Nebraska’s found ways to create explosive plays on offense in 2021; can the Huskers keep it up? | Football

So far this year, Toure has six himself. He hauled in a pair of 68-yard touchdowns against Buffalo, turned a potential interception into a 70-yard bolt against Northwestern, then snared a 38-yard touchdown from Martinez in the second half against the Wildcats.

It stands to reason, of course, that scoring becomes much more likely when a team has an explosive play during a drive. On 19 drives that feature a play of 30-plus yards, the Huskers have scored 11 touchdowns and came up entirely empty only twice. Two of those featured second-half drives engineered by backup Logan Smothers. Nebraska would like that rate to be even better.

In each of its one-score losses, the Huskers have wasted a chance after a big play. A 55-yard completion to Betts turned into a turnover on downs against Oklahoma and NU got just field goals out of a 43-yard completion to Oliver Martin against Illinois and a 45-yard Martinez dash against Michigan State.

Still, the Huskers have scored touchdowns on 58% of their drives that include a play of 30-plus yards and only 31% of regulation, non-kneel-down drives that don’t.

One way to improve the numbers going forward: Produce more explosive plays on the ground. Nebraska has 10 rushes of 20-plus yards through six games and half have come from Martinez. Aside from Jaquez Yant’s 64-yard rumble last week against Northwestern, NU’s longest rushes by a running back this year are a 23-yarder from Rahmir Johnson (also against Northwestern) and a 21-yarder from Gabe Ervin, who is out for the season with a knee injury.