3 takeaways from Nebraska football win over Northern Iowa

INebraska football started fast on Saturday night against Northern Iowa, but for the second straight week, the Huskers struggled in the second half of what ended up as a 34-3 win.

A pesky Northern Iowa offense gave them troubles and the Nebraska offense just didn’t execute well in the second half, getting held to a couple of field goals before a late touchdown run.

Dylan Raiola threw his first interception as a Nebraska football player, but it was because the receiver didn’t go up and high-point the ball. If that happens, it’s a 40 or 50-yard completion.

Northern Iowa did a great job of milking the clock and hanging around — they definitely left points on the board. The Panthers ran more plays and nearly rushed for more yards, which isn’t something I would have predicted.

Yet, a win is a win, especially when it comes by 31 points, and here are three takeaways for the Huskers.

Nebraska football isn’t meeting the “championship” standard

Matt Rhule talked about what the standard was for the Huskers and they aren’t quite there yet. Don’t get me wrong, they are playing good football. But it’s not championship football.

Last week, Nebraska was scoreless in the second half. This week, they managed just two field goals until a late touchdown by Emmett Johnson. That’s not good enough. They had two chances to score in the red zone and failed. There were more costly penalties and Nebraska got away from running the ball.

Allowing eight third or fourth-down conversions to Northern Iowa is disappointing and I’m sick of the avoidable penalties.

Nebraska played a cleaner game and the late touchdown run made me feel better about it, but still, the Huskers need to be better in the second half.

Dylan Raiola had another great game

I don’t care about the interception — that was on the receiver — Raiola was stellar again. He wasn’t perfect. Nebraska turned it over on downs right before the half and they failed to score on two red-zone chances in the second half.

That means that Raiola and the first-team offense essentially had three straight trips inside the 30 without a touchdown. So even though Raiola was 17-of-23 for 247 yards while adding 13 on the ground, the red-zone execution will need to be better against an Illinois team likely to join the Huskers in the top 25.

Through two games though, it’s easy to be over-the-moon excited about Raiola. It’s justified. Matt Rhule started the transformation of this program back to a winner and Raiola has completed it.

He’s exactly what this team and this defense needed.

Emmett Johnson needs more touches

Nebraska football didn’t list Emmett Johnson as one of its co-starting running backs this week, but they might need to re-think that decision after Saturday night.

Johnson was dynamic and looked lightning-quick. He was also making guys miss in the open field. Johnson got just four carries but churned out 50 yards thanks to a 36-yard score in the fourth quarter.

In the first half, he flashed his receiving skills with three receptions for 43 yards, including a 24-yarder. That was the second-longest pass play of the game.

Dante Dowdell was a stud. He got 55 yards on six carries and broke off a 38-yard run. But Johnson looked too explosive to sit on the sideline and since Big Ten play starts next week, I wouldn’t mind seeing Emmett being part of the running back rotation along with Dowdell and Rahmir Johnson. He’s earned it.

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