There are certain losses that can just be quite crushing. The Nebraska Cornhuskers have had two of those losses now during the 2015 season. First, there was the 33-28 loss to the BYU Cougars on a last second Hail Mary pass. Then after defeating the South Alabama Jaguars, they went and faced the Miami Hurricanes. The Hurricanes were able to hold on as Nebraska's comeback attempt fell short after taking the game to overtime. Miami would kick a field goal to get the victory that they were seeking. It is not terribly normal for the Cornhuskers to struggle this early in the season, so it is going to be important for them to get the expected victory on Saturday against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.
But, as it might seem quite surprising, many of the team leaders between the two teams have similar stat lines. First, at quarterback the Golden Eagles have Junior quarterback Nick Mullens. He has passed for 919 yards for eight touchdowns and only three interceptions. Mullens has also only been sacked four times during this young season. While Mullens does have a rushing touchdown, he is not a running threat, he just was able to make it in from two yards out earlier this season. When Mullens is not on the field, that means that Huskers Junior quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. will be on it. Armstrong Jr. has 898 passing yards and 55 rushing yards on the young season. But he is only completing just under 57 percent of his passes so far this year. He has nine touchdown passes and four interceptions, the most recent one coming in overtime against Miami.
The running backs compare nearly identical stats as well. Golden Eagles Senior back Jalen Richard has 51 carries for 322 yards and four touchdowns, and another five catches for 30 yards. Meanwhile, Huskers Junior running back Terrell Newby has 52 carries for 323 yards and three touchdowns, but has done more receiving with six catches for 54 yards and one touchdown. Another way that these two teams might be more equal than the Las Vegas experts are predicting as they currently have the spread at -21.5 at the time of this writing.
When it comes to their top receivers, Southern Miss has Senior receiver Casey Martin to come to the rescue. He has 17 catches for 201 yards and two touchdowns. But, in their biggest game so far this year, he only was able to manage five catches for six yards against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Know for certain that Mike Riley will have the blackshirts defense looking at that tape for a better way to slow Martin down. Meanwhile, the Huskers are led at receiver by Junior Jordan Westerkamp. Westerkamp has a touchdown in all three games so far this season and has a total of 15 catches for 233 yards for those three touchdowns.
Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 12 PM Eastern time. At kickoff the weather conditions are projected to be a temperature of 79 degrees and sunny outside. It should make for a beautiful day to watch a football game, and Huskers fans will be hoping that Nebraska will get another win on the field.