1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nebraska DC Rob Aurich speaks to media: September 8th, 2026, 5:00pm

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

Nebraska DC Rob Aurich speaks to media: September 8th, 2026, 5:00pmAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation on 93-7 the ticket. Chicago, we're going to let this. We have to let it play, let it go, all the way through. Awesome stuff. DP sent me a lot of their live performances, and it's been on my playlist recently, so we'll get into a couple more of those. Nick Wyman Stevin in now, I've heard this next hour carrying you to the 6 o'clock hour,

where he set things down to Alumni Hall. We'll have two remote shows out there, Harrison Arns and everybody else in company carrying things down there, setting up. So that is why you're hearing me here till the top of the hour here on one-on-one, sponsored by the downtown Lincoln Association. Grateful for everything they do for us here at the ticket. But they're heading down there because Take Down Tuesdays with Ridge Lovett will be down at the Alumni Hall. And then after that from 7 to 8, Surin Volley with Jalen Reyes will be the headliner there as well. So you get to hear a lot about things winning down there in Chicago for the Huskers as they are back. at home for the first time this season for their home opener this Thursday back at the Bob Devaney

Sports Center, the newly renovated Bob Devaney Sports Center. So we'll talk about that later on this hour as well. We'll stick with some hospital because Nebraska is coming off their first win of the 2026 season. So if you want to be a part of the conversation, 402, 464, 565, and we'll play some audio because Rob Orch spoke to the media today after Nebraska's 49 to 21 win over the Ohio Bobcats. before we get into all that, I kind of want to give my thoughts on the game and we were down here for pregame

and in between and everything like that. Very hot day. For those who were there in Memorial Stadium, hopefully you brought your sunscreen, hopefully you drink your water because it was a, it was a toasty one. I saw it is like the second hottest game since 2000 there at Memorial Stadium.

It was toasty. Not your usual weather for a college football. ball season. Yes, there's some hot games. Yes, there's usually some weather played factors with light and delays, sometimes power outages we saw this past week as well. But a very toasty game to start the year. So hopefully sunscreen, you got your, you stay hydrated out there and you're able to make it through that 11 a.m. kickoff. And Nebraska with that 49, 21 win, interesting game. Because Ohio, a team who has seen Anthony Clanger has seen, you know, that quarterback and John Hauser, the Bobcats coach,

and Ohio came out and first play of the game, busted coverage. He's a huge gain and takes the lead. And Nebraska was trailing at the end of the first quarter, 10 to 7. Ohio continued to, you know, stay in it, end up kicking a field goal in the second quarter,

but Nebraska captures a 14 to 13 lead, but then the second half, only allowed eight points allowed by Rob Orich in that defense. And you look at that Nebraska defense. And I know they spent a lot of time on the offense in the first hour with Harrison and, Bach. We're going to stick on the defense aside because a lot of people, there were a lot of question marks on defense with the transfers, with the new faces, the new scheme, the new

defensive coordinator, so many different moving parts for Nebraska that the defense was a talking point in itself. And, you know, first impressions, you know, it's interesting time because it's the first time you're seeing this defense. We didn't know what to expect until we saw that first snap at 11 a.m. on Saturday for Rob Oridge in this team. And with this group, it's, yes, you're playing a non, a powerful team. But to see what this team looks like, we didn't know. So we do have a lot of standways from Rob Orich, and we're going to react to them. If you have any comments as well, 402, 464, 5C5 as well, and leave a comment,

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or if you're watching on Alo, Channel 961. The first thing I want to get into is, you know, Shavers stepping in for Owen Chambliss. Owen Chambliss, one of the new members of the Huskers defense. He was a talking point in itself because moving over from San Diego State alongside Rob Orich in this defense. And, you know, looked on as a leader right away, a guy who has not played a snap for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in an official game. However, with the familiarity with the defensive coaching staff coming over and being a spark plug, the guy who knows the scheme, knows what expect on the defensive side of the ball. He didn't play.

