A new offensive coordinator coach and star players.

Since last weekends game against USC we have seen a lot less of the team in the media. Despite having the same press conferences; post game, Monday's HC, Tuesday's DC & OC + select players the only new things we've learned are 1) the way we nearly won in California 2) our new OC Dana Holgorsen had a lot and a little to say this week.

Let's break this down...

The 28-20 defeat, could have easily gone the other way. I know, it sounds like the same old same old. But USC got lucky with missed balls bouncing off of our players and back into their hands. Missed calls and a quarterback that just threw balls without purpose and somehow were caught by their wide receivers. It felt like we were in an episode of the Twilight Zone with all the invisible forces against Nebraska.

A few things we saw Holgorsen do that we liked: We got the ball out faster, whether we were running or throwing, the tempo was quick. This made our offensive line look really good and our quarterback seemed more decisive. We threw to 3 tight ends, several wide receiver routes, and a running back.

Holgorsen said some things that got Nebraska fans pretty excited in his very first meeting with the press. The wide receivers need to block if they want the ball thrown to them-can I get a hell yes!? Holgorsen has identified a young player who can help us win who hasn't been playing (just who is he talking about???). Lastly, he said that position coaches are sometimes blind to the talent on their roster (paraphrasing here) because they like other guys personalities better. Like Micah Mazzccua perhaps???

Also, in the world of our next opponent Wisconsin, their sky seems to be beginning to fall. Luke Fickel did not have his best showing at this weeks pre Nebraska press conference on Monday. As he began to tell the media that he made the best decision for the team to let go Wisky's OC Phil Longo the day before, his responses to the media's questions showed perhaps there was more to this story. It looked like he was let go for personal reasons (as in personality conflict). Also, when asked about who would be their playcaller. Fickels response was maybe the most flubbed that this CFB fan has ever heard; the old "what does it matter?". Did he NOT expect that question??? Wow.

Lots to unpack this Thursday and did I mention we'll have a special guest? See you at 9pm central with Greg and Minnie and all of our WONDERFUL Fan-amily, the Chatterfields or is it the Holgor-maniacs? GBR!

Another one-score loss, more egregious B1G ref hijinks, our 1st game with Holgo, a logo battle…and Wisconsin upcoming & still now bowl eligible.

We’re going to chat about USC and some of the fallout from yet another one-score loss and failure to grab bowl eligibility. There was some criticism of Dylan Raiola and some thoughts about and by Dana Holgorsen.

The Trojans for some reason took great offense at the Huskers pre-game midfield prayer tradition, much like previous painted-grass worshipper Shadeur Sanders. Apparently, kneeling on painted grass which will be stomped on by 22 pairs of cleats plus refs in a couple of hours dishonorable and must be dealt with through foul language whilst being held back by coaches.

And, oh yes, the refs. They were … well… predictable.

Nebraska lost to USC 28 to 20 - yet another one score loss, a November loss, a loss when we had already had our fifth win of the season and trying to get bowl eligible.

God knows how many statistics have come out this week on what a statistical anomaly Nebraska is when it comes to losing one score games. People have talked about it being a curse. Matt Rhule says it’s no curse, that they just have to figure out how to win games.

That seems to require an unholy lot of figuring.

From Nicole Auerbach:

Nebraska might actually be cursed. I’m not sure how else to explain the recent history of this program. I’m truly at a loss. After a painful defeat at the hands of fellow underachiever USC on Saturday, the Huskers have now lost nine consecutive games with a chance to become bowl-eligible, with eight of those losses coming in one-score games. They reached the five-win plateau way back on Oct. 5. Bringing in new offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen didn’t fix what ails the Husker offense, either, failing to total 325 yards or more on offense for the fifth straight game (with freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola throwing a pair of interceptions.) The Huskers are now 9-34 in one-possession games since 2018; that .214 win percentage in those games is easily the worst in FBS over that span. I am sorry, Nebraska fans.

Our opponent this week, Wisconsin, fired their offensive coordinator Phil Longo, just a couple of days after they played Oregon pretty tough. One of the jokes on the internet was that Wisconsin didn’t play a quarterback against Oregon, which I suppose doesn’t make their starting quarterback or their second string quarterback feel any better about himself.

For tonight’s show, we will be talking to a Wisconsin guy and probably commiserating about how bad our teams are doing.

Scary Alvarez will join us, and we will discuss and have a long discussion about the game coming up this weekend.

I’m sure you have opinions. We have a lot to talk about after Nebraska is STILL winless against USC following Saturday’s 28-20 final.

This week on Corn Nation’s Overreaction, Hoss and Greg are going to talk about running backs Emmett Johnson and Dante Dowdell and how the run game was milk-cartoned late in the game.

The guys also discuss the emergence of Nate Boerkircher, and how Heinrich Haarberg could be a star in this offense.

