5 bold predictions for Nebraska football against Northern Iowa

With a win over Colorado on Saturday, Nebraska football improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2019. If they can win again this week against Northern Iowa, the Huskers will be 3-0 for the first time in eight years.

Those are the kinds of streaks that Matt Rhule came to Nebraska to end. Dylan Raiola, too. So far so good. Nebraska beat the crap out of Colorado last week, 28-10.

The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. But the Huskers still need to back it up with another good week of football. If the goal is to be a championship team, last week’s second half wasn’t good enough, and with that in mind, here are five bold predictions for Nebraska football vs. Northern Iowa.

Dylan Raiola matches TD total from the first two games

Dylan Raiola is averaging 211 passing yards per game so far this season. He’s completing 73 percent of his throws, averaging 7.3 yards per attempt, and has zero interceptions.

Raiola hasn’t been perfect, but he’s been pretty close. The former five-star quarterback has been everything Nebraska football could have expected and more.

He was as cool as the other side of the pillow on Saturday, even though Colorado’s pass rush was applying some pressure. Northern Iowa is a solid FCS team but they don’t have the athletes to cover Nebraska’s wideouts and Raiola will pad the stats a little with three touchdowns and close to 300 yards (not sure he’s in the game long enough).

Dante Dowdell hits 100 yards

Dante Dowdell has 25 rushing attempts through two games and is averaging 5.2 yards per attempt with three touchdowns. He’s been the best back this season for Nebraska football and is now listed atop the depth chart as co-RB1 with Rahmir Johnson.

Johnson is more of the third-down back. He can run too, but not like Dowdell. Watch him run over Shilo Sanders last week. It will give Nebraska fooball fans a sense of pure joy. I felt the same thing when Travis Hunter backed away from Dowdell rather than trying to tackle him short of the end zone.

Like with Raiola, the number of attempts is my biggest concern about this prediction, but I think Dowdell breaks a long run like he did in the spring and breaks the 100-yard mark.

Northern Iowa won’t score a point in the first half

If Nebraska football wanted to play its starters for four quarters, I could see a shutout. Northern Iowa has a decent offense but it mostly does work on the ground.

The Panthers average 298 yards per game on the ground. That’s why I’ve been saying Nebraska’s run defense will be tested more than the first two games.

But, that’s a pass I expect the Huskers to pass. Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher, Jimari Butler, and the rest of the defensive line are just too good. The front seven is nasty and Northern Iowa finishes with under 100 yards on the ground. They also won’t score in the first half.

Jacory Barney finds the end zone

It’s clear that Nebraska football wants to get the ball in the hands of Jacory Barney and why not? The kid is a big play waiting to happen.

We saw that against Colorado, when he had a 40-yard screen play called back due to a bogus holding call on Rahmir Johnson. Barney has seven receptions for 39 yards and two runs for 28.

However, you can just feel a big play coming. Whether it’s a jet sweep or a long bomb, Jacory Barney will score his first touchdown for Nebraska football on Saturday.

Nebraska football makes all of its kicks

This might seem like a weird prediction but the Huskers have to get the kicking game figured out before Big Ten play. It would be great if Tristan Alvano got a couple of field goal attempts.

Last week, he missed a short one against Colorado. Matt Rhule even talked about how those mistakes can’t happen, not if you want to be a “championship” football team.

Field goal kicking has been a thorn in the side of this program for the past few years. Alvano was supposed to be the solution. He’s still just a sophomore and has all the talent in the world. He just needs confidence and my prediction is that he drills a couple of field goals, as well as the PATs on Saturday, in order to get some.

Prediction: Nebraska 41, Northern Iowa 10.

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