Rule's big day, some sloppiness and a new QB look: Amie Just's takes from Nebraska vs. Ohio

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Loved

Jamal Rule

Running back Jamal Rule may be a true freshman, but he’s ready for the moment.

The North Carolina native scored two touchdowns before halftime in his Husker debut: a 1-yard rushing score on Nebraska’s opening drive and a 24-yard reception touchdown on third-and-4.

By the game’s end, Rule was Nebraska’s leading rusher — compiling 122 yards rushing on 15 carries with 47 yards receiving on two receptions.

Pretty special for Rule to have a performance like that with Emmett Johnson in the building.

Mehki Nelson’s touchdowns

Another running back who’s battling for the starting job showed that he has the potential for greatness, too.

Nelson had two touchdowns on Saturday, too — a 29-yard rushing score in the third quarter and a 51-yard receiving touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Nelson finished the game with 10 carries for 64 yards rushing and two receptions for 65 yards receiving.

Frank Solich recognition

Well before kickoff on Saturday, Nebraska vs. Ohio was informally dubbed “the Frank Solich Bowl” due to the former Lincoln Southeast coach’s coaching careers at both universities.

Solich — while wearing a nondescript white polo – was recognized before the game as part of the 2026 Nebraska Football Hall of Fame Class, and flipped the coin for the coin toss.

A classy touch by Nebraska.

Single-digit guys

The new class of single-digit Huskers was revealed on Saturday, and there are 11 new members of that fraternity: No. 0 Owen Chambliss, No. 1 receiver Hunter, No. 1 Jahsear Whittington, No. 2 Cameron Lenhardt, No. 3 receiver Kwazi Gilmer, No. 4 Jamir Conn, No. 5 Anthony Jones Jr., No. 6 Roman Mangini, No. 7 cornerback Andrew Marshall, No. 8 Donovan Jones and No. 8 tight end Luke Lindenmeyer.

Congrats are in order for these fellas.

Fans

If you stayed for the whole game, pat yourself on the back.

It was hot as blazes outside, with a feels-like temperature of 130 degrees on the turf itself. Metal bleachers in this heat? Y’all are troupers.

Liked

Anthony Colandrea

If you’re just a box score-watcher, Colandrea’s line won’t jump off the page. But if you actually watched the game, you saw some zippy throws that had plenty of promise, but ultimately were dropped.

Was he flawless? No.

On the second play of the second half, he was dinged for intentional grounding — setting up an impossible third-and-31. But on the next drive, Colandrea commanded an 11-play, 73-yard drive that, after a rushing touchdown from Colandrea himself, gave Nebraska an 8-point lead.

One notable thing: Colandrea — who possesses plenty of speed — didn’t have a designed run or true scramble play until late in the second quarter, when he pulled in the ball on second-and-10 and ran through traffic for an 11-yard gain. He had a few other successful scrambles, too.

In his first start for Nebraska, Colandrea completed 18 of his 32 passes for 275 with three touchdowns and no interceptions. On the ground, he added 10 carries for a total of 23 yards.

Let down by

Sloppiness

Nothing is ever perfect in season openers, but the sloppiness Nebraska showed at points on Saturday was notable.

The fumbled hand-off on the first drive for Nebraska could have been costly, but the Huskers managed to bounce back and find the end zone later in the series — thanks to big plays by receivers Kwazi Gilmer and Jacory Barney Jr. before Rule punched in the touchdown from inches out.

Before the first quarter was over, Nebraska had racked up four penalties for 15 yards — a 5-yard special teams offside penalty on Rex Guthrie, a 5-yard defensive offside on Jahsear Whittington, and two false starts for 5 yards apiece on right guard Brendan Black.

The latter two derailed Nebraska’s third drive of the game and turned third-and-11 into third-and-16. Not too many plays in the playbook for Dana Holgorsen for third-and-16… and on third-and-16, Colandrea was sacked for a loss of 7 yards by Omaha’s own Isaac Ackerman.

Nebraska kickstarted the second quarter with a big penalty, too. Ohio faced third-and-8, and the Bobcats couldn’t connect because of the Blackshirts’ smothering pass rush — but Williams Nwaneri was popped for a facemask, and Ohio went on to add another field goal to the tally.

On the ensuing kickoff, Nebraska return man Nyziah Hunter inexplicably doubled back and ended up having an 8-yard return instead of what could have been a 30-yard return. Moments later, Colandrea threw a bullet toward Gilmer, and Gilmer couldn’t reel it in. If Gilmer had snagged it, the UCLA transfer would have room to run for days.

Another penalty — a questionable “block in the back” flag on Barney — negated a second-quarter, 57-yard touchdown for Hunter.

In total, Nebraska was penalized nine times for 65 yards.

Loathed

Middle eight

The middle eight – otherwise known as the final four minutes of the second quarter and the first four minutes of the third quarter — minutes for Nebraska went about as poorly as one can expect without a turnover.

The final drive for Nebraska of the first half was empty calories: 10 plays for 29 yards that lasted a little more than 2 minutes. At the end of it, though? A turnover on downs at the Ohio 45-yard line. Is the aggression bad? No. The thinking there is: if Nebraska can score before halftime and again to open the second half, that breaks the game open. I respect the confidence to go for it. But the execution left plenty to be desired.

The first drive for Nebraska of the second half? Tough. Precisely the opposite of what you want: a rush for a loss of 3 yards to open the quarter followed by an intentional grounding penalty on Colandrea for the equivalent of an 18-yard sack to set up third-and-31. Nebraska did have forward progress on that ensuing play, but 7 yards wasn’t nearly enough to move the chains.

Opening defensive drive

It took one play for Ohio to take advantage of a (likely) miscommunication-related busted coverage.

Ohio receiver Riley Neer was uncovered on the Bobcats’ opening play and made Nebraska pay by darting downfield for 68 yards — 50 or so of which came after the catch. Two plays later, Neer caught a 4-yard pass to give Ohio the early 7-0 lead.

Owen Chambliss’ absence

One of the Huskers who transferred into Nebraska with a lot of excitement around him was linebacker Owen Chambliss. Because the new No. 0 was nicked up late in camp, he didn’t play on Saturday.

It’s a shame, too.

Nebraska could have really benefitted from his talent against Ohio.

Missing Darlington

One of the best things about halftime in Memorial Stadium’s press box was the conversations with Nebraska coaching legend George Darlington.

He never pulled any punches with his opinions, and he always found a relevant story from his coaching days to tell. Sometimes his unfiltered thoughts made it into my (and Tom Shatel’s) game columns.

To not have him with us? I loathe his absence.

On Saturday at halftime, I found myself wondering what Darlington would say about the Blackshirts’ opening series. I know he would have been shaking his head. But his comments about it? Only the man himself would know what he was going to say.

Rest in peace, George. We miss you.