- The Huskers are 3-0 without having to win a one score game. Being in so many games that didn’t need to be one score games bothered me as much as losing them. Put teams away.

- The Huskers have been able to stay pretty vanilla except for one half of football.

- Rhule has been able to get a lot of guys snaps. Build’s experience and culture

- We actually are a threat with the forward pass. This opens sooo many things up.

- The Huskers win by 30, hold a team to 3 points, and we can all probably still having something to bitch about. Instead of having to lose a game to do it..

… have DR run the ball, and when he does, he needs to slide or run out of bounds unless the game is on the line.

The health of his knees are essential to this program right now.

1. Texas
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Alabama
5. Ole Miss
6. Tennessee
7. Missouri
8. Miami
9. Oregon
10. Penn State
11. Southern Cal
12. Utah
13. Kansas State
14. Oklahoma State
15. Oklahoma
16. LSU
17. Notre Dame
18. Michigan
19. Louisville
20. Iowa State
21. Clemson
22. Nebraska
23. Northern Illinois
24. Illinois
25. Texas A&M

Others receiving votes:​

Memphis 77, Boise St. 62, Syracuse 62, UNLV 54, Boston College 47, Washington St. 30, Arizona 15, Iowa 15, Indiana 13, California 11, Liberty 10, Toledo 9, UCF 6, South Carolina 3, North Carolina 3, Arizona St. 3, BYU 2, Pittsburgh 1.

Coaches Top 25 (9/15)
1. Georgia (42) (3-0)
2. Texas (10) (3-0)
3. Ohio State (3) (2-0)
4. Alabama (3-0)
5. Mississippi (3-0)
6. Oregon (3-0)
7. Tennessee (3-0)
8t. Penn State (2-0)
8t. Missouri (3-0)
10. Utah (3-0)
11. Miami (FL) (3-0)
12. USC (2-0)
13. Oklahoma (3-0)
14. Kansas State (3-0)
15. Oklahoma State (3-0)
16. LSU (2-1)
17. Michigan (2-1)
18. Notre Dame (2-1)
19. Clemson (1-1)
20. Louisville (2-0)
21. Iowa State (2-0)
22. Nebraska (3-0)
23. Memphis (3-0)
24. Texas A&M (2-1)
25. UNLV (3-0)

Others Receiving Votes
Illinois, Washington State, Arizona, Northern Illinois, Syracuse, Central Florida, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Boise State, Arizona State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, California, Indiana, Michigan State, Liberty, Boston College, BYU, Washington,Toledo, South Florida, San Jose State, James Madison

Dropped Out
Arizona (#18), Washington (#22)

soccer for 4 hours yesterday in between walking the dogs & Husker game(s)

back out for soccer this AM ... son is getting very passionate about playing goalie so who am I to deny that kind of love

(but man is my back sore lol )

Coaches Poll -- after Week 3
1 Georgia
2 Texas
3 Ohio St
4 Alabama
5 Ole Miss
6 Oregon
7 Tennessee
8 Penn St
8 Missouri
10 Utah
11 Miami
12 USC
13 OU
14 Kansas St
15 Oklahoma St
16 LSU
17 Michigan
18 ND
19 Clemson
20 Louisville
21 Iowa St
22 Nebraska
23 Memphis
24 A&M
25 UNLV

Others receiving votes: Illinois 75; Washington State 38; Arizona 37; Northern Illinois 34; Syracuse 32; UCF 27; Pitt 17; Iowa 17; Boise State 17; Arizona State 15; North Carolina 14; North Carolina State 12; Cal 10; Indiana 7; Michigan State 6; Liberty 6; Boston College 6; BYU 3; Washington 2; Toledo 1; South Florida 1; San Jose State 1; James Madison 1

"As excitement brews around the Husker football season, affordable tickets are becoming harder to find.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department said scammers are working hard to score on unsuspecting fans."
---from the article

I thought it would be interesting to dive a bit deeper into Nebraska's next 4 opponents prior to the Ohio State game, and look at their season to date along with what each team faces prior to playing us.

September 20
vs Illinois
Illinois' schedule prior to playing Nebraska:
vs Eastern Illinois: WIN (45-0)
vs #19 Kansas: WIN (23-17)
vs Central Michigan: WIN (30-9)
Illinois comes to Lincoln undefeated and likely ranked... we'll know on Sunday.

It’s a short week with the Friday night game, marking Nebraska's 400th consecutive sell-out!

September 28
@ Purdue
Purdue's schedule prior to playing Nebraska:
vs Indiana State: WIN (49-0)
vs #18 Notre Dame LOSS (7-66)
@ Oregon State
Purdue did not do well against Notre Dame. This is looking like a good first game for Nebraska to play on the road.

