2015 Miami Hurricanes Opponent Preview - Week 3 (Nebraska 9/19 at Sun Life Stadium)

Miami Hurricanes 2015 Opponent Preview

Week 3

Nebraska (September 19^th at Sun Life Stadium)

The 2015 Miami Hurricanes Opponent Preview continues with the preview of the Nebraska Cornhuskers whom The U hosts on September 19^th at 3:30 pm on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.

About Nebraska, who went 9-4 (5-3 in the B1G West), fires Bo Pelini, a guy that only won 9-10 games a year every year he was there, and replaced him with Mike Riley, who’s only won 10 games just once in his career (2006 at Oregon State going 10-4 and winning the Sun Bowl). Riley will be asked to take the Huskers to the next step and that’s win a B1G title, which in that conference is asking a lot when you consider the competition in that league.

Let’s start with the offense

Gone is their best back, Ameer Abdullah. So, with Tommy Armstrong, Jr. back as the signal caller, things will change in Lincoln. For one, we’re going to see more of Riley’s pro-style offense. It will not be the unmitigated disaster that it was under Bill Callahan.  

Something to consider here, last season, Armstrong was wildly inconsistent. There were times where he was great, but other times, he was terrible. With Riley really as the Offensive coordinator as well, we’ll see more of how good Armstrong can really be, and the passing game will be better for it.  

With Abdullah gone to Detroit, it’s going to be up to Terrell Newby and Imani Cross to fill those huge shoes left behind with Abdullah’s departure, however, that’s still a competition that will be settled in Fall Camp. Meanwhile, to bolster the passing game, it’s going to be up to receivers Jordan Westerkamp and De’Mornay, to step up and be leaders of that core. With Alonzo Moore and Jamal Turner, who many think could have a monster year, provided he stays healthy, in the rotation, their receiving corps will be one to be dealt in Riley’s offense.  

The down side here is that the offensive line took a big hit with three starters gone to graduation, but they have back Senior tackle Alex Lewis, who could be a very good one there. Also returning are Zach Sterup and Ryan Reeves, who both have star potential and should be in their OL rotation. With Riley’s new offense, a new line could be a good thing as the season progresses.

The offense as a whole should be fine, and will adjust accordingly. Their WR corps are deep and pretty good too. Their Offense should be ok, yes, there will be some issues early on, but as the season goes on, few teams are going to want to play Huskers, with the weapons they have.

Their Kicking is solid with Drew Brown back. While not great, he’s solid and can get the job done

Onto the Defensive side

The question has to be asked, did the Huskers weaken the defense with Pelini’s firing? Then again, what Wisconsin did to that defense, really not much there to weaken it more than it already was.

Yes, Randy Gregory is now in Dallas, however, even so, the D-Line should be solid again in 2015 with the return of Vincent Valentine and Maliek Collins up front on the interior and Greg McMullen on the end. They were responsible for making Gregory’s draft stock far beyond what it should have been. The depth is there where they could be even better than they were in 2014. 

Moving on to LB, The only one back with substance is Josh Banderas. While they do get Michael Rose-Ivey back after missing all of last year due to a knee injury. They lost their top three contributors. Even though, they have three other guys with experience on the line and two more freshmen, there will be big time drop in production over here.

In their secondary, they return Daniel Davy, Byerson Cockrell, and Joshua Kalu, however, their best player here is safety Nate Gerry, who is back for his junior year after picking off five passes in 2014. They have enough firepower back there where that unit could get better. From a field position perspective, they get back Punter Sam Foltz, who averaged more than 42 yards per punt last year and nailed 26 inside the 20-yard line. 

Overall, there won’t much difference with the Defense, which, when you look at it from a grand scheme of thing, isn’t that bad for Riley in year 1 in Lincoln.

What to expect from Nebraska

Looking at them on tape, they do have an obvious threat in Armstrong, who can run and pass effectively.  They have good WRs that run very good routes, and their RBs are very good at finding the holes and hitting them hard. They are pretty good Defensively, and they will rush the passer.  They won’t run the spread as much, though, we’ll see that from them. This is going to be more an NFL offense with Riley there.

The 1st video below is from Nebraska's Spring Game this year. 

The 2nd Video below is from the Holiday Bowl vs SC. 

The 3rd Video below is from last year's game in Lincoln where we lost 41-31. 

This is going to be the first real test for The U here.  Being at Sun Life, I have to believe that the CANES will make just enough plays and make some key stops late to win this one. I predict CANES win by 3-7 points over the Huskers at home.