UNI football at Nebraska: TV, live stream, 3 keys to the game, score prediction (Sept. 14, 2024)

CEDAR FALLS — The strength of Northern Iowa’s schedule skyrockets with a matchup at No. 23 Nebraska Saturday night — its first meeting all-time against the Cornhuskers.

Nebraska (2-0) is led by head coach Matt Rhule, whose rebuild of the program appears to be taking considerable steps forward in his second season with comfortable wins against UTEP and Colorado.

The Cornhuskers finished last season 5-7 overall with five of their losses by only one score. In their two wins this season they’ve outscored opponents 68-17. Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, who’s thrown for 211.5 yards per game, three touchdowns and no interceptions in his brief career.

Nebraska’s offense has featured balance so far this season, with running backs Dante Dowdell and Rahmir Johnson combining for 105 yards rushing per game.

Defensively the Cornhuskers are led by junior linebacker Mikai Gbayor, who has a team-leading 11 tackles this season. Meanwhile, Nebraska’s defense has already registered eight sacks in its two games, ranking second among all Big Ten teams.

3 keys for UNI at Nebraska

1. Optimized operations

UNI cannot afford to make a tough game more difficult with pre-snap penalties, misalignments or controllable errors.

While first-year starting quarterback Aidan Dunne has yet to impress with his numbers, coach Mark Farley has praised his work with limiting penalties, having personnel in the right position and overall running a clean operation.

With an expected crowd of over 80,000 at Memorial Stadium Saturday night, UNI must optimize its operations in all three phases if it wants to be competitive against the Cornhuskers.

2. ‘Air Raid’ progress

Progress with its ‘Air Raid’ offense is back again as a key this week and up a spot after an uninspiring passing game in last Saturday’s win at St. Thomas.

Dunne may benefit from encountering defensive speed well beyond anything he’s seen so far this season. It’s possible the Cornhuskers’ speed brings something out of Dunne after his slow start this season, and even if it doesn’t, he’ll likely be better for the experience against such a formidable opponent.

3. Multiple defense

Something well within UNI’s ability to do against Nebraska that won’t overwhelm its own personnel is present a different defensive front Saturday night.

While the Panthers have almost exclusively played four-man defensive fronts this season, Farley always has odd-man fronts in his playbook and they are regularly practiced even if they’re not used on game day.

With Nebraska likely having prepared its offense for a 4-2-5 UNI defense, it may prove productive for the Panthers to have their 3-3-5 defense ready to go Saturday night.

How to watch UNI at Nebraska (Sept. 14, 2024)

Kickoff time: 6:30 p.m. (CT)

TV: Big Ten Network

Radio: 93.5 The Mix (App available), Panther Sports Radio Network (via TuneIn)

Line: UNI +29.5

Prediction: Nebraska 41, UNI 10