Michigan Football: Breaking Down Every Phase Of The U-M/Nebraska Game

The story surrounding Michigan's rushing attack is the health of senior running back Karan Higdon and junior Chris Evans. The former missed last week's SMU game altogether, while the latter left in the second half with injury.

Position coach Jay Harbaugh revealed on Wednesday that both are practicing and aren't limited, but whether or not they actually play remains to be seen.

“I think Karan Higdon will be back this week," local radio host Doug Karsch said on John Borton's "Big Ten, and the Rivalries" article. "It was my sense that it wasn’t anything real serious. Sometimes you can tell by the look on a kid’s face, or the way others talk about him."

Junior Tru Wilson has seen the biggest role of his career this season as a result, and has impressed at times.

He has carried 17 times for 107 yards, equating out to a 6.2 average.

“Tru Wilson is doing a great job in pass protection as well," Karsch continued. "That should not be understated. They’ve run him, so when he’s in there, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to pass."

Although it was only a small sample size, sophomore O'maury Samuels showed flashes as well during the three carries (for 26 yards) he received last week.

“I like Samuels too," Karsch noted. "That kid had one of the more impressive high school films I’ve seen — it just hasn’t translated yet. You almost forget he’s still young. If some of these injuries are piling up, he may get an opportunity.

“It was good to see him get into the open field last week. He looked comfortable, made some good cuts and is starting to get used to the game at this level.”

As a whole, the Wolverines are only averaging 187.6 yards on the ground (60th nationally), a mark that head coach Jim Harbaugh would undoubtedly prefer to be much higher.

It won't be easy to improve those numbers on Saturday, though, as they'll be going up against a Nebraska front seven that has been one of the nation's best.

The Cornhuskers are yielding just 93.5 yards per game (20th best) on the ground, but even more impressive is that opponents are only tallying 2.7 yards per carry against them (14th best).

The three-man Nebraska defensive line will rotate plenty of bodies in and out, with redshirt juniors Khalil and Carlos Davis, fifth-year senior Freedom Akinmoladun and redshirt sophomore Ben Stille being the primary contributors, although we'll also see plenty of fifth-year seniors Mick Stoltenberg and Peyton Newell, redshirt junior DaiShon Neal, sophomore Deontre Thomas and redshirt freshman Damion Daniels as well.

Nebraska will also employ a rotation of linebackers.

Fifth-year senior Luke Gifford, senior Dedrick Young, and redshirt juniors Tyrin Ferguson and Mohammed Barry will be the starters, but expect to see junior Will Honas, redshirt junior Alex Davis and redshirt sophomore Collin Miller as well.

The Cornhusker front is averaging an impressive 9.5 tackles for loss per game, which is tied for 10th most in college football, but most of the damage has actually come from the linebacking unit.

Gifford's 2.5 tackles for loss per game are tied for the most in the conference, and knotted at third most nationally.

On the flip side, Michigan is still struggling to avoid being stopped behind the line of scrimmage, tying for 60th nationally in total tackles for loss allowed with 16.

Determining which team has the advantage in this area is incredibly tough — the deciding factor may be the health of Higdon and Evans.

Advantage: Michigan