Michigan State vs. Nebraska Game Preview

After dropping its first game of the season at Notre Dame, Michigan State must regroup, and recover, before hosting Nebraska in the Big Ten opener for both teams (5 PM ET, Big Ten Network).  

The Spartans, as we know, defeated a pair of MAC teams in Toledo and Eastern Michigan before a 27-10 loss to #3 Notre Dame in South Bend.  Michigan State made a game of it into the fourth quarter but, ultimately, Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback CJ Carr and the suffocating Irish defense were too much for MSU.  

A bigger issue for Michigan State than bouncing back from their first loss of the season might be keeping their best players healthy heading into conference play.  Linebacker Jordan Hall went the whole way at Notre Dame but is still dealing with an elbow injury suffered in the opener and kept him out of the EMU game.  Hall’s linemate, Brady Pretzlaff, went out after a massive collision at Notre Dame and did not return.  On offense, leading rusher Cam Edwards had to be helped off the field late in the game after slipping on the turf and appearing to suffer some sort of left ankle injury.  

Pretzlaff’s injury certainly seems to be the most serious while Hall and Edwards potentially being hampered would obviously make things much harder for MSU.  

Nebraska will come to Spartan Stadium with a 3-0 record but they haven’t seen anything like MSU just did in South Bend.  The Cornhuskers, like MSU, opened with consecutive wins against MAC opponents, 49-21 against Ohio and then 56-7 over Bowling Green.  Nebraska is coming off a 34-7 win against FCS opponent North Dakota.  

The trip to East Lansing will be Nebraska’s first road test of the season.  Let’s take a closer look at the MSU – Nebraska matchup.

Nebraska Coaching

Matt Rhule is in his fourth year in Lincoln and is still working to get Nebraska over the hump in the Big Ten.  Rhule is 22-19 so far with the Huskers, including the 3-0 start to this year.  Nebraska has been to consecutive bowl games, winning the 2024 Pinstripe Bowl and losing the 2025 Las Vegas Bowl.  The Cornhuskers finished 7-6 in both of those years and have yet to finish above .500 in the Big Ten under Rhule.  Nebraska went 4-5 in conference last season, following consecutive 3-6 years in 2023 and 2024.  

Rhule first started to gain traction as a head coach at Temple from 2013-2016.  In his last two years in Philadelphia, the Owls went a combined 20-7.  This caught Baylor’s attention, and the Bears hired Rhule away from Temple prior to the Owls’ appearance in the 2016 Military Bowl.  

The turn-around in Waco under Rhule was Swift.  The Bears went 1-11 in 2017, improved to 7-6 with a Texas Bowl win in 2018, and then 11-3 with a Sugar Bowl appearance in 2018.  

Now, it was the NFL’s Carolina Panthers who took interest in Rhule, who made the jump to the League in 2020.  It did not go well.  Carolina fired Rhule five games into the 2022 season after posting an 11-27 record.  

Nebraska must have been more impressed with Rhule’s college success than concerned about his stint in the NFL and, despite not yet reaching the same level of success as he did at Temple and Baylor, the Cornhuskers still believe in Rhule.  He signed a contract extension with Nebraska in 2025 that keeps him in Lincoln through the 2032 season.

Dana Holgersen took over as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator for the last four games of the 2024 season and has significant head coaching experience prior to his current role.  Holgersen went 61-41 from 2011-2018 at West Virginia, with winning records in seven of his eight seasons with the Mountaineers.  

After the 2018 season, Holgersen left West Virginia to take over at Houston, where he had previously served as an offensive coordinator.  The Cougars went 12-2 in 2021 but regressed to 8-5 the following year.  The going got rougher when Houston moved to the Big 12 in 2023 and Holgersen was fired after going 4-8.  

Rhule initially hired Holgersen as an offensive analyst in 2024 but he was promoted to coordinator before season’s end.  

Rob Aurich is in his first year as Nebraska’s defensive coordinator and just his third year coaching at the FBS level.  However, this is all the time he’s needed to be successful at college football’s highest level.  

Aurich spent the last two years at San Diego State.  He coached the Aztecs’ edge rushers in 2024 before being promoted to DC / linebackers coach last year, where he was a finalist for the Broyles Award as the nation’s best assistant coach.    

San Diego State allowed just 12.6 points and 266 yards per game last year while holding eight opponents to under 10 points, including three shutouts.  

Aurich started his coaching career at Division II Bemidji State.  Stops at FCS programs South Dakota and Idaho followed before Aurich made the most of his brief stay in San Diego.

Nebraska Offense

According to Tanner Johnson of Huskers on SI, Holgersen is trying to run a balanced spread scheme with some tempo.  Some of the primary points of emphasis include:

• Streamlining the playbook to reduce pre-snap confusion and post-snap hesitation so the quarterback can make quick decisions without long, slow-developing dropbacks.
• Force linebackers and defensive backs into conflicts with a lot of shallow crosses, double slants, and quick hitches combined with run-pass options.  
• Spread concepts are combined with a zone running game where Holgersen uses a lot of 11 (one tight end, one running back) and 10 (no tight end, one running back) formations.  
• Generally, Nebraska doesn’t rotate their receivers around too much.  Slot receivers stay in the slot and perimeter receivers stay on the perimeter and try to exploit one-on-one matchups.  

In 2024 and 2025, this scheme was set up around quarterback Dylan Raiola but Raiola left for Oregon after the 2025 season.  He’s accepted a developmental backup role in Eugene, just like current Ducks’ starter Dante Moore did when he backed up Dillon Gabriel.  

