for you to breeze through.

Spinning It

The Mirror is always leery of “crowning” recruits. They are 18-year old kids for Pete’s sake. That said, in the world we live in some of them act like they want to be crowned (wink emoji) without even doing anything when they get on campus.

So, that brings us to young Mr. Dylan Raiola. We will live in fear of typing his name correctly up in the press box this fall. All those vowels in a row are tough. At any rate, we better be ready.

Does 15 change things for Nebraska? Certainly. But, the Huskers have clearly upgraded around him, no doubt. Isaiah Neyor and Jahmal Banks are a duo that Nebraska has not had in some time. Physical and fast. It will be interesting to watch them as the competition changes.

We noted in the press box when Alex Bullock caught a third quarter pass for 12 yards that it was the first time we saw him. And, he started eight games in 2023. Not only does that say a bunch about the upgrade, but it says much about Alex, too. He’s accepted a new role and is still living his Husker dream.

So, Raiola “spun it” to the tune of 19-for-27 (that’s 70.4% if you are counting at home), 237 yards and no interceptions in game one. The quarterback rotation in 2023 was 52.1% for the season. Only 14 players in FBS football were over 68% last season (seven were over 70%). Again, the competition will change, but it’s a number worthy of following.

(We should also note here that Heinrich Haarberg was 5-for-5 and it appears Nebraska may have a goal line package for him. We’d like to see him with a running back near the goal line, however. Expect this wrinkle to expand as the season moves on.)

We noted in the first Mirror that if Nebraska could run 40 to throwing 20 that it might be a good formula for “winning” football in 2024. On Saturday, Nebraska ran 47 times and threw 36 (factor in the one sack and that changes to 46-37). Getting the rushing average up a bit will be a big factor as conference play hits.

But, if we are going to run 83 plays a game, then, well, 50-55 runs may suffice. We might against Colorado. But The Mirror doubts we will have many games north of 70 in Big Ten play.

Special Teams

Point two. I thought Ed Foley had a pretty darn day. Maybe we missed a few things, but here is what jumped out to us.

The Returners. Good for Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, back from last year’s injury, and working to give himself a role at punt returner. Nebraska has 16 punt returns for 48 yards in 2023. On Saturday, IGC had three for 25 and a long of 13. Can he bust one?

The same could be said for Jacory Barney and the kick return unit. Save Carter Nelson’s blind side block on the opening kick (think he was jacked up?) this a was another bright spot. Barney returned three kicks for 75 yards with long of 35 and he appears to have a good buddy back there in Emmett Johnson (sheesh). Nebraska only returned 14 kicks last year for 24 yards per return.

Coverage. Save a late UTEP punt return that skewed Nebraska’s net punting average (Brian Buschini only punted twice) the coverage on kickoffs appeared to be excellent. None of the UTEP kick returns got to the 25, a big win in today’s college football. I hope John Hohl gets a decent grade from his coaches after that one, it appeared he was doing what they needed him to do.

The Standard

The Mirror took an extra walk all the way around the stadium on Saturday just to get that full game day feel. We might make it a tradition. The new practice facility is, ummm, really good.

If you snuck a peak inside the southwest corner of the facility on the northeast side of the stadium, you could see “the standard” on a giant video board. It’s likely one of many in the building is our guess. So, how did Nebraska do in game one. Let’s grade it out.

1. Win the turnover battle. A win is a win is a win in this category for the Huskers. Next week will be a true litmus test. But, what did we see? A Dante Dowdell fumble and he did not return (accountability). And, two interceptions for the Nebraska defense. Regarding Dowdell’s fumble at the 4, the Blackshirts defense responded with a safety almost worked as effectively as forcing another turnover. GRADE: B+. 

2. Most physical team in football. Well, if you clicked on Emmett Johnson’s block that might tell you a bit of the story. Nebraska had “nice” runs and one long one (Johnson’s 42-yard one that Raiola a checked, too). But, a little more consistency would make life easier in the Big Ten. That said 4.7 yards a rush (only two negative plays by back ups) and one sack. Maybe a few MORE runs? GRADE: B-.

3. Culture of execution. One turnover. Three penalties (two offensive pass interference calls; we didn’t think one was correct, neither did Matt). The other penalty was the kick out of bounds. So, no false starts. No holding penalties. All the things you look at in a first game that you hope to carry over two week two. GRADE: A-.

So, here we go. Next week in Primetime (pun intended). We are excited to be able to share this with you for the 2024 football season. Always free thanks to our sponsor. Be careful. You might get what you pay for.