3 takeaways from Nebraska’s blowout win over Houston Christian

For the second week in a row, Nebraska football did what you expect the Huskers to do against an inferior opponent: They destroyed them.

Houston Christian did fare better than Akron. The Huskies scored a touchdown and held Nebraska football under 60 points in what ended up as a 59-7 victory.

Dylan Raiola was 12 of 21 for 222 yards and two touchdowns in another flawless performance. The defense held Houston Christian under 100 yards rushing and 100 yards passing, while notching three sacks and two takeaways.

The opponent is the opponent. Nebraska football didn’t have any control over that. At least not the players. They took care of their business, and now, it’s on to Michigan.

Before we look ahead, though, here are three takeaways from a 52-point win.

Dylan Raiola is that dude

It’s easy to say that it was against Houston Christian or whatever, but Raiola is making things look so easy. He found Dane Key for a perfect slant that ended up as a 39-yard touchdown.

The touch and accuracy are impressive. Through three games, Raiola has eight touchdown passes and zero interceptions. He’s been everything that the Huskers could have hoped for and more.

The caveat that the competition has been light the past two weeks is fair. Raiola needs a game like this next week, but if he delivers, Nebraska will get its first win over a ranked team in nearly a decade.

The running game was encouraging

On both sides of the ball, the ground game was encouraging. It was good to see Kwintin Ives carry the ball 12 times for 85 yards. He also scored a touchdown and caught two passes for 36 yards, giving him 122 total yards.

Ives feels like RB2. It feels ike the coaching staff trusts him more. The injury during fall camp was a setback, but he’s healthy now, and it was telling that he was the guy to get carries after Emmett Johnson.

As a team, Nebraska rushed for 192 yards. Houston Christian ran for 93. There was a 45-yard run from Xai’shaun Edwards in the third quarter, but outside of that, he gained just 37 yards on 12 attempts.

Houston Christian averaged over 220 yards coming in on the ground, and if the starting defense plays the whole game, I doubt Edwards gets more than 50-60 yards.

It’s still a concern. Yet, Saturday was a step in the right direction.

The pass defense is elite

This will need to be verified against Michigan and Bryce Underwood, but through three games, the Huskers haven’t allowed any of their opponents to pass for 100 yards.

I don’t care who you’re playing, that’s solid work. Nebraska will face a better passing attack next week than it has faced all season, but with Donovan Jones, Ceyair Wright, and Andrew Marshall, this Nebraska defense is stellar against the pass.

As good as it has been in years.

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