Vincent Genatone, a fifth-year special-teamer who was not part of Nebraska's running back committee, caught a 13-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left in the first half and ran one in from a yard out. He scored both of Nebraska's touchdowns in a 31-13 win at Michigan State after Jamal Rule left in the first quarter with an apparent leg injury. Anthony Colandrea threw both of those touchdown passes, the second a 44-yarder to Kwazi Gilmer, and Michigan State never led after the first quarter.
That win was the most complete thing Nebraska has done this season, and it still left the one question the offense most needed answered open. Rule was the reason fans had stopped worrying about replacing Emmett Johnson. The true freshman ran 15 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns against North Dakota, including a 55-yarder on the first snap of the second half, and reached 329 rushing yards and five touchdowns through three games. Nebraska has not yet said whether Rule or Jacory Barney, who was also hurt against Michigan State, will play, with the usual midweek update due Wednesday.
What to watch Saturday
The model gives Nebraska a 94% chance to win, and oddsmakers opened the Huskers as 12.5-point favorites, with Nebraska unbeaten at 4-0 and Maryland fresh off a 54-3 loss to UCLA. So the interesting part is not whether Nebraska wins. It's who gets the handoffs in the first quarter.
Maryland arrives with its own run game in pieces, and Nebraska's front just held Michigan State to 39 rushing yards with six sacks. That side of the ball should not require much hoping.
The nagging one is the flags. For a third straight week a big Nebraska return came back. Jacory Barney's 82-yard punt-return touchdown at Michigan State was wiped out by a block in the back, and Nebraska was outpenalized 7-for-60 to 5-for-60 in a game it otherwise controlled. In a game Nebraska should control again, that is the most likely way an afternoon turns annoying.
Matt Rhule called the win "a great first step," which is the right size for it. Nebraska has beaten one conference opponent. Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State are still on the schedule. Banking this one cleanly, with a running back order that makes sense by the fourth quarter, is what a good Saturday looks like.
The one outside game
Indiana at Rutgers: root for Rutgers
This result carries a 2.0 percentage-point impact on Nebraska's conference-title-game probability.
Rutgers hosts sixth-ranked Indiana at 7 p.m. Central on BTN, and Rutgers wins this about 3% of the time. Worth five minutes of your evening, not your afternoon. Indiana is the Big Ten team most directly in Nebraska's way. An Indiana loss knocks a contender down in the standings Nebraska has to climb. A Rutgers upset would put Nebraska's chance of reaching the conference title game around 5.3%; an Indiana win leaves it near 3.3%. Those are two alternative versions of Saturday night, not a number that moves twice, and the gap is about two percentage points. Small, free, and fun if it happens.
Full numbers are in the interactive guide, and the methodology explains where they come from.