Mission Brief: UCLA

Here's a pregame rundown for the Husker's first road game of 2012 in the Army op-order style:
Situation:
Nebraska is 1-0 after winning in impressive fashion last Saturday against Southern Miss, 49-20.  We saw the offense run up and down the field, blasting and then grinding the Eagles defense into submission through the air and on the ground.  The defense started pretty shaky, especially against the run, but they tightened up in the second half, allowing only 3 points after the break.  Special teams lapses were disconcerting, but Husker Nation is very confident going into tomorrow's showdown.

UCLA is also 1-0 after racking up 646 yards of offense against the wet paper bag Rice defense.  The UCLA defense allowed a lot of points and a lot of yards in the victory, and Jim Mora has to be worried going into the game tomorrow evening.  This is the first home game for the Bruins under Mora, and the Bruins would like nothing better than to earn a signature win for their coach in their first time at the Rose Bowl.

Mission:
Nebraska needs to come out of the gates roaring like last week, only this time it would be nice to roar throughout the whole game: no hiccups in the first half.  Obviously a win is a win, but with the dearth of big games this week, a dominating win on a prime time national broadcast puts Nebraska front and center in the national consciousness, and with another great game, Taylor Martinez is no longer in the shadows of Heisman contention.

Execution:
The Huskers are facing their first road game of the season, but it might feel more like a home game as swarms of red-clad Husker fans fill the 90,000 seat Rose Bowl and perhaps outnumber the blue and gold UCLA fans.  That should mitigate any significant home field advantage for the Bruins, and therefore noise shouldn't be a factor-at least for the Huskers.
On offense, the Huskers are likely to be without Rex Burkhead, and as good as the backups looked last week, I'm interested to see if Ameer Abdullah and company can maintain that success against the Bruins defense that is a touch more athletic and experienced than the Southern Miss D they shredded last week.  UCLA is capable of switching between a 3-4 and a 4-3 defense, and they have the personnel to accommodate both sets.  Discipline will be the order of the game, especially on the offensive line as the Bruins will try to switch sets to confuse the offensive linemen.  The Husker's offensive tempo will also be important, if Martinez can get his troops lined up and snapped in 20 seconds or so, UCLA will not have time to sub and switch defenses as much as they might like to-big advantage to Nebraska.  Avoiding turnovers and penalties, hitting plays of 20+ yards every drive, and most of all, scoring points will quickly zap the will of the Bruins and a quick 21-0 lead will put UCLA down before they can get started.
That 21-0 start requires some help from the defense of course.  It's hard to gauge how good this UCLA offense is after seeing them tear up one of the worst defenses in the FBS, but it's clear that they have enough talent to warrant at least a little worry after the defensive struggles last week.  The official line out of the defensive camp last week was that they over-prepared for Southern Miss and were thus a little sloppy on some of the fundamentals.  Hopefully with a full game of film, the defense can tighten up against the run, and shut the Bruins down.  UCLA RB Johnathan Franklin ran for 214 yards against Rice, so you know shutting him down is going to be a major priority, but the not-yet-Blackshirts also have another mobile QB to worry about in Brett Hundley.  The saving grace might be turnovers.  We already talked about how bad the Rice defense was, but even they manged 2 turnovers.  If the Huskers can get to Hundley, create takeaways and get Martinez and Co. back on the field, this is going to be a pretty easy ride.

Service and Support:
The injury to Rex is a big blow, but the loss of veteran starting WR Tim Marlowe can't be forgotten, especially in a road game.  It will also be interesting to see how much TE Ben Cotton can do with his rib injury.  Cotton is valuable blocker, and a serviceable receiver.  On the plus side, CB Mohammed Seisay returns, and he's expected to make a quick impact.
The good news is that Nebraska is stacked with a wealth of talent on the two-deep, and holds a significant advantage over the Bruins in sheer talent and experience, particularly at WR, RB, and CB.  I'm also excited to see more of C Justin Jackson.  Sure a few of his snaps were kinda low, but this guy can put people on their butts.  It's been a while since I've seen such an aggressive, powerful guy at the center position.
The defensive line looks to improve after an uneven performance last week, perhaps we'll see more of the lauded freshman duo of Aaron Curry and Avery Moss.  They were hardly the most lauded recruits coming in, but the fact that they are the ones getting on the field speaks to their talent and dedication.
Exciting WR Jamal Turner burned up the turf last week, and it would be nice to get him as many touches as possible.  It seems pretty insane to think that as exciting a player as he is, he still hasn't scored a touchdown. 
If Nebraska gets up by 3 or 4 touchdowns early, I'd really, really like to see Ron Kellogg III cut his teeth in meaningful time in a road game.  God forbid Martinez ever gets hurt, but if he does, it would be nice to insert a battle-tested back-up instead of a guy who burned the clock at the end of blowout games.  
All in all, Nebraska has tons of options at most positions and it will be fun to see the names we've heard about validate their hype in game time.

Command and Signal:
As always, Bo is running the show.  Bo puts most of his focus on the defense, but coordinator John Papuchis and Rick Kaczenski help out on the sidelines while Terry Joseph and Ross Els are in the booth.  Tim Beck is running the offense from the booth, with Rich Fisher, Ron Brown and Joe Ganz on the sidelines.  This configuration worked well for the Huskers in game one, with plenty of accolade given to Kaczenski and Ganz in the press.  There's obvious trust developing in Ganz as he and Martinez are constantly in contact on the sideline and on the field.  That's good to see from a young coach and beloved Husker quarterback.  This is a good staff we have developing here.

The Huskers have a clear advantage in this game, but the game still has to be played.  There will be a lot of distractions with a trip to Tinseltown, what with recruiting visits and family and all of the LA glitz.  The Huskers need to find focus and take care of business, complete the mission and go into the two easiest games of the year riding a wave of momentum and good feeling.