October 5
vs Rutgers
Rutger's schedule prior to playing Nebraska:
vs Howard: WIN (44-7)
vs Akron: WIN (49-17)
@ Virginia Tech
vs Washington
There's been a lot of talk of how improved Rutgers is this season. Could they be an undefeated, ranked team Nebraska faces when gametime rolls around in Lincoln?

October 19
@ Indiana
Indiana's schedule prior to playing Nebraska:
vs Florida International: WIN (31-7)
vs Western Illinois: WIN (77-3)
@ UCLA: WIN (42-13)
vs Charlotte
vs Maryland
@ Northwestern
Indiana should get more votes this week in the polls following their nice win on the road against UCLA. Their schedule doesn't appear to be too bad for them prior to their game against Nebraska. Could this yet again be another undefeated, ranked team that Nebraska faces?

They might lose the rest of the games on their schedule!

3-3 with 3 in left in half

Login to view embedded media
Florida State better think long & hard about their plan here because Florida is maneuvering quickly

Goodness

Login to view embedded media

Akron 31, Colgate 20
#4 Alabama 42, Wisconsin 10
Appalachian State 21, East Carolina 19
Arizona State 31, Texas State 28
Arkansas 37, Alabama-Birmingham 27
Auburn 45, New Mexico 19

Baylor 31, Air Force 3
Buffalo 34, Massachusetts 3
BYU 34, Wyoming 14

California 31, San Diego State 10
Central Florida 35, TCU 34
Charlotte 27, Gardner-Webb 26
Cincinnati 27, Miami (OH) 16
Coastal Carolina 28, Temple 20
Colorado 28, Colorado State 9

Duke 26, Connecticut 21

Eastern Michigan 37, Jacksonville State 34 (2OT)

Florida Atlantic 38, Florida International 20
Fresno State 48, New Mexico State 0

#1 Georgia 13, Kentucky 12
Georgia Southern 42, South Carolina State 14
Georgia State 36, Vanderbilt 32
Georgia Tech 59, Virginia Military Institute 7

Houston 33, Rice 7

Illinois 30, Central Michigan 9
Indiana 42, UCLA 13
Iowa 38, Troy 21

#14 Kansas State 31, #20 Arizona 7

Liberty 28, Texas-El Paso 10
#16 LSU 36, South Carolina 33

Maryland 27, Virginia 13
Memphis 20, Florida State 12
#10 Miami (FL) 62, Ball State 0
#17 Michigan 28, Arkansas State 18
Michigan State 40, Prairie View A&M 0
Minnesota 27, Nevada 0
#5 Mississippi 40, Wake Forest 6
#6 Missouri 27, #24 Boston College 21

#23 Nebraska 34, Northern Iowa 3
North Carolina 45, North Carolina Central 10
North Carolina State 30, Louisiana Tech 20
Northwestern 31, Eastern Illinois 7
#18 Notre Dame 66, Purdue 7

Ohio 21, Morgan State 6
#15 Oklahoma 34, Tulane 19
#13 Oklahoma State 45, Tulsa 10
#9 Oregon 49, Oregon State 14

Pittsburgh 38, West Virginia 34

Sam Houston State 31, Hawaii 13
San Jose State 31, Kennesaw State 10
South Alabama 87, Northwestern State 10
South Florida 49, Southern Mississippi 24

#7 Tennessee 71, Kent State 0
#2 Texas 56, Texas-San Antonio 7
Texas A&M 33, Florida 20
Texas Tech 66, North Texas 21
Toledo 41, Mississippi State 17

UNLV 23, Kansas 20
#12 Utah 38, Utah State 21

Virginia Tech 37, Old Dominion 17

Washington State 24, Washington 19
Western Kentucky 49, Middle Tennessee State 21
Western Michigan 59, Bethune-Cookman 31

This is not the usual Bama team so it will , I think, be a danger zone tomorrow . First quarter should tell the story . Thoughts ???

Pretty much the last full drive of the game for Kentucky saw them running right up the gut against the Dawg defense. And then what does their O Coordinator draw up? Last two meaningful plays they throw the ball. Running at nearly a 5 ypc clip and just throw the chance to win away.

Gotta love it.

Postgame Notes

Northern Iowa at Nebraska (September 14, 2024)

- Nebraska improved to 15-0 all-time against FCS opponents with the victory. It was the first meeting between Nebraska and UNI.

- Nebraska completed non-conference play with a perfect 3-0 record for the first time since 2016.

- Nebraska outscored UNI 14-0 in the second quarter. In three games this season, Nebraska has outscored the opposition 51-0 in the second quarter. In 2023, Nebraska was outscored 81-66 in the second quarter

- Nebraska has won each of its three games this season by at least 18 points. This marks the first time NU has won three straight games by at least 18 points since the 2014 season

- The Nebraska defense held UNI to three points. It marks the ninth opponent in 10 home games under Matt Rhule to score 14 or fewer points. It was the 10th consecutive opponent Nebraska has held to 24 or fewer points, the longest such streak since a 14-game stretch in 2009 and 2010.

