Nebraska trounces UTEP in season opener
Behind the arm of a newcomer, Huskers start hot in a tune-up game against the UTEP Miners.
LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - College football is back, and the Huskers are ready to kick off their 2024 campaign.
Nebraska hosts the University of Texas-El Paso at Memorial Stadium in Saturday’s season opener, as hope springs eternal for a program that enters the year looking for its first .500 season since 2016.
Standing in their way, though, is a UTEP team that would love nothing more than to spoil the party in Nebraska freshman QB Dylan Raiola’s first appearance in a Husker uniform.
IN-GAME UPDATES
PREGAME COVERAGE
The sun is rising a new season, as stadiums across the country prepare to welcome their primary residents back inside their walls. College football has returned, and with it, an entirely new landscape.
Change is the theme of the 2024 college football season, with teams scattered about new conferences like toys on a child’s playroom floor. But in Lincoln, Neb., much has remained the same.
Nebraska is still in the Big Ten, Matt Rhule is back for his second year in command of the Huskers, and fans are optimistic as they enter a season with a semblance of stability and continuity having returned to the program.
One thing is new, though: A sidearm-slinging, Houdini-scrambling son of a Husker arrived in the offseason, injecting a young, charismatic energy into a program that was desperate for exactly that. True freshman Dylan Raiola — the highest-ranked recruit to ever step foot in a Lincoln classroom — will start for Nebraska on Saturday in the team’s season opener against UTEP.
“Buckle up. It’s going to be a fun ride,” Raiola said with a grin in his press conference Monday.
GAME INFO
- WHERE: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.
- WHEN: 2:30 p.m. CT, Saturday, Aug. 31
- WATCH: FOX
- LISTEN: Huskers Radio Network
- VEGAS ODDS: UTEP +27.5, O/U 49.5
Raiola, whose dad was an All-American lineman for Nebraska in the late 1990s, has gained the confidence of Rhule and his staff over the past few months and will take the reins on a Husker offense that ranked dead last in the Big Ten Conference in passing yards a season ago.
“I think Dylan has elite arm strength,” said Rhule. “He understands all the run game checks. He understands the entire RPO game. He understands situational football. I really think he’s cleaned up his footwork in the pocket which was one of the big things.”
A new signal-caller is exciting, but it’s the returning players, especially on the defensive side of the ball, that figure to be a key to Nebraska’s success in the 2024 campaign.
A veteran core of defensive linemen consisting of Nash Hutmacher, Jimari Butler, and Ty Robinson will anchor the a Blackshirts unit that has a plethora of returning talent on the backend as well, in Isaac Gifford, Malcolm Hartzog Jr., and DeShon Singleton.
With a gargantuan primetime matchup vs. old Big 12 rival Colorado on the horizon, the Huskers will look to walk away victorious from a matchup with UTEP in which they are heavily favored. Momentum from a 1-0 start could prove valuable in next week’s showdown, but the focus is on the task at hand.
“There’s not one part of this coaching staff that we’re playing against that isn’t coming to win,” Rhule said. “Some teams play people and they’re like, ‘Hey, let’s play it close to the vest.’ No. These guys, they’re coming to win.”
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