Stryker Pregame Retrospective: Rethinking Wisconsin

The Huskers need mental resiliency to emerge from their 10-game losing streak against the Badgers.

Wisconsin running back Corey Clement sheds a tackle by Nebraska safety Nathan Gerry on Oct. 29, 2016, at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis. Wisconsin beat Nebraska 23-17 in overtime. / Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It’s time to find out if Nebraska — which almost three months ago played its best half of football in a decade, only to start a steady decline culminating in four consecutive losses — has its collective mind in the right place.

The Big Red, still pursuing that elusive bowl-qualifying sixth victory, would be well served to concentrate on the immediate, because the only way the Husker seniors will win their final home football game since 2018 is by forgetting the past and focusing relentlessly on the present. After all, Wisconsin is 5-5, same as Nebraska. It’s time to embrace a short memory. Can they play football, and not mind games?

Will quarterback Dylan Raiola rediscover his impressive early-season form, where he looked like a five-star recruit before he started overthinking his game? Will he have open pass receivers to target?

Will Nebraska’s offensive line show some consistency? Will Husker running backs get some rhythm, develop better vision and can they occasionally make at least one tackler miss?

Will the Huskers be able to return a punt for positive yardage?

Will Dana Holgorsen, the new offensive coordinator, help the Huskers smash through the 20-point ceiling that’s trapped the program since the end of September?

To break those barriers, the Huskers will have to show at least as much mental resiliency as did Illinois, which won in Lincoln earlier this season despite Nebraska’s historical advantage over the Illini. Wisconsin holds a much greater historical advantage over Nebraska.

Nov 15, 2014; Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers running back Melvin Gordon runs for some of his record-setting 408 yards against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin won 59-24. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

If history means anything, 10 consecutive victories by the Badgers in this one-sided series should give them a supreme sense of confidence. This has been a running-game-centric series, and the Badgers, with Montee Ball, James White, Melvin Gordon, Jonathon Taylor and Braelon Allen doing the damage, have had most of the running game success.

Does this mean that Luke Fickell decided to fire his pass-happy offensive coordinator just so he can resume the historical narrative where Wisconsin runs the ball down Nebraska’s throat? That may be Fickell’s intent, but it would only be possible if the Blackshirts allow it to happen while fully aware that the Badgers don’t have a good passing quarterback of their own. That may be easier said than done, because that very strategy has worked against Nebraska several times in the last decade.

It’s been a while since a quarterback made a big splash in this series. With the exception of Russell Wilson in 2011 (287 total yards, two touchdown passes and one touchdown run), Taylor Martinez in 2012 (288 total yards, two touchdown passes and one touchdown run), and Joel Stave in 2015 (322 passing yards and a touchdown, while throwing 50 passes, which seemingly were about half of the total he threw in his entire college career), quarterbacks have not starred for the winning team.

If that trend changes this season, it’ll likely be a good sign for Nebraska. The Huskers undoubtedly need a strong effort running the ball to win, but ideally will show enough run-pass balance to keep the Badgers’ historically tough defense guessing. They’ll need a strong game from Raiola, and to deliver one, he’ll need to wash away the recent past.

The true freshman quarterback earlier this week predicted a Husker win. Was it naiveté on his part? I don’t think so; it could be a sign that his mind is in the right place. Time to find out if he and his team are finally ready to just go out and play ball.

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