Nebraska football faces unusual logistics with Friday kickoff after east coast trip

NEBRASKA CITY - Nebraska Radio Network analyst Damon Benning told his Big Red Buzz audience Tuesday that the 2:30 p.m. kickoff for Saturday’s Maryland game may have an impact on Nebraska’s preparations for the trip to Minnesota from a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday, Oct. 17.

Benning said Nebraska officials had been told for months that the Maryland game would have an 11 a.m. kickoff, which would have given the team a normal time frame for returning to Lincoln.

The game will be televised on the Big 10 Network.

The 11 a.m. time slot now has Illinois vs. Ohio State, Missouri and Alabama and Michigan State and UCLA.

Benning said a two hour and 40 minute flight from Maryland to Nebraska will likely put the Huskers in Lincoln around 11:30 p.m.

He said normally players would undertake a recovery regimen supported by the Nebraska Athletic Performance Lab after a game, but Benning said it will probably not take place now until Sunday.

As Nebraska’s game at Minnesota has a Friday kickoff, Benning expects a compressed preparation time.

He said the logistical concerns of the 1,383 flight miles  and a later start time for the Maryland game are magnified by a Friday kickoff the following week.

Rhule spoke about the road trip to Maryland at the Thursday press briefing.

Rhule: “Yeah, Andy Reid all great teams do three things. They eliminate distractions, they create their own energy, they fear nothing and attack everything. I think the first two are very applicable when you’re on the road. We won’t have what I think is the best student section in the world. We won’t have them there an hour and a half before the game cheering for us. We won’t have our own locker rooms, our own things, so you’re in a new place. It’s just us.”

He said the players are ready for the road trip.