There has been excitement in the air at UCLA football practices since the Bruins defeated Rutgers two weeks ago.

Head coach DeShaun Foster and his players have been talking about energy all week and generating it in every way possible, whether it’s behind the scenes in meeting rooms or during pre-practice hype sessions led by performance coach Corey Miller.

“It’s all about keeping the energy going,” defensive back Kaylin Moore said. “We just have to have energy every day, bye week, practice week, meetings, whatever it is. We just have to have the energy to move on to the next game.”

The Bruins (2-5 overall, 1-4 Big Ten) finally broke their winless streak and earned their first win as a member of the Big Ten Conference by defeating Rutgers before entering a bye week. Their momentum will be tested Saturday when the Bruins travel to Nebraska (5-3, 2-3) for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff.

UCLA has adjusted to the Big Ten Conference travel schedule and has a relatively short trip to the Midwest. Nebraska has some energy of its own heading into the game after nearly upsetting No. 4 Ohio State last weekend. The Buckeyes intercepted a pass with about two minutes left to earn the win.

“We keep talking about ‘it’s all about us, it’s all about us,’” center Sam Yoon said. “No matter who the opponent is, as long as we stick to our technique, stick to what we’ve been training for months and months and months, we’ll be fine.”

Yoon is part of an offensive line that seems to be coming into its own in terms of cohesion and production in the passing game. The line has gone through multiple configurations this season, but has finally achieved some consistency and will likely enter Saturday’s game with the same starters as the past three games.

Quarterback Ethan Garbers is coming off a career-best performance against Rutgers and appears to be fully healthy after the Bruins dedicated the bye week to recovery. There will also be a focus on Nebraska’s quarterback, Dylan Raiola – the freshman has started every game this season.

“Their quarterback is relatively important just because he’s a young freshman quarterback and he can make plays with his legs, he can make plays with his arm,” linebacker Carson Schwesinger said. “We expect a physical team and we have to come and play physically.”

When Nebraska has the ball

The Huskers move the ball down the field with the help of the arm of Raiola, who averages 218 passing yards per game. Nebraska has also allowed him to be sacked seventeen times for a loss of 134 yards. Nine Bruins have had at least half a sack this season and linebacker Carson Schwesinger leads the group with two sacks. He is also the team’s leading tackler with 72 total tackles, in addition to 6.5 tackles for loss.

The Huskers rush for an average of 126.4 yards per game and are led by Dante Dowdell’s six touchdowns and 51.3 yards per game. UCLA has limited opponents to an average of 98.6 yards on the ground this season, which ranks 13th in the nation in that category.