Saturday, Sept. 1 -- 8 p.m. ET
Memorial Stadium-Osborne Field
Lincoln, Neb.
Memorial Stadium-Osborne Field
Lincoln, Neb.
By EVAN MEYER
Thanks to home wins over Ohio and Kent State, the Akron Zips surprised everyone last season by winning the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division. That put them in the MAC Championship game for the second time in school history. Toledo triumphed to cap its own special season, but Akron still reached its second bowl game in three years. Falling hard (50-3) to Florida Atlantic in the Boca Raton Bowl.
If the Zips are going to reach another bowl game this season -- let alone a MAC title game date -- it will take some more “surprises” as the media preseason poll projected UA to fall back into the MAC East pack. The journey starts Saturday when Akron visits the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln.
Here’s more on the two teams . .
NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (4-8, 3-6 B1G)
➤➤ Nebraska’s head coach is former quarterback Scott Frost, who comes from Central Florida after leading the Golden Knights to a 13-0 season and a win over Auburn in last year’s Peach Bowl
Frost is the 31st head coach in Nebraska history. He played quarterback at NU and was 24-2 as a starter, leading them to the 1997 National Championship. Frost played six seasons as a safety in the NFL (including 2000 with the Cleveland Browns).
➤➤ Nebraska’s offensive front owns a combined 60 career starts, while the defensive front has 67 combined starts to his credit.
➤➤ The Big Red offense will open 2017 quarterback Adrian Martinez at under center. He is the first true frosh to start a season opener at Nebraska
➤➤ The returners on offense are led by senior WR Stanley Morgan Jr (school record 986 receiving yards) and sophomore WR JD Spielman, whose 830 receiving yards as a freshman led the FBS. Morgan and Spielman combined for 1,816 yards last season the best receiving tandem in Nebraska history.
➤➤ The ‘Black Shirt’ defense will be led by senior LB Dedrick Young III who registered a team-high 80 (33 solo) tackles and a sack last year.
➤➤ Linebacker Dedrick Young II has registered a team-high 201 career tackles. That is the most by any Husker defender entering his senior season since 2004.
➤➤ Nebraska was picked to finish in the middle of the B1G Ten Western Division by many publications.
➤➤ Nebraska is 5-1 lifetime against the MAC (the lone loss came last season at home to Northern Illinois). UN has one of the toughest schedules in the FBS. It faces five teams that won 10 or more games in 2017 (including a trip to Ohio State) and nine of the 12 opponents played in a bowl game last season (including Akron). All ten of Frost’s assistant coaches came with him from UCF to Lincoln.
➤➤ Frost hopes to bring some of the same magic Central Florida enjoyed to Nebraska. His UCF team led the nation in scoring and ranked fifth in total offense last year.
➤➤ The Cornhuskers return 50 lettermen and 15 starters from last season.
➤➤ Saturday night’s game with the Zips will be the 36th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium dating back to 1962
➤➤ Saturday’s game is the second lifetime meeting between the two schools. The only other meeting came in Lincoln when the teams opened the 1997 season. Nebraska dominated, leading 38-0 at halftime before defeating UA 59-14. Scott Frost was at quarterback that day and rushed for 123 yards with two touchdowns. RB Ahman Green had 99 yards on the ground while FB Jeff Makovicka had a pair of scores
NU finished the season at 13-0 defeating Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship then beating Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl to win the National Championship
➤➤ The game will be nationally televised on FOX
(Click HERE for Akron’s season preview)
Thanks to home wins over Ohio and Kent State, the Akron Zips surprised everyone last season by winning the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division. That put them in the MAC Championship game for the second time in school history. Toledo triumphed to cap its own special season, but Akron still reached its second bowl game in three years. Falling hard (50-3) to Florida Atlantic in the Boca Raton Bowl.
If the Zips are going to reach another bowl game this season -- let alone a MAC title game date -- it will take some more “surprises” as the media preseason poll projected UA to fall back into the MAC East pack. The journey starts Saturday when Akron visits the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln.
Here’s more on the two teams . .
NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (4-8, 3-6 B1G)
➤➤ Nebraska’s head coach is former quarterback Scott Frost, who comes from Central Florida after leading the Golden Knights to a 13-0 season and a win over Auburn in last year’s Peach Bowl
Frost is the 31st head coach in Nebraska history. He played quarterback at NU and was 24-2 as a starter, leading them to the 1997 National Championship. Frost played six seasons as a safety in the NFL (including 2000 with the Cleveland Browns).
➤➤ Nebraska’s offensive front owns a combined 60 career starts, while the defensive front has 67 combined starts to his credit.
➤➤ The Big Red offense will open 2017 quarterback Adrian Martinez at under center. He is the first true frosh to start a season opener at Nebraska
➤➤ The returners on offense are led by senior WR Stanley Morgan Jr (school record 986 receiving yards) and sophomore WR JD Spielman, whose 830 receiving yards as a freshman led the FBS. Morgan and Spielman combined for 1,816 yards last season the best receiving tandem in Nebraska history.
➤➤ The ‘Black Shirt’ defense will be led by senior LB Dedrick Young III who registered a team-high 80 (33 solo) tackles and a sack last year.
➤➤ Linebacker Dedrick Young II has registered a team-high 201 career tackles. That is the most by any Husker defender entering his senior season since 2004.
➤➤ Nebraska was picked to finish in the middle of the B1G Ten Western Division by many publications.
➤➤ Nebraska is 5-1 lifetime against the MAC (the lone loss came last season at home to Northern Illinois). UN has one of the toughest schedules in the FBS. It faces five teams that won 10 or more games in 2017 (including a trip to Ohio State) and nine of the 12 opponents played in a bowl game last season (including Akron). All ten of Frost’s assistant coaches came with him from UCF to Lincoln.
➤➤ Frost hopes to bring some of the same magic Central Florida enjoyed to Nebraska. His UCF team led the nation in scoring and ranked fifth in total offense last year.
➤➤ The Cornhuskers return 50 lettermen and 15 starters from last season.
➤➤ Saturday night’s game with the Zips will be the 36th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium dating back to 1962
➤➤ Saturday’s game is the second lifetime meeting between the two schools. The only other meeting came in Lincoln when the teams opened the 1997 season. Nebraska dominated, leading 38-0 at halftime before defeating UA 59-14. Scott Frost was at quarterback that day and rushed for 123 yards with two touchdowns. RB Ahman Green had 99 yards on the ground while FB Jeff Makovicka had a pair of scores
NU finished the season at 13-0 defeating Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship then beating Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl to win the National Championship
➤➤ The game will be nationally televised on FOX
(Click HERE for Akron’s season preview)
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