The good news for Nebraska on Saturday is that arguably Ohio State’s best defensive player entering the season, All-American defensive end Nick Bosa, won’t be on the field after leaving school early to concentrate on the upcoming NFL Draft.

The bad news is that the Buckeyes have the unique luxury of still boasting one of the better defensive lines in all of college football even without him.

Sophomore Chase Young has elevated into Bosa’s starting role and is currently tied for 10thin the Big Ten with 8.5 tackles for loss and 11thwith 4.5 sacks. Since the start of conference play, Young is second in the league in TFLs (7.5) and fourth in sacks (4.5).

Jonathan Cooper (4.0 TFLs and 1.5 sacks) mans the other defensive spot, while Dre’Mont Jones is one of the best defensive tackles in the country with 9.0 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, an interception, and two fumble recoveries.

What makes the Buckeye pass rush even more dangerous is when opponents are forced into obvious passing downs and OSU brings in a four-man front of elite pass rushing defensive ends and drops seven back into coverage.

"What they’ll do is they’ll take one of their interior defensive linemen out and they’ll bring in their edge rusher inside," NU offensive line coach Greg Austin said. "So the match-up with the guards is critical. Now you have a quicker guy that’s really trying to work your edge. Certainly, your tackles have their hands full with the defensive ends, but now the hones is on the guards too.

"You just have to do your job, protect the right setline, communicate and fight your ass off.”

The Huskers’ offensive line is well aware of the challenge that awaits at Ohio Stadium, but sophomore right tackle Matt Farniok said the unit is viewing it as an opportunity to test itself against the best.

“They’re obviously pretty good,” Farniok said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I think it’s going to be just a battle. Those are the games you love: when you fight for every down, every inch. It’s exactly what you’d want.”

- Robin Washut

As Nebraska gets ready to head out to Ohio State this week, one thing we don’t know is who would be the No. 2 quarterback into the game if something happened to Adrian Martinez?

On Saturday, UCF transfer Noah Vedral took all the snaps against Bethune-Cookman in the second half, while earlier in the season Andrew Bunch started against Colorado when Martinez was injured. At this point, no assistant coach is ready to tip their hand on who has the edge at No. 2 quarterback.

“You know like I’d mentioned last week whether or not it was going to be Andrew or Noah was going to be coach (Scott) Frost’s decision he wanted to make sure that Noah got some reps and we had a plan to get them all in the second half, and we just ran out of series you know,” quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco said. “They’re battling right now, they are.”

As for Vedral’s play Saturday, he finished 2-for-9 with an interception, but Verduzco said he looks at more than the final numbers.

“It would have been nice to maybe have him one or two series with the first unit, that would’ve been fun,” Verduzco said of Vedral. “I think that’s obviously a characteristic that comes through when a kid like Noah is playing with the second group and all of that sort of business, it’s more difficult.”

Regardless of how things looked for Vedral on Saturday, it was just nice to get him on the field.

“It was great,” Verduzco said. “That was great as you’re pointing out, for us, that he was able to get some live reps and kind of, it’s one thing to play in a spring game, but it’s certainly another thing to go into a game and get that bit of rust off you and the cobwebs, so that was invaluable for him.”

- Sean Callahan

Nebraska has found itself a pretty good duo in the backfield as of late with senior Devine Ozigbo and freshman Maurice Washington.

Splitting carries can often be a tedious task when you’ve got two capable backs playing well, but running backs coach Ryan Held says he tries to keep things simple.

“Right now it’s kind of every other series, give or take, we try to plan that out,” Held said. “Then there’s certain plays that we’d like to have a guy in for, I try to manage that knowing what the bossman is going to call and everything. We try to go every other series knowing that something could change within that, but that way we’re fresh.

“You saw last week I think there were maybe four or five plays and I got the next guy in there after a long run or whatever. It’s just being smart because fresh legs make a big difference and I feel confident in both of those guys that they can execute any part of the game plan even though there are certain plays that we like one or the other in.”

Held says the great thing about what Nebraska has going right now with Ozigbo and Washington is that they are both totally on board with the rotation and doing whatever helps the team win.

“Absolutely and they are team guys,” Held said when asked if both running backs were good with the current rotation. “If Devine plays seven plays and got us down to the 20, but he’s a little tired and I put Mo in and he scores a touchdown the first guys that goes and celebrates with his teammate is Devine.

"That’s the kind of culture that we want. Hey, you might have really helped get down to where it was at. You might not get the touchdown, but we’re not in it for individual stats, we’re in it to help Nebraska win football games.”

- Nate Clouse

It took eight games into his collegiate career to do it, but Katerian Legrone finally hauled in his first reception as a Cornhusker in last week’s win over Bethune-Cookman.

It was just an eight-yard completion early in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand but still served as an important benchmark for true freshman tight end.

Recruited as a three-star wide receiver out of Atlanta’s B.E.S.T. Academy, Legrone entered his first season in Lincoln with the understanding that he would redshirt.

But with the NCAA’s new four-game allowance before a redshirt decision needs to be made, games like Saturday’s serve as invaluable experiences and opportunities.

“Yes, I will be redshirting this season,” Legrone said. “I feel good about it. I can get some burn this year, see how the college game feels, and then still have four more years next year.”

Whether Legrone gets any more chances for playing time this season remains to be seen, but one area he knows he needs to continue to improve is his blocking. At 6-3, 235, Legrone has the build to be an effective blocker, but he quickly learned that blocking as a receiver isn’t quite the same as doing it as a tight end.

“Coming out of high school, I mainly played receiver,” Legrone said. “Then, when I moved to tight end and being in a three-point stance, my end-line blocking from Day 1 of fall camp to today, I’ve gotten way better…

“I feel my blocking’s starting to equal out. I feel like once my blocking gets even better, I’ll be a better player.”

- Robin Washut

***Offensive coordinator Troy Walters said Ohio State’s defense obviously presents a number of challenges with its impressive depth, talent, and speed, but one thing that’s really stood out on film is how aggressive its cornerbacks are in press-man coverage.

Walters said OSU’s secondary was a lot like Michigan’s in how physical it is at the line of scrimmage, so the emphasis for the receivers to match that has been a focal point this week.

***Walters said Nebraska’s running game has improved so much because it’s getting better blocking on the perimeter and the second level and that the running backs “aren’t tip-toeing” through holes anymore. He said running the ball effectively would be imperative against Ohio State.

***Walters said he challenged the rest of the offensive skill players this week for other guys to step up and make plays besides Stanley Morgan and JD Spielman. “There’s going to be a guy that some people may have never heard of that’s going to need to step up and make a play.”

***Walters said even though Jaevon McQuitty hasn’t played much at all on Saturdays, the receiver had still come a long way in his development. Walters said McQuitty hasn’t shown any signs of frustration about his lack of playing time and continues to “come to work every day and practices his tail off.”

Walters said McQuitty still needs to play with more confidence and consistency to take that next step, but said McQuitty “definitely has my attention” with the progress he’s made thus far.

***Austin said he wasn’t worried about any on-field communication issues for his group at Ohio State because they’ve been practicing it all year.