Five burning questions heading into BCU week

Momentum is such a valuable commodity in college football, and for the first time all season, Nebraska finally has some.

While they no longer have the luxury of a bye week, the Huskers do have a great opportunity this weekend to build upon Saturday’s first victory over Minnesota.

A strong showing where the game is controlled from start to finish while putting up some big numbers along the way would do wonders for a team needing all the confidence it can get before traveling to Ohio State in two weeks.

There’s no reason Bethune-Cookman can’t be exactly that for the Huskers so long as they take advantage.

If Nebraska comes out on Saturday and plays the way it did vs. Minnesota, the final box score could end up loaded with gaudy stat lines across the board.

Not only do the Huskers have the incentive of wanting to put together two straight solid games, but they also have reason to try and run things up a bit to pad both team and individual stats.

Frost and Co. might want to put up some big numbers to bolster their future recruiting pitches when it comes to pointing to tangible statistical evidence.

Then there are guys like Stanley Morgan Jr. (who needs 25 catches to break Kenny Bell’s career receptions record), J.D. Spielman (who needs 386 more yards to become NU’s first 1,000-yard receiver) and Devine Ozigbo (who needs 388 yards to be Nebraska’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2014).

Saturday could go a long way in putting all of those players well on their way towards some impressive individual feats, so the Huskers might keep their foot on the gas pedal a little longer than normal.

Nebraska’s running game awoke in a major way vs. Minnesota, with three players topping 100 rushing yards en route to 383 as a team on the day, its highest total since 2014.

Saturday was the peak of what’s been a steady growth of the Huskers’ ground attack. Through seven games, NU has already amassed 1,539 rushing yards. It had a total of 1,290 last season.

Ozigbo has taken his game to a new level this year, and Frost went as far as to say the senior was “a Sunday guy” who was bound to play in the NFL.

Add in electric freshman Maurice Washington and dual-threat star Adrian Martinez at quarterback, and Nebraska has the perfect recipe for a dangerous ground game.

Bethune-Cookman is giving up 184.6 rushing yards per game and has allowed a whopping 20 rushing touchdowns on the year. Needless to say, this sets up well for another dominating day for NU’s power offense.

After struggling to take the ball away at all over the first few games of the season, Nebraska’s defense has come up with some timely turnovers the past couple of weeks.

With nine total takeaways through the first seven games, the Huskers would love to keep adding to their turnover numbers going forward, and Saturday could be just the boost they need.

Bethune-Cookman has turned the ball over 16 times over its seven games this season, throwing 10 interceptions and losing six fumbles.

With a running game that ranks 53rd in FCS at 166.0 yards per game, it’s likely that the Wildcats will end up having to be one-dimensional. That means there should be plenty of chances for the Blackshirts to pad their turnover total.

As far as Nebraska fans are concerned, the worst part about losing the opener vs. Akron was that it turned the bye week into another game day.

Any Husker fan knows that the lone bye weekend is usually booked with weddings, family vacations, and other family/social events as soon as the schedule comes out.

So what will that do to the turnout for an 11 a.m. kick against an FCS opponent this week?

As of Sunday night, tickets for the Bethune-Cookman game were selling for as cheap as $10 on online ticket broker sites like StubHub and Ticketmaster.

Will the Minnesota win provide a big enough boost in excitement to change some weekend plans and fill Memorial Stadium again? Or will there be some glaring empty patches in the stands?