Nebraska brought in senior Anthony Colandrea (6-0, 200) from UNLV to replace Raiola.  Colandrea started his college career at Virginia but really got things going with the Rebels last year, where he completed 66% of his passes for 3459 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions.  Colandrea is also a threat to run, going for 649 yards on 5.1 yards per carry with 10 TDs for UNLV last season.  

Through his first three games at Nebraska, Colandrea is completing passes at a 68.8% rate for 692 yards, eight TDs, and just one INT.  He’s continuing to be a threat to run with 18 carries for 75 yards and 2 TDs.

Nebraska has spread carries amongst three running backs this year but freshman Jamal Rule (6-0, 215) has seen most of the work with 38 carries for 329 yards – a very impressive 8.7 YPC.  Rule has 5 touchdowns already and a long run of 59 yards.

Junior Mekhi Nelson and sophomore Isaiah Mozee (both 6-0, 215) have also been utilized with 26 and 24 carries, respectively.  Nelson is averaging 6.1 YPC with a TD while Mozee has gone for 5.3 YPC and a TD so far.  

Nelson (5 catches, 106 yards) and Rule (4 catches, 82 yards) are receiving threats out of the backfield but Nebraska has primarily been throwing the ball to two receivers.  Junior Jacory Barney Jr. (6-0, 175) leads the team with 15 receptions for 210 yards and two TDs.  Junior Kwazi Gilmer is next with 14 catches for 139 yards and 3 TDs.  Senior tight end Luke Lindenmeyer (6-3, 255) has five catches for 71 yards.  

As a team, Nebraska has been a bit more run-heavy with 121 rushing attempts compared to 90 passes.  Yardage-wise, the Huskers are almost perfectly balanced with 263 yards per game on the ground and 258 through the air.  

Nebraska Defense

Under Aurich, Nebraska has shifted from a 3-3-5 base defense to a 4-2-5 and the Huskers are trying to create more disruption from the edge.  This defense features a hybrid linebacker/safety position that plays closer to the line of scrimmage against run looks and in the slot against expected passing plays.  

Senior linebacker Owen Chambliss (6-3, 240) came with Aurich from SDSU and has been instrumental in implementing the Huskers’ new defensive scheme, which has been effective against both the run and pass.  Ohio managed 303 total yards against Nebraska in their opener but, through three games, the Cornhuskers are only giving up 226 yards per game.  Ohio went for 139 yards on the ground against Nebraska and North Dakota gained 99 but the Husker D is giving up just 3.2 yards per carry so far.  

As far as bringing pressure, this year when Nebraska has sent a blitz it seems to be delayed.  The new system seems to be working, at least against Nebraska’s non-conference opponents.  The team has nine sacks so far, led by senior defensive lineman Riley Von Poppel (6-5, 305).  Jahsear Whittington (6-0, 275), a junior transfer from Pitt, is next with 1.5 sacks.  

Interestingly, four of Nebraska’s top five tacklers are defensive backs.  

Nebraska Special Teams

Kicker Kyle Kunanan has made all 19 of his extra point tries and is 2-4 on field goal attempts with a long of 40 yards.  Both misses were from beyond 50 yards.  

What to watch and keys to the game

Trent Fraley and the MSU O-line against the Nebraska D-line.  Aurich emphasizes shooting gaps and creating tackles for loss.  The Spartan offensive line will need to be prepared to avoid third and long situations.  If MSU can be more physical at the point of attack, they can create running lanes for (hopefully) Cam Edwards.  

Alessio Milivojevic finding openings in the seam.  If Nebraska’s front six sells out to stop the run, and the Huskers rover linebacker / safety also comes up to play the run, can Milivojevic counter by hitting his slot receivers and tight ends in the gap between safeties and linebackers?

MSU lane discipline against Nebraska’s dual-threat quarterback.  Against Toledo, two Spartan defenders covered the same lane, leading to a 60 yard TD for the Rockets.  If the Spartan defenders aren’t covering the right gaps, or rush past Colendrea, he can burn them for big gains with his feet.  

How will MSU defend against Nebraska’s quick slants and bubble screens?  Pat Fitzgerald talked about better defensive technique and coverage fundamentals after the Notre Dame game and in his Monday press conference.  He specifically mentioned the Spartan DBs failing to jam the Irish receivers when playing press coverage, which is something they are supposed to do.  Against Nebraska, MSU’s corners need to be reliable tacklers to keep the Huskers’ short passing game exactly that, rather than allowing broken tackles and big gains.  

Which tempo wins?  Can Michigan State sustain long drives and keep Nebraska’s faster-paced offense off the field?  

In an encouraging sign, it didn’t seem like the Spartans were out-physicaled at Notre Dame.  They lost one-on-one matchups either because, as Fitzgerald said, the Spartans didn’t execute the proper technique for the situation or the coaches may have put the Spartan defenders in a situation they shouldn’t have.  If so, the areas where Michigan State is falling short remain correctable.  

After watching how the team played at Notre Dame, I feel like this could be the first of MANY games this year that could go either way, which could make for a really exciting Big Ten season.  However, while the Spartans could be in many games this year, they probably aren’t going to win any of them on talent alone. They are really going to need to limit mistakes. Michigan State has significantly cut down on the penalties so far this year – they just had two pass interference calls at Notre Dame. But the alignment and technique issues must continue to improve.

What do you think, TOC?  What do the Spartans have to do against Nebraska to go 1-0 in the Big Ten?