- Nebraska held its third straight opponent to open the season to 10 or fewer points. This is the first time Nebraska has held the first three opponents to 10 or fewer points since 2005. On the season, the Huskers have allowed 20 points, their fewest points in the first three games of a season since the 2005 season (16 points) and the first time allowed 30 points or less in the first three games of a season since 2009

- Nebraska did not allow a touchdown in the first quarter and has allowed just one first quarter touchdown in its past 10 games. Nebraska has not allowed an opening drive TD in 10 straight games and has allowed only one opening drive TD in the last 16 games.

- Nebraska limited UNI to 301 total yards, the 10th consecutive opponent held under 400 yards, marking its longest such streak since a 10-game streak in 2009.

- Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola completed 17-of-23 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns, setting a career-best in passing yards and tying his career high in touchdowns. He completed 13-of-16 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, including 11 straight completions at one point

- Raiola connected on better than 70 percent of his passes for the third straight game. He is the first Husker quarterback to complete at least 70 percent of his passes in three straight games since Jeff Quinn in 1980.

- Freshman receiver Carter Nelson scored his first career touchdown on the game's opening series, catching a 24-yard pass from fellow freshman Raiola. Nelson finished the game with four receptions for 48 yards.

- The Raiola-to-Nelson connection for a touchdown pass on the opening series marked the first TD connection for two Husker freshmen since Adrian Martinez threw a 28-yard TD pass to Maurice Washington at Iowa in 2018

- True freshman Jacory Barney Jr. scored his first career touchdown in the second quarter on a 10-yard rush.

- Sophomore receiver Jaylen Lloyd had a 59-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter to set up a Husker touchdown. Lloyd's 59-yard catch was his second catch of 36 yards or more this season. Five of Lloyd's eight career receptions have covered at least 36 yards, including four catches of more than 50 yards.

- Safety Malcom Hartzog Jr. intercepted a pass in the third quarter for his second INT of the season and the fifth of his career

- Linebacker John Bullock had a career-high nine tackles, bettering his eight stops last season against Louisiana Tech

- Isaac Gifford finished with 10 tackles, one shy of his career high. It marked his fourth career game with double-digit tackles

- Running back Dante Dowdell and linebacker Stefon Thompson made their first career starts at Nebraska in tonight's game

- Tonight's game captains were RB Rahmir Johnson, Jack LB MJ Sherman, LB John Bullock, and P Brian Buschini

Illinois def. Western Kentucky (27-25, 19-25, 25-13, 25-19)
Indiana def. Ball State (25-18, 25-22, 20-25, 25-27, 15-13)
Iowa def. Illinois State (25-19, 25-8, 22-25, 25-14)
Nebraska def. Wichita State (25-13, 25-12, 25-12)
Notre Dame def. Northwestern (25-21, 25-19, 25-16)
Ohio State def. Buffalo (16-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-21, 15-11)
Oregon def. San Diego (25-23, 25-19, 25-23)
Penn State def. Princeton (25-15, 25-16, 25-21)
Penn State def. St. John's (25-19, 25-22, 25-15)
Purdue def. Kentucky (21-25, 25-13, 25-23, 25-16)
Rutgers def. Virginia Commonwealth (25-16, 30-28, 26-24)

Standings
Penn State (8-0)
Purdue (8-0)
Michigan (7-0)
Washington (5-0)
Nebraska (8-1)
Illinois (7-1)
Oregon (6-1)
Indiana (6-2)
Maryland (5-2)
Ohio State (5-2)
UCLA (5-2)
USC (4-2)
Iowa (5-3)
Michigan State (4-3)
Minnesota (4-3)
Wisconsin (3-3)
Rutgers (4-5)
Northwestern (0-6)

Matches for Sunday, September 15
Oakland at Michigan
Wright State at Ohio State
Iowa at Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Maryland-Baltimore County at Maryland
UC-Davis at Washington

Next Nebraska Match - Wednesday, September 18
Stanford at Nebraska (7:00 PM - BTN)

Alabama 42, Wisconsin 10
Oregon 49, Oregon State 14
Michigan 28, Arkansas State 18
Nebraska 34, Northern Iowa 3
Notre Dame 66, Purdue 7
Illinois 30, Central Michigan 9
Michigan State 40, Prairie View A&M 0
Minnesota 27, Nevada 0
Washington State 24, Washington 19
Iowa 38, Troy 21
Indiana 42, UCLA 13
Northwestern 31, Eastern Illinois 7
Maryland 27, Virginia 13

