LINCOLN, Neb. - In any sport, the team goal is to be playing meaningful games at the end of the season - a situation Nebraska finds themselves in right now as Nebraska welcomes #23 USC to Memorial Stadium for Saturday’s long-awaited blackout game.

It will be a battle of two loss teams, with postseason implications still on the table. It’s a new situation for Nebraska, as the Huskers are 1-7 in November under Matt Rhule and hare winless in Top 25 contests since 2016. The Huskers are excited for the opportunity.

“It’s definitely always exciting to go into a night game at Memorial Stadium with all the love that we get,” DB Ceyair Wright said. “I think it’s going to be a very very high energy game so that’s exciting.”

“While we’re playing, they it gives us even more juice… Home field advantage is an advantage,” DB Deshon Singleton said.

Saturday night is also a statement opportunity for quarterback Dylan Raiola, as he too has a chance to pick up his first signature win as the Huskers quarterback.

“This is what you train for, this is what Coach Rhule and his staff has prepared us for, winning in November, December and January” Raiola said. “It’s the whole reason a lot of us came here, for games like this. I think Coach Rhule mentioned to, you keep winning and your College Football Playoff chances keep going up.”

While he wasn’t a Husker a year ago, offensive lineman Rocco Spindler is not stranger to playing the Trojans, after playing them each year while at Notre Dame.

“I loved playing in it,” Spindler said. “It was always chippy/chirpy, it was two different cultures clashing together so I always liked to playa against those guys.”