Marcus Satterfield wants to see better focus, urgency from Nebraska offense

Nebraska is readying for a season opener against Minnesota on Thursday night and unfortunately the urgency from the Nebraska offense is a little lacking.

Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield voiced his disappointment last week with one of the team’s practices, which was not up to the level the Cornhuskers need it to prepare as best they can.

“We need to improve on the focus. We need to improve on the urgency,” Satterfield said. “We came out today a little flat, which we don’t ever want to do. Challenged them and I think they understand the urgency they need to play with.”

Nebraska is one of a handful of teams that will have a really challenging season opener, without the luxury of a ‘cupcake’ game to begin the season. The conference test could provide some significant momentum, one way or another.

Minnesota has proven quite good under coach PJ Fleck, winning nine games in back-to-back years heading into the 2023 campaign.

Satterfield knows his guys need to be locked in to have a chance and that starts in practice with the right sense of urgency from the Nebraska offense.

“They understand the focus they need to play with and continue to get better as this week goes through,” he said.

Matt Rhule wants balance, urgency from Nebraska offense

Along with the improved sense of urgency from the Nebraska offense, coach Matt Rhule wants to see his team demonstrate good balance between the run and the pass.

That’ll be up to the playcallers, in part. But it will also require sound execution to be able to remain balanced.

“Our mindset’s always going to be to go out and, we want to run the football,” Rhule said on the Always College Football podcast with Greg McElroy. “You should see some days out here. We had a practice, I think it was two weeks ago, if you threw the ball it literally was getting blown back into your face. So, coach [Tom] Osborne was one of the first to tell me that, like, ‘Matt, the wind here is a factor.’

“So we have to be able to run the ball at all times. But we also want to be explosive. We want to throw it. We want to push the ball down the field. So, that balance of, ‘Hey, on any play they could do anything’ I think is important to us.”

The Nebraska offense will get to showcase its new look on Thursday night with a game at Minnesota that kicks off at 8 p.m. ET, with a broadcast on FOX.