============================

Standings
1. Indiana (3-0, 1-0)
1. Michigan State (3-0, 1-0)
3. Nebraska (3-0, 0-0)
3. Illinois (3-0, 0-0)
3. Iowa (2-1, 0-0)
3. Michigan (2-1, 0-0)
3. Minnesota (2-1, 0-0)
3. Northwestern (2-1, 0-0)
3. Ohio State (2-0, 0-0)
3. Oregon (3-0, 0-0)
3. Penn State (2-0, 0-0)
3. Purdue (1-1, 0-0)
3. Rutgers (2-0, 0-0)
3. USC (2-0, 0-0)
3. Washington (2-1, 0-0)
3. Wisconsin (2-1, 0-0)
17. Maryland (2-1, 0-1)
17. UCLA (1-1, 0-1)

============================

Games for Week #4

Friday, September 20
Illinois at Nebraska (7:00 PM - FOX)

Saturday, September 21
Marshall at Ohio State (11:00 AM - FOX)
Charlotte at Indiana (11:00 AM - BTN)
Villanova at Maryland (11:00 AM - BTN)

USC at Michigan (2:30 PM - CBS)
Kent State at Penn State (2:30 PM - BTN)
Rutgers at Virginia Tech (2:30 PM - ACC Network)
UCLA at LSU (2:30 PM - ABC)

Northwestern at Washington (6:00 PM - FS1)
Iowa at Minnesota (6:30 PM - NBC)
Michigan State at Boston College (7:00 PM - ACC Network)
Purdue at Oregon State (7:30 PM - The CW)

Bye Week
Oregon
Wisconsin

Looks like he'll have multiple opportunities this year. ..

Big takeways:

Our offense can hurt you in so many ways. We can come out with Dowdell and bunch or TE sets and play smashmouth. We can get Johnson and Rahmir in there and kill you with passing game to the RBs. We just need to pick the right philosophy for the right times.
Defense seemed to be bend-don't-break particularly in the first half. I don't care who you give up 3 points to it is difficult to keep the score that low. We did struggle to tackle in the first half and the QB run game hurt us. Definitely need to work on tackling. Hartzog had a great catch on the TD but he was not wrapping up on tackles.
It was so great to see the second unit score a junk time TD. I grew up on those and we haven't had a lot of those recently.
There was a clear plan to get the young guys involved out of the gate. Really like the wrinkles with Barney.
Lack of turnovers is as much about playcalling as it is DR. We have adopted a very conservative approach to pass game with short dinks and dunks.
Overall I thought the playing calling was really good. I like the zone read and bootleg for DR to make the defense and future opponents account for him.
It was so great to see how pumped the student section was. We have been so bad for so long that with tik tok and everything I've been worried about losing a generation of fans. It was so great to see them so pumped. The future is bright.
It felt so good to nit pick a blowout loss again.

Other thoughts:

Too many penalties again. (Edit turns out I was wrong about this. We only had 4. Thought we had more.)
UNI QB had a great first half. Reminded me of how efficient NDSU's QB was against CU.
LLoyd should have caught that ball on the INT. It wasn't a great throw but he has to wrestle that into his body.
Really glad Alvano got some confidence boosting high percentage kicks.
We have an embarrassment of riches at WR. It must take effort to get all these guys touches.
Just not super impressed with Banks.
Can we implement a Brady like QB sneak for 3rd/4th & 1?.
Emmett and Rahmir made great plays catching the ball.
UNIs coach is really good. I like him.
Carter Nelson looked great.
Yogi Roth did a really nice job in the booth.
We had two plays again to Fidone that were lateral. They succeeded but still want to see more to him downfield.
The love Haarberg got made me smile.

In hindsight none of us should have been expecting a major blowout last night. It should have been predictable that there was no way this team was going to maintain the kind of intensity we saw last week against CU. There was going to be a bit of a let down. It is human nature. And Northern Iowa is a good lower level team. One of those kinds of lower level teams capable of beating some upper level teams. Just ask Iowa.

The silver lining in all of this is that this is the wake up call our defense in particular needed. After all of the hype and praise after the CU game they needed a good kick in the balls to remind them that they can be had. They did a good job of keeping NIU out of the end zone and holding them to 3 points. But to me they still had some of the defects of the 2023 defense. Good at keeping the score down but not so good at getting off the field on 3rd down and not so good at getting pressure on the QB when facing a solid offensive line. They took poor tackling angles and there was a lot of sloppy tackling in general. And the weaknesses of the 3-3-5 came into view when a big running back got 3 -6 yards after initial contact from a smallish linebacker and/or safety. How many times did we see a running back get hit after a two yard gain where it appeared to be a good stop only to have the back gain another five damn yards dragging the defender(s)?

This will serve as a wake up call to our back 8 that they need to improve in their run tackling before we face Illinois and the rest of the B1G. Allowing those extra leaky yards after contact is directly related to not getting stops on third down. Some people on here think playing against running teams is our strength. It isn't. It is our weakness. And it has to improve. I think it will.