Earlier this week, Nebraska football announced that it will make a major offensive change ahead of the matchup with USC on Saturday. Former Houston and West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen, who recently joined the Cornhuskers as an offensive consultant, will take over the team’s offensive play calling for the remainder of the season.
Holgorsen replaces Marcus Satterfield, who had served as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator since the start of the 2023 season. Satterfield will now solely serve as the team’s tight ends coach.
Following the announcement, Evan Bredeson of Cornhuskers Wire offered some perspective on the move.
“Matt Rhule had to make a change. I don’t know that any of us thought he would do something this drastic, especially considering how loyal he is to the guys on his staff. The fact that he made the change though is welcomed news. The offense had been regressing the last two years under Marcus Satterfield. Quarterback Dylan Raiola is playing worse now than he did at the start of the season, and if a staff change wasn’t made at the top of the offense, the chances of him hitting the portal was possible.
“With Holgorsen, I expect to see shorter passes designed to get the quarterback into rhythm early. Nebraska’s passing game had evolved to screen pass or deep shot. Nothing really in between. I also think we’ll see a lot more of the tight ends being involved in the passing game. Dana is known to have an affinity for using tight ends and the huskers actually have some depth at that position group and have not been utilizing it in any effective way this season.
“And they will run the football. Even though DH is an Air Raid guy, all of his top offenses always had a very good running game. Matt Rhule has said over and over again since arriving in Lincoln that he wants to be able to run the football consistently with power. The offense has simply not delivered on that front.”
USC takes on Nebraska at 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time this Saturday.
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