Kickoff time was announced Monday for Nebraska’s Oct. 28 home game against Purdue.
The contest against the Boilermakers will kick at 2:30 p.m. and be televised on FS1. It’ll be back-to-back 2:30 kickoffs for the Big Red, who host Northwestern at that time this Saturday, with this week’s game being broadcast on BTN.
Nebraska is hoping to make an October run after winning 20-7 at Illinois on Oct. 6, meeting the midseason bye week with a 3-3 record and 1-2 standing in the Big Ten.
Husker head coach Matt Rhule, who will speak to the media around noon today, said last week he appreciated how his team responded to the challenge he put forth to them heading to the Illinois game, which included one of their most physical practices of the season to begin that week.
«Now what I’m trying to explain to our guys is they have to re-answer it. They have to answer it every week,» Rhule said last week during an appearance on 365 Sports Radio. «But what was really great was the ability to sit there after the game and say, (Last) Sunday night, guys thought it was the end of the world. I said, ‘I guarantee in 10 years it will be one of your best memories from your time at Nebraska. You’ll be talking about it. It will be a tall tale. But after winning that game, was it worth it?’ And they said, ‘Yes.’ Well then, why don’t we just do that every week?”
During a 7 a.m. practice during last week’s bye, the Huskers put the ball down and «just flat competed,» with the central focus simply on playing hard before getting into any prep work for the next opponent, Northwestern.
«I told the guys I didn’t even care about the outcome,» Rhule said of his mindset heading into that Illinois game. «To me it’s about what does the tape look like. You can sometimes lose to a better team and play a good game. You can sometimes beat a team that you’re better than and not play a good game. We’re in the building process here. So I wanted the effort and the physicality to be at the level it’s supposed to be.»