About Last Week Behold the progress Rutgers has made. This is JJ McCarthy running the ball. On purpose. Which he did FIVE separate times on Saturday. It was a clear sign of respect, and the understanding that Michigan couldn’t necessarily just romp seventy-eight-to-nothingishly over this Rutgers squad. Michigan had to turn the reads on for the first time this year and put JJ McCarthy in regular peril. And if you look through Patrick Barron’s and Bryan Fuller’s photo albums from this game, you will see many shots like this: JJ having to exert himself and risk life and limb against this great and worthy opponent. Of course, because this is Rutgers, there weren’t any defenders in most of those pictures. Mostly he just sort of meandered gleefully downfield until he decided it was time to take a 90 degree turn for the sidelines. Still: progress. The Road Ahead Nebraska (2-2, 0-1 B1G) Last week: Beat Louisiana Tech, 28-14 Recap: Nebraska has come full circle. They’ve got a fast, feisty, athletic defense and an option offense. Somewhere, the universe smiles. Heinrich Haarberg and Anthony Grant combined for 316 yards on 38 non-sack carries, a robust 8.3 yards per carry, including chunk runs of 43, 34, and 72 yards (and a 75-yard carry that was partially called back on a downfield penalty). There are some caveats, of course; Louisiana Tech had the worst run defense in Conference USA last year and they’re looking like they might repeat that feat this year, and a number of Nebraska’s big gains came against defenses that clearly had no clue how to defend what they were seeing: at :13 at 1:15 I wonder how reliable the option game will be against teams with more athletic defenders, but at least Nebraska has something plausibly viable on offense to pair with the most surprising defense in the conference. This team is as frightening as: If a 1990’s-era Tom Osborne team traveled through time to 2023, but because of the Terminator time travel rules—from a scientific standpoint the objectively correct rules for time travel⁠—they had to leave their non-living material (aka the 55 gallon drums of anabolic steroids) behind. Fear Level = 6 Michigan should worry about: It’s one thing to know months ahead of time that you’re playing a triple option-type team. It’s quite another thing to only have a couple of weeks notice. Michigan can sleep soundly about: Nebraska ALSO didn’t know Nebraska was going to be running the option this year until a couple of weeks ago. When they play Michigan: I dunno, I kinda feel like the Nebraska offense is just gonna die. Next game: vs. Michigan, 3:30 p.m., FOX (Nebraska +18) [AFTER THE JUMP: yes, we’ll talk about it]