Few believe that Saturday’s contest between Nebraska and Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich., ultimately will have any implications in the Big Ten title race.
However, there will be plenty of significance for both programs and possibly the conference bowl outlook when the Cornhuskers and Spartans face off in the Big Ten opener for each team.
Nebraska (3-0) is coming off three straight wins at home against opponents it was expected to defeat: Ohio, Bowling Green and North Dakota. Cornhuskers quarterback Anthony Colandrea has thrown for eight touchdowns and Jamal Rule has rushed for five in the wins.
It will be a different scenario this week for the Cornhuskers, who will play on the road for the first time this season. But they are making progress in Matt Rhule’s fourth year as head coach.
Nebraska entered the season 19-19 under Rhule.
“We’ve felt pretty good about our team since probably January,” he said. “I said in the spring when people would come and stop me that this will be our best team. Well, I’m not that dumb. I can tell when they’re good.”
Michigan State (2-1), meanwhile, wants to continue laying a foundation in Pat Fitzgerald’s first season as head coach.
Winning its first conference game at home on Saturday would be a nice step forward for the Spartans, who have gotten 540 yards passing and three touchdown strikes from quarterback Alessio Milivojevic.
Michigan State is coming off a 27-10 loss last week at then-No. 3 Notre Dame in an outcome that some Spartans faithful viewed as promising since the team was a 28-point underdog and trailed by only seven at halftime.
But Fitzgerald wasn’t hearing any of that, saying his team came to win the game and needs to continue to improve.
“I fully expect we will play with great effort,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got a huge challenge. Nebraska is playing at a very high level. We have to play much cleaner and much more consistent. I’m not going to stop saying that until we get there, and once we get there, it won’t be good enough then, either. We’ve just got to get there.”
Nebraska won 38-27 in Lincoln, Neb., in last year’s meeting between the teams.