UNI football heads to Nebraska for FBS buy game in 2024

CEDAR FALLS — The strength of Northern Iowa’s 2024 schedule skyrockets after facing non-scholarship, Pioneer Football League opponents in weeks 1 and 2.

Like nearly all other FCS teams, an FBS “buy game” is critical for the financial health of UNI’s program. This season’s matchup sends the Panthers to Nebraska to take on a Cornhuskers team in front of a sold-out crowd of 90,000 at Memorial Stadium.

After impressive rebuilds at Temple and Baylor, second-year Nebraska coach Matt Rhule has the program poised to improve a 5-7 record from a season ago that included four three-point losses and another one-score loss in overtime.

The Cornhuskers were picked eighth in the annual Cleveland.com Big Ten preseason poll. They were among the top-15 most improved teams in 2023 in rushing offense, rushing defense, total defense and scoring defense.

Nebraska returns seven All-Big Ten honorees, headlined by defensive backs Tommi Hill and Isaac Gifford, linebacker Jimari Butler and defensive tackle Nash Hutmacher. The Cornhuskers also added impact transfers in Wake Forest wide receiver Jahmal Banks and Oregon running back Dante Dowdell.

Grabbing most of the headlines on offense is a preseason quarterback battle expected to be won by five-star true freshman Dylan Raiola, despite Rhule being non-committal to a starter at the Big Ten’s recent media days in Indianapolis.

UNI at Nebraska: 3 things to watch

1. Do simple better

In the unprecedented — to them — environment the Panthers will face against Nebraska at Memorial Stadium, they simply can’t afford to make a tough game tougher with procedural penalties like false starts, delay of game, illegal motion or formation. Regardless of the final score, if the Panthers can operate cleanly on offense and defense, it will bode well ahead of conference play.

2. Play your game

Despite the advantage Nebraska has on paper in the matchup, the idea of overthinking a gameplan against the Cornhuskers with adjustments, wrinkles and the like would be a misuse.

Win or lose, the Panthers will benefit from running their best stuff on offense and defense at Nebraska, even if it doesn’t look like their best stuff on that particular Saturday.

3. The big stage

A big part of what makes UNI’s program what it is are players who arrive on campus with a chip on their shoulder for being overlooked in the recruiting process by bigger programs.

A night game at a sold-out Memorial Stadium, televised on Big Ten Network, is an opportunity for any Panther in uniform to display why they shouldn’t have been overlooked. That opportunity exists in every game nowadays for UNI’s players, but there’s no question the matchup against the Cornhuskers is a top-shelf version of that opportunity. That could provoke something special in Lincoln.

Prediction for UNI at Nebraska

An ascending Nebraska program takes another forward in a season that’s expected to end with bowl eligibility with a rather comfortable win at home against the Panthers. The fact this game happens in week 3, rather than 1 or 2, is also likely to make the always-tough FBS buy game even tougher, as the Cornhuskers will have the benefit of two games played and likely a mental fortitude with Big Ten games beginning the following week.

UNI hopefully doesn’t have too many wounds to lick after its trip west on I-80 to Lincoln and can return to Cedar Falls with a check in tow and valuable information on how best to improve before a road trip to Hawaii.