Heinrich Haarberg busted out of the gate last season so explosively and surprisingly that it was difficult, for many inside and outside the Nebraska football program, to dwell on the long-term outlook and ramifications of his playing style.

Frankly, it was pretty awesome to see a Nebraska-born, Husker-bred former high school in-state star be mostly doubted all week, take the reins, go out in his first two career starts and absolutely lay the hammer down. Or, in this case, lay the shoulder down as he rushed for 255 yards and two touchdowns, then threw for three more scores and 265 yards.

Offensively, Nebraska was stuck in an abyss, where an 0-2 start and a potentially disastrous first month of the Matt Rhule Era was in play. Haarberg led them out of it with those two performances in wins over Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech. And then the rigors of facing one of the NFL’s biggest farm systems, the Big Ten, came crashing down pretty hard.

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