Injury holds him out of that one. And you saw that before kickoff. So then you had Shavers stepping in there to perform. So here was Rob Orridge talking about Owen Chamble's out, but Shaver's stepping up for him in absence during the game on Saturday against Ohio. Shavers, Shavers moved from Mike to Will in the absence of Chamblis last week. And we knew we knew for a while that that might be on the table. So we had them prepped. Owen is an elite field communicator.

So anytime he's not on the field, it's not that level. But I thought Vincent stepped in and did an admirable job, did a really well job flying around making plays for us. I was pleased with the way he responded because he was repting Mike and Sam all camp. And then about two a week before the game, we kind of knew that he was going to have to be ready to go. And they were able to, you know, pick and plug in that situation, Nebraska's the defense.

It shows a little bit of the depth with Owen Chambliss. being out. And that's a guy, like I said, Nebraska looked on as a leader, not only at that position group, but also on this defense. However, you didn't have him at your disposal. And Nebraska was able to, you know, put away that Ohio in the end, only allowing eight points in the second half. Building off the defense as well, you know, Rob Wards did discuss that first play. I know a lot of Husker fans sat down. maybe you're up getting your last, you know, play to food or maybe your, your drink before the game officially began. But Ohio first play at the game, blown coverage, blown up play, and Nebraska had an opportunity to respond there, but hey, a huge play for Ohio to take

the lead early. Here was Rob words talking about that blown up first play in the game against the Ohio Bobcats from his reaction as a defensive coordinator. It's a great question. So we have a coverage bust on my. the first play of communication issue on the back half that we fixed after that snap. But, you know, we allowed a third of their yards almost on a single play on the first play of the game.

That was a, that was an eye-opening experience for us. And it was a great opportunity to see how we respond. And so one thing I was pleased with is the guys came to the sideline, you know, settled back into what we do. But that was an unexpected event. And so we had a change of state moment and we had an opportunity to respond. And that was a moment where Nebraska fans saw that. and they kind of let out an oh no, because they see how the sea,

that's not exactly how you want your season to begin with a busted coverage and then allowing a touchdown on the opening drive on the defensive side of things. Nebraska had an opportunity to respond and respond they did. Yes, they had to, you know, got it out in that first half, leading by one point over the Bobcats there. But in the second half, Nebraska dominated the Latin scrimmonies. They dominated in possession. They dominated in scoring things.

I mean, you look at the final score, 49 to 21. If you're just looking at the box score and you just see that outside of the scoring, it looks like Nebraska handled business there against Ohio. However, when you're outscoring a team 35 to 8 in the second half, everything going your way in that one for the Huskers. And I think credit to Rob Orge in that defense. Yes, you're in a dog fight of a game against Ohio. You're only up by one.

But then to only allow, you know, one score in the second half, I think shows, you know, the opportunity they had. And they stared some adversity in their face and they were able to respond in that. in that one. You did see when Ohio was on offense during this game, quarterback play. Ohio, Nick Polos, he's a quarterback who had barely, you know, inexperienced, but experience is the way they described him.

Ohio's play-by-play announcer described on early break. Polos, he played a handful of games. Didn't start a whole lot, but he played in some time behind Parker Navarro last year for this Ohio Bobcat squad. but he looked poised. A guy who comes in the Memorial Stadium, you know, 85, 90,000 fans strong, comes out and gets all the momentum right away. And a guy who was able to show off a little bit more athleticism

than I think a lot of people showed. There were some read option plays where they were running it. Nebraska did a really good job on defense to be able to, you know, swallow up the trenches. But the quarterback for Ohio was able to pull it outside and find some lanes and get some first downs and move the change. chains a couple times. Also didn't slide a lot. He was a he was a guy who was just putting his body on the line there as well, you know, kind of a gritty quarterback as well. So here was Rob Orr's talking

about, you know, giving up those majority of the rushing yards to a quarterback and, you know, what they kind of did in full with that. So here was Rob Orr's talking about the rushing yards allowed from the quarterback position against Ohio this past Saturday. We allowed 75 yards rushing to the quarterback. That was my over over half of their rushing yards came from the QB. So rush lane integrity and discipline is something that's being spoke about a lot in our room right now can allow the quarterback to scramble out for 70 yards I think you account for two of their three biggest plays so we got to get that corrected and that's not a talent issue that's making sure fundamentally we know what we're doing correctly and with that I think you're going to see some of those

