Matt Rhule’s first season at Nebraska going from bad to worse with latest injury

2023-09-20 23:50

After a 1-2 start for the season, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are already in a bad spot to begin the 2023 campaign. Now a brutal injury update could make it worse.

The 1-2 Nebraska Cornhuskers have lost running backs Gabe Ervin Jr. and Rahmir Johnson to injuries for the rest of the season, according to Sean Callahan of On3sports.

This is a major blow to an offense that is already dealing with Jeff Sims's injury which hasn't completely healed yet. First-year head coach Matt Rhule's squad wasn't expected to do anything outlandishly good in year one but it seems like it will be even harder for the team to match their win total from last season.

Ervin Jr. had been productive to start the year for the Huskers, putting up 67, 74, and 55 rushing yards in his three games so far. Johnson, on the other hand, had 66 rushing yards in Nebraska's loss to Colorado, but hasn't done much of anything outside of that game.

The Cornhuskers came into the 2023 college football season with a small hope that they might be able to reach a low-tier bowl game in year one of Rhule. With their latest injuries, it seems impossible that Nebraska will be able to beat the lower-tier teams in the Big Ten. After they face Louisiana Tech this week, they are playing in-conference for the rest of the season.

Nebraska football: Can offense survive without two featured RBs?

Nebraska's offense is heavily dependent upon the run. As such, it is very hard to replace the production from these two running backs. When Sims is able to get back to 100 percent, the team will have to completely readjust their offense and rely more on their passing game -- or on Sims's legs, even though that's tricky as the quarterback returns from injury.

With these shortcomings, Nebraska will struggle to beat any teams in the Big Ten this season. It's hard to imagine the Huskers as more than a three-win team in their current state. While this is not a success for Rhule during his first year with the program, the coach still has plenty of time to turn things around in Lincoln, something he did after slow starts at both Temple and Baylor.

It will also help that next season will be his first year with actual players that he recruited rather than players largely incoming out of the transfer portal.