Keys to Victory: Nebraska vs. Northern Iowa

Vibes are sky high in Husker Nation after the Big Red dominated former conference rival Colorado on Saturday. Many are considering this week’s matchup against Northern Iowa (UNI) as a tune-up to get ready for Big Ten play, but the Huskers should know from recent experience that they cannot afford to be taking any team lightly. 

On behalf of the Common Fan podcast, here are four keys to victory for the Huskers, and three keys to victory for all the fellow Common Fans. 

Nebraska’s Keys to Victory

Take Care of Business. McNeese State in 2014. Arkansas State in 2017. Northern Illinois in 2017. Troy in 2018. South Alabama in 2019. Buffalo in 2021. Georgia Southern in 2022. Louisiana Tech in 2023. Forgive me for listing so many recent examples, as I know many of them involve painful memories. But you know the story. Nebraska won five of those games and lost three, but even the wins were too close for comfort, and had Husker fans wondering if there was cause for concern (most of the time, there was). 

UNI comes in ranked #21 in the FCS rankings, and #8 in ESPN’s SP+ FCS rankings. This will be a solid team coming to Memorial Stadium on Saturday. But if Nebraska really is taking the next step as a program, as many Husker fans believe (or at least hope), the Panthers are the type of team Nebraska needs to beat handily. Recent betting lines had the Huskers as more than a 30 point favorite; that’s quite the spread, but at the very least, Common Fans should not be biting their fingernails late into the 3rd quarter. Learning to win means not letting the high of the Colorado win result in a hangover against an FCS team (hangovers are for Common Fans, not championship-seeking teams). 

Coach Rhule wants his team to focus on going 1-0 each week. Never get too high, never get too low; just focus on the process and doing your job. If the Big Red does that Saturday, this should be a comfortable win. 

Stop the Run. UNI is a run-first team. The Panthers have two running backs in the top 25 of all FCS teams. Tye Edwards comes in third, having amassed 315 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns in the first two games of the season. Amauri Pesek-Hickson has logged 186 yards with 2 touchdowns of his own so far this year. 

This should be a good matchup for the Huskers, who currently rank #5 in the country in rushing defense, and have excelled in that category since Matt Rhule got to Lincoln. It should also be good practice as Nebraska prepares to head into conference play, considering…

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