quarterbacks throughout the rest of the season whether that's non-conference or even in the conference play you're going to see dual threat quarterbacks that's just the age of college football that we live in where you see a lot of dual threat quarterbacks along the way. And, you know, giving up 70 plus yards from a quarterback rushing is not usually a great thing. However, they were able to, you know, establish that, even though it was a 49, 21 win over Ohio. Some of the dual threat quarterbacks Nebraska will see throughout the year. I mean, Maryland will have in Washington. Oregon has Dante Moore, mostly a pocket passer, but can pull it at a time time.

DeMond Williams in Washington, you know, Kate and Houser is going to be there and down there. you're going to see some dual threat quarterback, there's also a lot of pocket passers, guys who can do it both ways. And I think you saw a little preview of what Ohio kind of did, but the best part about this, you know, have that on film and Nebraska has time to put that all together.

Yes, it's Tuesday right now you have a game in just a handful of days against Bowling Green, a team who did get stunned in their first game of the year. And we'll talk about that, kind of the close out the show when we shift back to football. But this is a group that you learn from that first game. And if you looked around the world of college football, especially in the Big Ten Conference.

Teams are figuring out. UAB, Illinois was a closer game for a bit until Illinois decided to find things out. Washington and the rivalry game against Washington State was a close game until Washington figured things out. The adjustments Nebraska made into that second half, I think was interesting as well.

So leading off that, here's another one from Rob Orr, she talked about the first game. I talked about the first game, those jitters, those nerves, the clarity behind the first game. Because the first game, you want to be a team where you are better

in game 12, 13, and beyond, than you are in game one. So here was Rob Ward is talking about that first game, you know, providing some things Nebraska can do as the season progresses. So here's Nebraska defense coordinator talking about that earlier today in his media scrum. Yeah, it provided clarity in kind of who was ready to play.

I would say that. I'm not going to get into who's above who or who's not. That's not the time for it. But you look at that secondary group, A kid I was really pleased with was Jeremiah Khan or Jemir Khan. And, you know, he was a kid that's making his first start at safety for us that stepped in. And the moment wasn't too big for him. He was ready to play.

And Nebraska had a lot of guys, you know, play on Devens. I mean, look at the tackles away, 28 total sole tackles, 56 tackles and full, being led by Jemir Khan, who was just mentioned. He had eight total tackles in this game, stepping up when needed. A senior, yes, senior defensive back. And Rob Orch gave credit to creditors due for that. kind of player in that kind of moment. So Nebraska's defense, you know,

continue to figure things out as they went on as well. So I look at all the snaps. I look at who played, what, how many snaps we played. And that was a question, not only in the offense side of the ball, but also on the defensive side of the ball for the Nebraska Corners. Who is going to play the most? We talked about the running back position. I'm assuming Harrison and Bach.

They talked out in the first hour here on 101, where you wanted to see how many snaps each of those running back. Scott. Well, on defense, it was who's going to get me. on the field majority of the time. And one of those guys was Anthony Jones. UCLA transfer has played in the Big Ten conference before as well. So he's well established in Power 4 football.

He was one of the guys that Nebraska played, you know, 50 plus snaps on Saturday. A very hot game. I know if you were at the game there, whether you in the stands or on the field or wherever you may be, it was a toasty one. And for a guy to play 50 plus snaps in that kind of situation on a game that was, you narrowly close for majority of the time until Nebraska really put their foot down on the defensive side, only allowing eight points and then, you know, racking up touchdown after touchdown after touchdown, leading to five scores in the second half.

Anthony Jones was a staple of that in their game this past weekend. So here was Anthony Jones being talked about by Rob Orich earlier today about him playing all those snaps on Saturday against Ohio in that victory. What does it say to us that Anthony Jones played 52 snaps? I think it's 20 more than any line. Are you seen that as a higher number? Like you're surprised by it? He's just a really diverse and unique player. He can do a lot of things.

He can cover the pocket. He can rush. He can drop. He's good at run fits. He's just good in a lot of situations. And then he played, what, two on offense or three on offense? So we have to keep an eye on that. If we had to get above 60, I'm worried.

