Week 13 Iowa opponent preview: Breaking down the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ offense

Week 13 for the Iowa Hawkeyes is for all the marbles. The Big Ten West is on the line with a win against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Just simply find a way to win this game and you are going back to Indianapolis for a second year in a row.

In their way stands the Cornhuskers in the midst of a turbulent year. With the early season firing of Scott Frost after a rather unsuccessful tenure in Lincoln, Nebraska has been led by interim head coach Mickey Joseph. It is unfair to give him a grade on this season as he took over a brutal situation and is trying to get this team to the offseason to regroup.

This matchup is a rivalry and Nebraska knows they can play ultimate spoiler. They will have to get something going offensively against the stout Iowa defense should they want to make this interesting in Kinnick Stadium.

Nebraska 2022 Statistics

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Part of the reason for Nebraska’s record is that they only average 22.45 points per game while they allow 28.55. Giving up almost a touchdown more is not a recipe for success.

Their rushing attack comes in at 97th in the nation with 118.5 yards per game while their passing attack is just 79th with 217.9 yards per game. This puts the Cornhuskers with the 101st total offense in the country. If Iowa can maintain responsibilities and not allow any fluky big plays, it will be tough sledding for Nebraska.

Casey Thompson, QB

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Casey Thompson transferred in from Texas and was supposed to be the next big thing but has seemed to be just the next thing. He hasn’t been bad this year but he hasn’t had a ton of help, either.

On the year, he is completing 62.7% of his passes to go with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Thompson does have five touchdown rushes but on the year has 51 carries for negative six yards in an oddity of stats.

One thing of note is that Thompson is a little banged up with a finger issue heading into taking on the Hawkeyes’ defense.

Trey Palmer, WR

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As far as offensive weapons go, Trey Palmer is the biggest one for Nebraska. He is their leading receiver by a long shot and is the biggest threat to burn Iowa with the big play.

Palmer has 62 receptions for 878 yards and seven touchdowns. The next closest in receptions has 28 and in yards has 419.  He more than doubles the second biggest receiving threat. Thompson will force feed Palmer and it should be an intriguing matchup against Riley Moss, Cooper DeJean, and others.

Anthony Grant, RB

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Iowa definitely showed a crack in the armor last Saturday against Minnesota’s run game. Anthony Grant is the Cornhuskers’ leading back that will try to emulate that performance.

He isn’t what Mohamed Ibrahim is but he still has put up 944 yards on the year at 4.5 yards per carry. Iowa needs to bottle up Nebraska’s run game early.

Timmy Bleekrode, Kicker

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Having Timmy Bleekrode here is more due to the fact that Nebraska’s offense really is just Casey Thompson, Trey Palmer, and Anthony Grant. Aside from those three, there isn’t a lot of involvement otherwise.

Bleekrode, which sounds like a cousin of the Peaky Blinders, is 8-for-10 on field goal attempts this year and 31-of-32 on extra points. If Nebraska can move the ball a bit, his kicking could come into play in this matchup.

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Story originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire