Josh Kelly, Senior Sports Editor – Nebraska 49, South Alabama 13

Although the Huskers have had crucial injuries, they should do just fine against South Alabama. The Sun-Belt program is new to college football and a night game in Memorial Stadium will be a learning curve.

Yes, Jack Ganwish, Demornay Pierson-El and Sam Foltz will be out for the game. Yet Nebraska still has all the necessary pieces to go on its first cake walk with Mike Riley at the helm.

Which Tommy Armstrong Jr. we will see on Saturday is a question many are pondering. The first-quarter Armstrong who completed 10 of 12 of his passes or the second-quarter version who only completed 3 of 14 passes?

Well, against a team that allowed 23 points from Gardner-Webb, the Huskers will be just fine. First-quarter Armstrong will have a clinic on Saturday night, raising his completion percentage against the Jaguars.

With Foltz out and kicker Drew Brown still finding his groove, the special teams won’t be called to duty as much either.

Nebraska will have a stronger effort from the running game as freshman Mikale Wilbon will score the first touchdown of his collegiate career. With all that in mind, Nebraska will have a comfortable lead halfway through the second quarter.

Brett Nierengarten, Online Sports Editor – Nebraska 45, South Alabama 21

No need to hit the panic button this early in the Mike Riley Era. The Huskers will take care of the Jaguars on Saturday.

South Alabama defeated Gardner-Webb 33-23 in their season opener, but the Jags still allowed 177 rushing yards to the Runnin’ Bulldogs. The Bulldogs also had four more first downs than the Jaguars and had the ball for 17 more minutes.

Nebraska’s slew of running backs should take advantage of South Alabama’s shaky rush defense and Tommy Armstrong Jr. is a little better than Gardner-Webb’s true freshman quarterback Tyrell Maxwell. Expect Armstrong to get in a rhythm this weekend.

Expect the Husker secondary to improve from the 379 yards they allowed to BYU because South Alabama quarterback Corey Clement threw for just 184 yards and two interceptions against Gardner-Webb.

Running back Xavier Johnson and company rolled up a total of 224 yards in South Alabama’s season opener, so expect its run game to have a little success against Nebraska.

Don’t expect South Alabama to roll over Nebraska either. This is a team that won six games in each of the last two seasons despite the fact its only been in the FBS for three full seasons.

Nick Wilkinson, Print Sports Editor – Nebraska 38, South Alabama 12

There’s no doubt hearts were broken Saturday because Nebraska lost its season opener to BYU 33-28. Nebraska’s 30-year-old season opener winning streak stood so long because they earned confidence-boosting wins over schools like FAU and South Alabama.

Had this week’s matchup versus South Alabama and last week’s game versus BYU had been swapped on the schedule, no questions would be raised about Mike Riley or his team. Though a slew of UAB transfers rushed into Mobile to play for the Jaguars after their program got disbanded in 2014, there’s no chance they walk out of Lincoln with a win next Saturday. Nebraska junior quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. looked strong in the first quarter against BYU as the offensive line remained strong, but faltered later on when the offensive protection became gassed.

While the Nebraska offensive faces heavy injury among wideouts, Armstrong made exceptional plays through the air.

What Husker fans should be most excited about this Saturday is freshman running back Mikale Wilbon and his opportunity to rack up yardage against the Jaguars and start to make a name for himself.

South Alabama coach Joey Jones has done excellent work. The transition to the highest level of college football has been pretty smooth, considering the Jaguars have already reached a bowl game, but you can’t walk into Lincoln as the No. 108 ranked football team in Division I and not get knocked around.

Watch for Armstrong, watch for Wilbon and watch for Nebraska spanking South Alabama.

Michael Dixon, Football Beat Writer – Nebraska 56, South Alabama 21

A week after a devastating debut, coach Mike Riley gets his first win at Nebraska.

Nebraska should win comfortably, primarily because it’d be pretty darn difficult not to beat the Jags. Despite his inconsistency last Saturday, Tommy Armstrong Jr. will impress with 300-plus passing yards and another three touchdowns.

A few holes in a shaky secondary will allow South Alabama to score a few touchdowns, but the game will be out of reach from the get-go. Expect the Huskers to take an early lead and put the possible calamity of an 0-2 start behind them as soon as they can.

Nebraska should run the ball with much more success than they had against BYU, and Terrell Newby will likely have more than 43 yards on just 10 carries. Nebraska will still platoon, but it will look a heckuva-lot more successful than it did last Saturday. Look for the running backs to score a few touchdowns of their own.

The loss to BYU was tough, but Riley has to start somewhere. Ideally, South Alabama would have been the season opener, but what’s college football without a little adversity?

Vanessa Daves, Football Beat Writer – Nebraska 35, South Alabama 14

South Alabama’s football program has only been around since 2009. Though Nebraska may be rebuilding with the transition of a new coaching staff, South Alabama is stillbuilding after starting from scratch just a few years ago.

Nebraska should win by a large margin, but sometimes, when Nebraska is supposed to blow lower caliber football programs out, it has only been a close win. Last year, Nebraska just barely beat McNeese State 31-24. The Huskers will win this game – there’s no doubt about that. But the margin by which they win will definitely be disputed.

After a heartbreaking season opener loss against BYU, Nebraska has a lot of adjustments to make. Armstrong needs to improve his running game, and the defense needs to solidify its positioning. Five players were suspended before the first game, so with junior linebacker Michael Rose-Ivey, junior tight end Cethan Carter, senior cornerback Jonathan Rose, senior defensive end Joe Keels and junior offensive lineman Robby Painter back in the game, the team is bound to be looking better.

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