And, you know, first game of the year. And it was a to see one, like I said, before you played Rob Orge's audio there. cramping up is always an issue. We see it at the high school level. We'll see it this Sunday. The professional, we'll see it in college throughout the first couple of games of the season. And cramping up happens time and time again.

For Anthony Jones to be out there, continuing to play a role. They're out there and getting all those snaps. I mean, playing so many more snaps than a lot of other players. Yes, he only had three tackles for, you know, one solo tackle as well. But if you're out there and you're available and you can be valuable to your team,

a lot can go on as a team progressive. Reminder, this is just game one for November. Nebraska football in a 49-21 victory of Ohio. So things progress as the season goes on. And for him to just be available and be available on defense and play that role as well. I look at the defense aside of this game, too, just looking at the stats. A lot of those yards happened in the first half. Nebraska did a really good job of getting off the field on third down.

There was a point in the game where Ohio was, yes, they were moving the ball and scoring. But on third down, they were able to stop the Bobcats and continue to get off the field. We flash back to the last time we saw Nebraska football, the last three games of last season, with that being Penn State, up at Happy Valley, Iowa here in Lincoln, and then the Bull game in Las Vegas against Utah.

Those three games, all losses. However, Nebraska's defense was unable to get off the field on those marquee downs and get their offense back on the field. Yes, it's Ohio compared to, you know, two Big Ten screams and a college football playoff hopeful in Utah. But this was a group that was able to get off the field and put the ball back in Anthony Calandria's hands in that running back room and everybody else on offense. So you look at that as a whole. I think that's a positive you look out of this one.

Yes, it's against a max school and they'll have another one on the schedule against Bowling Green as well. And we'll talk about, like I said, talk about Boland Green's week, the cap off the show here. But for a team that struggled last time we saw them, yes, it's a very different team in 2025 compared to 2026. but they finally were able to weather the storm, get off the field, and even though momentum's changing, Ohio has a one point down by one at halftime, which a lot of people assume Nebraska was able to handle business, they do it in the second half and close, you know, open that gap and open the floodgates in this victory by multiple scores against Ohio.

Yes, they give it a touch in the fourth quarter. Yes, they gave up that two-point conversion, which was a very weird two-point try. Ohio has a bad snap. The ball bounces back into their quarterback's hands, is able to sling it over the middle and score to make it, know, 21, 28 at that moment. However, Nebraska able to score 21 and answered and, you know, really handles business from there on out. That's credit to what defense.

Defense, they will get Ohio out the field, force a turnover there late as well to grab all momentum at that point. And Rob Ward did talk about the defensive turnover because the turnover battle is huge. I mean, we see it in college football, not last night between SMU and Florida State, where SMU does lose the turnover battle forward to nothing. But winning that turnover battle in a defensive side of things is always, very important. Because we've talked about it countless times, whether it's this show,

whether it's throughout our entire programming. If you're winning two or three facets of the game, offense, special teams and defense, defense being very specially because you're able to give your offense that short field. Nebraska is able to do that late to really, you know, step on the gas to end that game against Ohio. If you're able to force a ton of turnovers

and get your offense in short field, usually things go pretty well for you. Pras was able to force one turnover late in that one. But Rob Orch wasn't settled with just one turnover. Here was Rob Orch talking about getting that turnover late against Ohio this past Saturday in the Huskers' first win of the 2026 season. It was good to get a turnover. We're trying to get three a game.

We only got one in the game. So it was good to see us convert. We executed that coverage pretty well all day on third down. It was good to see that visiony safety come up with a pick when he had the opportunity to. I think Jemir tipped it. it and Donnie tipped it and ended up with Rex. I'd love to see him score it. I love to see him score that bad boy.

