Interim coach Mickey Joseph expects Nebraska to 'play with fire' against Rutgers

Nebraska is coming off only its second win of the season, a 35-21 victory over Indiana and the first of the post-Scott Frost era following the head coach’s ouster in mid-September. Now a trip to Rutgers looms.

Interim coach Mickey Joseph expects his squad to show up with the same kind of intensity it had this weekend against the Hoosiers.

“I don’t think the size of that field gonna change,” Joseph said Monday. “We’ve just got to jump a couple states. But we still expect them to come out and play with some fire. And we’ve got to get them ready. We’ve got to get them ready for a hostile environment, not knowing what’s going to happen over at Rutgers.”

The biggest difference for Nebraska in the win over Indiana was the play of the defense. The unit held up to allow a season-low 67 yards on the ground, while giving up a season-low 290 total yards of offense.

Nothing came easy for Indiana, which averaged just 3.99 yards per play (also a season-low for the Nebraska defense). That’s what Joseph wants to see again this weekend on the road.

Interim coach Mickey Joseph looking for fired-up Nebraska outfit against Rutgers

If there’s one thing you can be virtually assured of when taking on Rutgers it’s that the Scarlett Knights are likely to take on the personality of their head coach, Greg Schiano.

Just ask Ryan Day at Ohio State.

He got into it with Schiano over the weekend following a late hit out of bounds on an Ohio State fake punt with the Buckeyes leading 49-10 in the fourth quarter.

Point being: Expect Schiano and his team to show up ready to scrap for all four quarters.

“We expect them to come there and be a physical football team,” Joseph said. “We always say the most physical team is going to win the game. So we expect them to get ready this week and get ready to go on the road and play Rutgers.”

Nebraska and Rutgers are scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday with a broadcast on FS1.