What was the Dana Holgorsen Effect? How did the offense look overall, and where are areas of improvement?

The other side of the ball did not look good. After the Ceyair Wright pick-six, the Huskers struggled with consistency and Tony White could not counter the Lincoln Riley offense.

I’ll be honest - after the game I was still pretty optimistic, and somehow we opened up as a 1.5-point favorite against Wisconsin. Where’s our sixth win? Is it this coming Saturday against the Badgers? It is against the Hawkeyes on Black Friday? What does the immediate future of Husker football look like?

Tonight on The Five Heart Podcast we will be discussing this week’s bombshell news coming out of Lincoln from Coach Matt Rhule’s press conference on Monday.

1) We have a new play caller; Dana Holgerson. WTH?! Welcome to the new way of doing things in college football. Coach Rhule has given schools a brand new outline on how to handle coaching changes.

No need for the embarrassing and shocking “firing of coaches” mid-season. We have discovered a new ‘PC’ way: keep the old coach on staff and talk up all of his strengths, how impressed you are with him etc., etc., and you get the new guy simultaneously, which makes fans FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE—the age-old ‘Bait and Switch’.

‘What can this new guy do for us?’-Husker Headlines all week.

Coach Matt Rhule might be considered a genius just for this one issue, but wait there’s more!

2) Since the GIANT shake-up, Rhule said on Monday ‘We won’t be having press conferences the rest of the week because you (media) are too good at your jobs’. This is interesting because now the media won’t be able to get any information out there for our opponent USC on Saturday.

We have no idea what, if any new plays will be used on Saturday. What Holgerson views as our strengths on the offensive. Rhule even said, there MIGHT be player change-ups...

3) Is Dylan Raiola hurt? Is Heinrich Harberg starting? Coach Rhule said we are preparing for both. ’He didn’t know anything yet’.

Another genius move by Coach because if I’m USC, we don’t know if we are preparing for a throwing quarterback or a running quarterback.

This makes the news that USC put out last week (they also had a bye week) look unplanned and premature as they said they are benching QB Miller Moss and starting Jayden Maiava. Why give your opponent 2 whole weeks to prepare for a new QB?

Matt Rhule seems to be rewriting the (unwritten) rules in college football and I for one can’t get enough of it.

Just like the song by Lil’ Troy says “Wanna be a baller, shot caller...But there’s got to be a better way, A better way, better way, yeah”. Rhule is finding a better way.

The conversation will likely center on Dana Holgorsen whose hire was announced last Tuesday. Then yesterday, at Matt Rhule’s presser, it was announced he would begin serving as sole offensive coordinator effective immediately through the 2024 season. Marcus Satterfield and Glenn Thomas will only coach TE’s and QB’s respectively.

What exactly are we getting with Dana and where does he come from?

I’ve got y’all.

The upcoming Southern Cal game will be previewed as well and I’ll tell you what I know about their new starting QB, Jayden Maiava - besides being The Rock’s nephew.

As always, please share your thoughts in the comments - many will be read on air as the viewers are a huge part of the show.

Matt Rhule announced today in his Monday press conference that Dana Holgorsen will be the offensive coordinator and calling plays for the rest of the 2024 season. This leads to a lot of speculation and wondering - what will the Nebraska offense look like?

USC quarterback, Miller Moss, was replaced by Jaden Maiava for the Nebraska game. Miller Moss has entered the transfer portal and left the program. Top bidders so far are Michigan and Oregon. What’s the USC take on this?

Both teams will enter the USA game, Nebraska vs USC game this weekend, with a lot of intrigue and nobody will know what’s going to happen.

Dylan Raiola’s injury is up in the air. Rhule says he “might” practice tomorrow. We might see Heinrich Haarberg start. Rhule might just be messing with USC as it is time to pull all the stops out.

We’re going to talk to Tim Prangley about his USC fighting Trojans people and get their side of what’s going on with their program.

HERE! Christmas is coming, and these are great stocking stuffers!

This week was a quasi-special episode because we didn’t have a game to break down, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have news.

On the Corn Nation Overreaction this week, Greg, Hoss, and Jake discuss the additions made to the coaching staff last week as Dana Holgorsen and Phil Snow arrived in Lincoln.

Snow is a defensive guru who has been coaching football for 47 years. He will provide Tony White with another seasoned perspective to get the Blackshirts, who are still very good - in the top 25 in most defensive categories, performing at a level they were at last year.

Holgorsen comes to Nebraska with objective success at the collegiate level, being either Offensive Coordinator or Head Coach at schools with prolific offenses in the last 15 years. Will he be able to assist OC Marcus Satterfield in strategic game planning to result in that elusive sixth win and subsequent bowl eligibility?

Our game predictions are at the end, and as our departed brother Brian Towle would say, “win the damn game.”