But it was good to see us get one. This quote is probably my favorite of the bunch that Rob Orch had from today. Talked about the turnovers. Nebraska was good to see one, but the goal is always three. Nebraska had some close calls in there trying to intercept some passes in the first half, but weren't able to capitalize on that. Not settled. And Rob Orch in this group are not settled with just,

one turnover. They want two more or even more, because that's the goal, is to give your offense the best chance to score. If you're able to intercept a ball in plus territory and set your offense up, and we saw that turnover lead to a score as well and help Nebraska get to this victory,

you're able to, things just get a lot easier and they're less complex than rather than having to go 80 plus yards rather than 40 yards because you got an interception near midfield and set your offense up in any shape and form better. So I look at that as, it's something that's interesting because remember, this is just game one. And yes, things were not perfect per se for Nebraska.

I know a lot of fans saw that first play and the busted coverage went, oh, no, here we go. And it's going to be a dog fight. But you got to remember, Ohio has always been a solid nonpowerful football program. They didn't, they did not look intimidated by the moment. And yes, things went there, did not go their way in the second half. It looked like a team that, you know, got, ran out of gas a little bit. it there. Nebraska's defense, I think, did a really good job of keeping their team off the, their offense is a group off the field. Because we saw them, we had some quick strikes that

to begin the game. But outside of that, third down conversions were not in favor of the Bobcats' his way. And Nebraska was able to fight them off in a situation. Only 164 yards passing there. They did allow over 300 yards. However, Nebraska's offense, 523 yards. And you look at those rushing yards. I go back to that as well. We're Nebraska, you know, stopping the run, especially in the Big Ten Conference when that time comes around because, yes, we have Nebraska playing bowling green in North Dakota before we turn the page to nine conference games. Nebraska only allowed 139 rushing yards. Remember, 75 of those yards, 70 per the statutes here, came from a quarterback.

70 yards of pop there. So if you're able to cross that off and take that away, yes, quarterback, mold of quarterback's always interesting. That's half the yardage came from a quarterback. the other half came from any running back or any other rusher for the Ohio Bobcats. In the Big Ten conference, which Nebraska will see plenty of them, really talented running backs. And if history tells itself, teams who have good running backs in the Big Ten usually are very successful. We see it with Ohio State.

We've seen it with Wisconsin back in the day in the 2010s. That usually leads to success. We see it with Iowa's always got good running backs. In Nebraska, they're able to clog those rushing lanes and force teams to throw the ball, especially when we talk about the weather. It's 90-some degrees outside for this game. We're going to get into October and November. A skill crisp in the air.

Being able to run the ball is very important in this conference. And yes, it's a 49-21 win over Ohio. Ohio's not a Big Ten school. However, they played some tough games. They played some tough teams. Nebraska was able to stop that down and set themselves up. Had some early penalties, had some early mistakes. Remember, this is just game one.

And Rob Orich was brought in here to help Nebraska, help Nebraska defense, put Nebraska's defense in the best shape they can to win football games. And I think, yes, the first half, you're only up by one against a non-powerful team. But that's second half, outscoring a team and just dominating the fast of the game, 35 to 8 over the final two quarters of play. You're able to handle business, walk out of Memorial Stadium as a group and, you know, feel good about it. Yes, there's always some things are perfect. It's only game one of 12 plus games.

But now you have something to look on. You have the film, break it down. Nebraska is probably going over that right now. One would assume, and then they're going to get ready and look to perfect those things that Rob Ward said, whether that's get more turnovers, be ready to play when the game starts, and do that throughout the Bowling Green and then North Dakota and so on and so forth when that leads you into conference play as this 2026 season progressed. So Nebraska defense only give up eight points in the second half,

touchdown and then a two-point conversion to help Nebraska to a 49 to, 21 games. So an interesting one, but it wins a win is the way to look at. Nebraska Bowling Green on Saturday. We'll talk about bowling green later on in the show. But come out next, Husker Volleyball. DPUs out there at Ridley Field for a memorable night of college volleyball.

There's a little bit of talking points about that one because Nebraska did play Missouri for a handful of points. However, the match was suspended due condensation forming on the playing surface. And we'll talk about that in the full. Also, Nebraska volleyball. First chance at home. They'll play at home this week. We'll talk about those dates and you want to keep an eye on his number.

Huskers are back at home at the newly revamped Bob Devaney Sports Center. Love to hear from me at 4-064-5. You want to be a part of the conversation as well. But we'll talk about Husker volleyball on the other side on 93.7. The ticket and the ticket FM.com.