It’s time for another 2015 NCAA Football preview as we come closer to the start of the 2015-16 season, so we preview the always powerful Cornhuskers of Nebraska, who last season were called the running offensive machine, as they had one of the better running game in College football. However, their passing game was not equal. Their star RB of 2014, A. Abdullah is now in the NFL so going into the 2015 season they will have to adapt a different game strategy.
We wonder if the Cornhuskers with a new coach M. Riley and a senior QB T. Armstrong Jr., if they can remain one of the top offenses in college football.
That remains to be seen since they lost their power back Abdullah to the NFL, as he in 2014 scored 19 TD’s on 1,612 rushing yards, as the Cornhuskers were 1 of the better rushing teams in the Big 10 and were 19th in the nation with some 3,124 yards last season.
There 2 backup RB in Newby and Cross will now have to lead the running offense, and last year they played well with each scoring 5 TD’s, as Newby averaged 4.5 yards each carry, and Cross averaged some 5.1 yards each carry in 2014. So this season with a new coach Nebraska will change their look of their attack as they are going to a pro-type offense, which means QB Armstrong Jr. will do more passing and less running in 2015, even though he rushed 6 TD’s with some 705 yards on the ground in 2014.
This season the QB will have 4 good deep receivers to help in J. Turner, A. Moore, D. Peirson and J. Westerkamp.
So this season the key in the Nebraska offense is with QB Armstrong who is training with QB Coach & Offensive Coordinator Leinsdorf to assist him to improve his air attack. Last season he had 12 interceptions, 22 TD’s, 2696 yards passing with a 53% completion rate. They anticipate with the new offense, that the QB should move up in the passing efficiency percentages.
The fact that Armstrong has a good arm, and is an excellent runner should get the attention of opposing defenses this season, and he should move up in the Big 10 rankings for the West division at least.
An important and crucial game this season comes on the 7th of November 2015 at home against the Big 10 powerhouse in the Spartans of Michigan State and their 10th game of this season. Presuming that Nebraska is undefeated to that point, they will need a win over the Spartans, if they are to secure a slot in the playoffs for the 2015-16 seasons. This will be a big home game, and on National Television, and the Cornhuskers in home games since 1996 against MSU are at 3 wins and 1 loss.
The best the fans can expect for this season is for the new offense to thrive and the Cornhuskers end the season as 2nd in the Big Ten Conference. The worst outcome would be for Nebraska to struggle with the implementation of the new offense, and they drop out of the running for the Big Ten Title.
For those thate Bet on Collge football at SBG sportsbook, the experts predict that the Cornhuskers of Nebraska will win the West of the Big Ten, and then lose the Conference Title game to the Spartans of Michigan State.