LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – Home again, home again are the Huskers as they return to Memorial Stadium after a short trip east.

Nebraska (4-1, 1-1) hosts Rutgers (4-0, 1-0) in a crucial Big Ten matchup Saturday – a game that will give every fan base a clearer picture of their 2024 season trajectory. both literally and figuratively scorching heat as the weather forecast calls for record high temperatures for kick-off in Lincoln.

GAME INFO

• WHEN: 3 p.m., Saturday, October 5
• WHERE: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.
• WATCH: FS1 (streaming on FOX Sports)
• LISTEN: Huskers Radio Network
• VEGAS OPPORTUNITIES: Rutgers +6.5, O/U 39.5

The Huskers were successful on their first road trip of the season, defeating Purdue 28-10 after a dominant second half. It wasn’t perfect by any means, though, especially in the first half, when a lack of execution in the red zone led to Nebraska having two field goals blocked and another wide left.

Fortunately for the Husker offense, the Blackshirts kept them in the game, and they turned it on in the second half, scoring on the first three drives of the third quarter to slam the door shut on the Boilermakers.

Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola had another solid performance, going 17-for-27 for 257 yards and a touchdown. Raiola has been efficient and steady through the first five games of his college career, completing 70 percent of his passes for 1,225 with 9 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

That sample size now seems big enough to say he’s a good quarterback, period — and the Huskers are starting to open up the playbook for him.

“I’ve said it from day one: However we want Dylan to play when he’s a junior, we’re just trying to coach him that way now,” head coach Matt Rhule said at his press conference on Monday, raving about the young signal. – preparation of the caller. “(The coaching staff) has built in a system that things are high level because he can do high level things. I think it’s rare.”

Now Raiola and his stable of weapons, such as receivers Isaiah Neyor, Jahmal Banks and Jacory Barney Jr., will look to carry their momentum from last week’s second half into a home game against the Scarlet Knights on Saturday.

It’s been a season of “firsts since” for the Huskers in 2024, but this time it’s their opponent aiming for a long-awaited milestone.

Rutgers has gradually improved over the past four years under head coach Greg Schiano – who took the program to its first bowl game in a decade last season – and now the Scarlet Knights enter Saturday with a chance to get to 5-0 for the competition. for the first time since 2006.

Who was their coach in 2006, you ask? None other than Schiano, who is in his second stint as frontman of the Scarlet Knights. He previously led Rutgers to six straight winning seasons from 2005-09 before leaving in 2011 and returning in 2019.

“There are a lot of coaches who are considered ‘the best coaches in college football,’ but not many of them can do what (Schiano) has done,” Rhule said. “You’re going to win at Rutgers, you know, before he got there, not many people had won there. He won there at a high level, left and came back and he is winning there again at a high level. He’s a great football coach. Just a great football coach.”

He also has good players.

Athan Kaliakmanis is a name that may be familiar to Big Red Nation. The 6-foot-1 senior quarterback spent the past two seasons at Minnesota, going 2-0 against Nebraska. He led the game-winning effort to defeat the Huskers 13-10 in last year’s season opener – Rhule’s debut at Nebraska.

Sharing the backfield with Kaliakmanis is one of the best running backs in the country: Kyle Monangai. Monangai – who was a 1,000-yard rusher last season – has put up monstrous numbers in the first four games of his senior campaign, rushing for 589 yards and six touchdowns.

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