5 things to know about Georgia Southern at Nebraska football this Saturday night

STATESBORO — After the Clay Helton era got off to a rousing start with a 59-7 win over Morgan State on Sept. 3 at Paulson Stadium, the Georgia Southern football team makes its first visit to the Cornhusker State for the first meeting with Nebraska at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday (FS1).

Game recap: Georgia Southern stuns Nebraska Cornhuskers with victory in Lincoln

Here are five things to know about the matchup:

Heated Frost

Could the hot seat be any hotter for Nebraska head coach Scott Frost?

Perhaps if the Cornhuskers hadn't snapped a seven-game losing streak on Sept. 3 with a 38-17 home win over underdog North Dakota. Then again, if Nebraska had lost that game, Frost's time at his alma mater might be in the past tense.

Nebraska did win, buying time (at least one week) for Frost to turn around one of college football's proudest programs.

Frost, a star quarterback for Nebraska's 1997 national title team and a member of its 1995 championship squad, was expected to return the program to similar glory starting in 2018. He had transformed Central Florida, which he inherited at 0-12, to 13-0 two seasons later in 2017 and was the consensus national coach of the year.

Instead, Nebraska has spiraled down with records of 4-8, 5-7, 3-5 and 3-9, the last in 2021 ending with a six-game losing skid and eight of the nine losses by one score or less. Nebraska opened this season with yet another close loss, blowing a second-half lead to Northwestern 31-28 in Dublin, Ireland.

Helton called Frost a "really good offensive-minded coach that can really do some big things and put points on the board."

Game information: Georgia Southern football vs. Nebraska on Saturday: Kickoff, how to watch and more

Annual visit: Kyle Vantrease returns to hostile territory at Nebraska, this time as QB for Georgia Southern

Commentary: So far, so good for Georgia Southern Eagles in debut for coach, high-flying offense

Helton also looked at the Cornhuskers' record in the context of the opposition. They played eight teams that won at least nine games, and six opponents who were nationally ranked on game day.

"I don't know if there's been a team in a multiple of closer games against really quality opponents than them in the country," Helton said. "We know how talented this team is. We know they're well-coached. You look at what Scott (Frost) did at Central Florida. He's right on the cusp of doing this at Nebraska, in my opinion. We're going to have to put our best foot forward and really improve from Game 1 to Game 2."

See how Anthony Grant runs

Here's a name that might sound familiar to high school football fans in Georgia, particularly those located in the vicinity of Buford High School.

Anthony Grant of Buford left the Peach State for Florida State, then left the Seminoles program and became the top running back in junior college. Last season at New Mexico Military Institute, he rushed for 1,730 yards and 18 touchdowns on 241 carries, leading the junior college ranks in rushing attempts, rushing yards, rushing yards per game (144.2) and rushing yards per carry (7.2).

Now he's in Lincoln, where he has made the biggest impact of any player. In his debut against Northwestern, he had 101 yards and two touchdowns, including a 46-yarder. He hit another explosive play with a 46-yard TD against North Dakota last week, when he totaled 189 yards on 23 carries and was selected the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week.

Helton predicts Grant, a 5-foot-11, 200-pound junior, will be one of the best running backs in the country by the end of the season.

First impressions: Takeaways from Georgia Southern's dominant effort in coach Clay Helton's debut

Get Eagles news in your inbox: Sign-up for our free, weekly newsletter on all things Georgia Southern sports

Season preview: Keys for Georgia Southern coach Clay Helton, who feels expectation to succeed from Game 1

Georgia Southern inside linebacker Todd Bradley-Glenn called Grant very explosive.

"He's a guy that can one cut, jump cut, then take it the distance, inside, outside, anything," Bradley-Glenn said. "He's a special guy with the ball in his hands. He's just really good. We're going to have to do our best job against him."

The seventh-year linebacker said the Eagles defense, while not allowing a point against Morgan State (the lone score was on an interception returned for a touchdown), can improve. The Bears rushed for 172 yards on 32 carries, including Alonzo Graham's 106 yards on 14 attempts.

"We've just got to tackle better, hone in our fundamentals," Bradley-Glenn said. "That's the biggest thing. I think both runs (Graham) broke, we had several missed tackles on the play. We need to wrap up ... focus on that, get him on the ground."

