We learned a lot about Nebraska (1-0) in their 43-10 season opening win over Fresno State on Saturday.

There are no doubt questions still this 2016 Husker team has to answer as they move into Week 2 against Wyoming (1-0).

We get you geared up for Saturday's match-up with this Cowboys in the weekly HuskerOnline 3-2-1 column.

1 - Mike Riley is serious about this ground and pound stuff

When Mike Riley and Danny Langsdorf were hired at Nebraska, they never were considered "run first" offensive play callers. They also never ran the quarterback on keepers, zone reads and options. Even when they first got here there was some resistance to this type of offense, but it's clear after the Foster Farm's Bowl victory over UCLA and the season opening win over Fresno State last Saturday, Riley and Langsdorf have embraced more of a "ground and pound" offensive mentality in 2016.

Most of it obviously has to do with concerns about making quarterback Tommy Armstrong a pure pocket passer - an area where he struggled and threw the most interceptions (16) by a Big Ten quarterback since 2007.

Obviously this is not the future of Nebraska's offense under Riley, but in order to win now in 2016 they must continue to build things around Armstrong's strengths.

2 - Surprise names emerge on defense

When you breakdown the play of Nebraska's defense, what jumped out to me where the number of surprise names who had strong showings or took significant snaps.

Starting on the defensive line, senior defensive end Ross Dzuris played the best game of his career, leading the Huskers with two quarterback sacks. Another name on the defensive line that took key snaps I wasn't expecting to see was junior A.J. Natter, who has been a non-factor in his career at Nebraska until this past Saturday. It appears he may be NU's first defensive end off the bench at this point. The fact that John Parrella really believes in his guys and coaches them up I think has gone a long way in the development of players like Dzuris and Natter.

Safety Keiron Williams was another player who really showed up, and after his play on Saturday it will be interesting to see how defensive coordinator Mark Banker rotates his safeties with Nate Gerry and Antonio Reed back this week.

3 - Craig Bohl earned his best win at Wyoming over Northern Illinois

Up until this past Saturday, the jury was still out on if Craig Bohl was going to get it done at Wyoming. Coaching in his third season, Bohl had a rough year in 2015 after he lost his starting quarterback Josh Allen 14 plays into Week 1 against Eastern Michigan. That's why starting out with a Week 1 triple-overtime victory over MAC power Northern Illinois was huge. The Cowboys were a 10-point underdog at home to NIU, which makes the win even more impressive.

I think people tend to forget Bohl was the architect of North Dakota State's national championship dynasty, as he won three titles in a row, and left a loaded roster that included 2016 No. 2 overall NFL Draft pick quarterback Carson Wentz on it for the new staff in Fargo. Bohl has proven he's a much better head coach than defensive coordinator. He admits his failures at Nebraska in 2002, and he used it to make himself a better coach today.

He'll also bring a staff into Lincoln on Saturday with a lot of Husker flavor (Mike Grant and Steve Stanard) and two guys on it who have recruited this state as well as any outsiders - AJ Cooper and Scott Fuchs. Cooper recruited nearly all of the key Nebraska players that ended up at NDSU, while Fuchs handles Nebraska recruiting now for Wyoming and recently signed wide receiver CJ Johnson, offensive lineman Gavin Rush and defensive tackle Youhanna Ghaifan.

1 - Will the explosive plays be there on offense this week?

The biggest thing missing from Nebraska's offense in Week 1 against Fresno State were the fireworks. The Husker running backs did not have a run over 20 yards, which is a big reason why NU's total offensive performance wasn't even close to 500 yards. For this offense to take that next step, they need have more explosive plays on Saturday from both the running backs and wide receivers.

2 - Should we be concerned about Pierson-El?

After a strong showing from wide receiver De'Mornay Pierson-El in the final scrimmage of Fall Camp people just assumed he's "back."

However, after not seeing Pierson-El get one punt return attempt, fumble away a reverse play and not have any catches, you have to wonder how far away he still is from his old self? From what I was told this week, it's still very much a question how much Pierson-El will truly give this offense in 2016. I also get the sense it's more a mental than physical as far as what's holding him back.

On paper Nebraska's rushing defense looks stout. The Huskers have held their opponent under 100 total rushing yards three times over the last four games dating back to 2015 and NU currently ranks No. 4 nationally against the run.

I don't expect Wyoming to run all over NU this week on the ground, but with an NFL prospect at running back in Brian Hill, and another solid back behind him in Shaun Wick, look for the Cowboys to break 100 yards and test this young Blackshirt defensive line.

Hill led the Mountain West in rushing last year (135.9 ypg), and quarterback Josh Allen is back off injury and rushed for 70 yards himself last week. Between Allen's mobility and Hills physical running style this will be a great measuring stick for this defense heading into Big Ten Conference play later this season.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET's Big Red Wrap-Up Tuesday's at 7 pm.