After months of delays and an uncertain season, it's Husker game week, and the team says they're ready to get to work at Ohio State.
When the Nebraska offense takes the field in Columbus on Saturday, Adrian Martinez will be the quarterback taking the snaps. Head coach Scott Frost confirmed Martinez as the starter in the first game week presser, but he was adamant that there isn’t much separation between Martinez and Luke McCaffrey. “Adrian’s going to be our quarterback. I feel like I’ve got two guys playing at a high level,” Frost said. “I don’t know how much separation there is. I really believe that we have two first string quarterbacks.”
Nebraska will need all of their best weapons against Ohio State, and they’re not afraid to admit it. “The biggest challenge in preparing for Ohio State is just the talent they have on the team," Frost said.
He said he thought last year’s Ohio State team could’ve won it all and even went as far as calling it one of the best teams he’s ever shared a football field with. “We’ve just got to execute our assignment and execute the game plan and we’ll go from there,” Dicaprio Bootle said.
Bootle said the team will have to do their best to prepare off of film from previous years and be prepared to make adjustments on the fly. “If something’s wrong, we come to the sideline and fix it,” Bootle said.
Even without fans in the stands, it will be a difficult challenge. “If you need any more excitement to play that team in that stadium, I don’t think it’ll matter if fans are there or not,” Martinez said.
One thing all the Huskers are happy about: hitting football players who don’t play for Nebraska. “We’ve hit each other long enough and I will speak for the team and say we’re ready to hit someone else,” wide receiver Kade Warner said.
“We’ve been hitting each other quite often. So, it’ll be good to go out Saturday and hit somebody new.” linebacker Collin Miller said.
It’s a funny thing that Ohio State and Nebraska play each other in the first game because they were two of the most vocal teams about playing Big Ten football this season. “I think we had an ally in Ohio State to try and get the season played,” Frost said.
He used the word “grateful” multiple times when referring to the Buckeyes. Frost said because of that, he’ll be rooting for Ohio State in every game this year -- except for game number one.
The Huskers and Buckeyes kickoff at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
(Photo by Rex Smith / WOWT)