Welcome, sort of, to Lincoln

Georgia Southern has an opportunity to improve upon its 0-2 all-time mark against current members of the Big Ten Conference, and it will have to wade into an intimidating, loud sea of red to do it.

Memorial Stadium in Lincoln holds about 86,000 spectators, whose loyalty to the program includes wearing red to the games and filling the huge stadium with an NCAA-record streak of consecutive sellouts dating back to 1962. Saturday's game will be the 384th straight sellout.

"I've got goosebumps," said Helton, 50, a career college football coach who has never been to Lincoln and has wanted to coach in a game at Memorial Stadium. "It's a historic place with unbelievable tradition and a great fan base."

While the agreement with Nebraska guarantees Georgia Southern a $1,423,000 payout to play in Lincoln, Helton is thinking about his team gaining from the experience.

"I see it as one of those adverse learning opportunities because you look at our schedule, four of the first six games are on the road," the coach said. "Here we go, right into that fire. What great lessons we can learn from this while trying to be successful."

The Eagles will be road-tested at Nebraska and Sept. 17 at UAB before hosting Ball State on Sept. 24 at Paulson Stadium and then diving into what looks to be a very challenging Sun Belt Conference slate.

"This is what we live to do. This is why you come to Georgia Southern, to play in big games," Helton said. "Here we get to go to Lincoln, Nebraska, and get to compete against a really quality football team. That's what great college football is about."

Getting comfortable on offense

Georgia Southern's almost entirely new coaching staff has installed new systems for defense, special teams and offense, with the latter understandably getting the most attention.

This is not your father's, or grandfather's Georgia Southern offense. The days of the triple option already were being phased out, but a run-heavy attack had been in place for decades, often to great success.

Helton and offensive coordinator Bryan Ellis have pledged a more balanced scheme through the air and on the ground. They've shown through the spring and fall, including the season opener, that pass plays in the playbook will get plenty of use.

In the season opener, new quarterback Kyle Vantrease posted one of the best passing performances in the GS modern football era, completing 29 of 46 passes for 367 yards, four touchdowns and one interception before exiting early in the fourth quarter.

"This is an offense that is growing, not only in their fundamentals and technique but their confidence," Helton said. "With each play, they gain more confidence."

Not that they're complacent after outscoring Morgan State 42-0 in the second half.

"You look up and you score 59 points and you have 500 yards (of total offense) and you probably would say, oh yeah, what a great day," Helton said. "But we're all perfectionists, whether myself, coach Ellis, Kyle, our offense. We know there are some things we left out there we can improve on going into Nebraska and look to improve each and every game."

Nebraska coach Frost has studied film on Georgia Southern, and already knew Vantrease when he played against his team in September 2021 as the starting QB for Buffalo, which lost to the Cornhuskers.

"They're athletic," Frost said Thursday of the Eagles. "They're making a transition on offense. I think they have some good pieces. They're serious and can really run. We've seen the quarterback before. The offensive line does a really good job.

"They've been an option team, so we're really impressed with the way they come off the ball. Defensively, they have guys that can run and move all over the place. So they're not just sort of athletes and I know they'll be well-coached."

Then again, it could be about the run game

It's true that Georgia Southern is attacking defenses vertically through the air, but the run game could prove to be a difference maker.

Nebraska's defense in two games has allowed opponents to pass for 222.5 yards a game and run for 194.5. Northwestern and North Dakota have combined for 155 total plays, to 135 for Nebraska, which is averaging 274 yards passing and 177 rushing.

Success running the ball could set up the pass against Nebraska, which has a lot of experience on that side of the ball led by junior linebacker Luke Reimer. An All-Big Ten honorable mention honoree in 2021, Reimer already has 22 tackles in two games.

Helton said the offense will have to be patient.

"This is a defense that really makes you earn it," he said. "You don't see missed assignments. You don't see technique busts. They make you go the long way. You have to execute. You can't get behind the chains. Their edge rushers will be as good as we see all year. They've got three or four of them that are special special, that are (future) NFL football players."

GS is going with a faster pace on offense to run more plays and try to wear down a defense, particularly by the later stages of the game. Expect more calls for the run, led by juniors Jalen White and Gerald Green, to test the Cornhuskers.

"If we can get the run game where it's effective, especially in the red zone like it was last week, that's a quarterback's best friend," Helton said.

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern football team plays Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday