After nine months of waiting, festering, and wondering, football season is finally back. Nebraska football faces Northwestern in Dublin, Ireland to start the regular season.
The Nebraska Football team had one of the worst – if not most unlucky – seasons since 1957, somehow going 3-9 with a positive point differential. This year, head coach Scott Frost has brought aboard an entirely new offensive staff, has a new quarterback in place, and has attempted to put some juice in the special teams, too.
Combine that with an opener against an opponent they beat 56-7 last year, and they won’t need the luck of the Irish to crush this one.
Here are three reasons why Nebraska football will beat Northwestern.
3. Better quarterback play
Although Adrian Martinez looked to be the future when he came to Lincoln, it didn’t pan out that way. Sure, he had the ability to make plays with his legs, and oftentimes he did that. But, his passing wasn’t always the best, as he had a 14-to-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio last year. That’s passable, but Texas transfer Casey Thompson brings a little more juice to the passing game.
Maligned by Texas fans, Thompson is not a bad slinger of the ball, when one looks at his stats. He went. He completed 63.2 percent of his passes and had a better 24-to-9 touchdown-to-interception rate last year.
Meanwhile, on the other sideline, Northwestern will have former South Carolina transfer Ryan Hillinski – now in his second year with the Wildcats – throwing the ball. Hillinski completed just 54 percent of his passes and had a heinously bad 4.9 yards per attempt last season.
Chalk that advantage up to the Cornhuskers.