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Red-White Game Will Be the Real Deal, or Close to It

Matt Rhule outlines plans for Saturday’s spring finale

Joe Hudson

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A traditional football game, or something close to it. Quarterbacks who are fair game for contact. Four 15-minute quarters. No vanilla play-calling.

That's what's in store Saturday for Nebraska's Red-White spring game, head coach Matt Rhule said before the team's Thursday evening practice.

"We gotta get good at playing football," Rhule said, "so we’re going to go play."

It will be a "work day" for the team and staff. "We're trying to learn how to win, and there's an ebb and flow to a football game that I think is really important as you react to the situations," he said.

"I need to figure out which quarterback or how many of the quarterbacks can go move us in the fall," Rhule said. "And the defense needs to figure out if they can tackle a mobile quarterback."

There will be some things you don't see on fall Saturdays. NFL clock rules will be in force, which will reduce the number of plays somewhat. Offensive linemen are in short supply, so they will wear gray jerseys and rotate between teams. There might be some modifications with special-teams plays.

Rhule acknowledged the temptation to keep as much of the playbook under wraps as possible in order to "surprise Minnesota with something," but he said the Huskers would not be vanilla on either side of the ball. "We're going to run our plays on offense and defense."

Thursday night's practice is the 14th of spring ball. The 15th and final one will be the Red-White game, which kicks off shortly after 1 p.m. CDT with a BTN telecast.

Refresh this page for the latest additions from Thursday's press conference, which also included players Isaac Gifford, DeShon Singleton and Bryce Benhart. Asterisk indicates item may require a subscription. Go here for the HuskerMax discussion.

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Joe Hudson
JOE HUDSON

Joe Hudson has operated a Husker-related website since 1995 and joined forces with David Max to form HuskerPedia (later renamed HuskerMax) in 1999. It began as a hobby during his 35 years as a newspaper editor and reporter, a career that included stints at the Lincoln Star, Omaha World-Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer and Denver Post. In Denver, Joe was chief of the copy desk during his final 16 years at the Post. He is proud to have been involved in Pulitzer Prize-winning projects in both Philadelphia and Denver. Joe has been a Nebraska football fan since the mid-1960s during his childhood in Omaha. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in journalism and economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1976. He resides a few freeway exits north of Colorado Springs and enjoys bicycling and walking his dogs in his spare time. You can reach him at joeroyhud@outlook.com.

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