Huskers Fly Past Panthers

Lincoln - Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola led a crisp Nebraska offense in the first half, pushing the No. 23 Huskers to a 21-3 halftime lead on their way to a 34-3 win over visiting Northern Iowa on Saturday night.

Playing in front of the 399th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium, Raiola completed 13-of-16 first-half passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns. Raiola completed 11 consecutive passes in the half, before closing the second quarter with back-to-back incompletions to give the Panthers their first defensive stop of the game with 30 seconds left in the half.

In the first half, Nebraska rolled up 256 total yards on just 25 plays, averaging 10.2 yards per play. Raiola made an early exit midway through the fourth quarter, giving way to backup Heinrich Haarberg to close out the victory, as the Huskers improved to 3-0.

Raiola finished an efficient night by completing 17-of-23 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. He did throw one interception on a deep ball to sophomore Jaylen Lloyd on Raiola's final play of the night. Raiola added two carries for 13 yards to finish the game with 260 total yards on 25 attempts.

On the game's opening drive, Raiola went 4-for-5 through the air as the Huskers flew 75 yards down the field in just eight plays. The drive was capped by back-to-back connections to freshman tight end Carter Nelson. The two catches for Nelson covered 38 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown to give Nebraska a 7-0 lead just 3:20 into the game. Nelson finished the night with a team-high four receptions for 48 yards.

Northern Iowa answered with a methodical 16-play, 62-yard drive that consumed the next 10:08 and resulted in a 31-yard Caden Palmer field goal to cut the Big Red lead to 7-3 with 1:32 left in the first quarter.

Raiola shredded the Panther defense again on Nebraska's second drive, going 4-for-4 for 41 yards, including a 17-yard pass to Emmett Johnson to start the march and an 18-yard touchdown strike to Isaiah Neyor to cap the the seven-play, 75-yard drive that lasted 3:28 and gave the Big Red a 14-3 lead. In between the two passes, Raiola added a nifty 15-yard run of his own on 3rd-and-1 to set up the score. 

Nebraska's Blackshirt defense shut down UNI on the ensuing possession, before Raiola and the Huskers erupted on their most explosive drive of the half. After an 11-yard pass to Rahmir Johnson got the Huskers moving from their own 20, Raiola escaped a sack, set his feet and threw across the field for a 59-yard completion to Lloyd to the UNI 10. The next play, freshman Jacory Barney Jr. took an inside handoff around the left end for a 10-yard touchdown to put the Huskers up 21-3 with 6:51 left in the half. 

Early in the second half, Malcolm Hartzog Jr. provided a big play for the Blackshirts by hauling in his second interception of the season to stop a UNI drive deep in Husker territory. His 15-yard return  put the ball in Raiola's hands to start NU's first drive of the half at the NU 19. Back-to-back completions by Raiola to Barney Jr. and Jahmal Banks combined for 24 yards before back-to-back runs by Dante Dowdell put the Big Red in the red zone. Dowdell's second tote covered 38 yards to set the Huskers up with 1st-and-10 at the UNI 13.

The Nebraska drive stalled, but the Huskers came away with a 31-yard Tristan Alvano field goal to push the margin to 24-3 with 6:17 left in the third quarter.

Another Blackshirt stop set the Huskers up with a short field on their ensuing drive, starting at the UNI 36 before a Panther pass interference call moved Nebraska even closer to the doorstep. Later in the drive, the Huskers faced 3rd-and-Goal at the UNI 1, but Raiola slipped to the turf while rolling out and NU settled for a 21-yard Alvano field goal to extend its lead to 27-3 with 43 seconds left in the third.

Nebraska's final scoring drive came early in the fourth with Haarberg at the reins of the offene. Johnson started the drive with two runs for seven yards. Later in the drive, he hauled in a 24-yard pass from Haarberg on 3rd-and-7 to extend the drive. Two plays later, Johnson exploded down the left sideline for a 36-yard touchdown run to produce the final 34-3 margin with 4:31 left.

Johnson was extremely productive rushing and receiving on the night. The sophomore carried four times for 50 yards while adding three receptions for 43 yards. Overall, Nebraska had 10 receivers pull down at least one catch while adding eight ball carriers with at least one rush. Five players had at least one carry and one reception in Nebraska's versatile offense.

Haarberg finished the night 3-for-3 passing for 34 yards, while adding three carries for seven yards.

Despite Nebraska's dominance on the scoreboard, Northern Iowa controlled time of possession 38:07-21:53 on the night, as the Panthers ran 71 offensive plays compared to 48 for the Huskers. Nebraska averaged 8.8 yards per play, compared to 4.2 yards for UNI.

Isaac Gifford led the Blackshirts with 10 total tackles, including 1.5 TFLs, while John Bullock added nine stops, including a sack.

Quarterback Aidan Dunne led the UNI offense with 11 carries for 49 yards on the ground, while completing 13-of-25 passes for 117 yards and an interception. Amaur Pesek-Hickson added 11 carries for 39 yards, while Tye Edwards contributed 37 rushing yards on 10 carries.

Nebraska finished with 423 total yards, including 281 passing and 148 on the ground, while Northern Iowa closed with 301 yards, including 162 passing and 139 rushing.

The Huskers wrap up their four-game season-opening home stand by playing host to unbeaten Illinois on Friday, Sept. 20. Nebraska's Big Ten Conference opener, which will mark the 400th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium, will be televised live by FOX with a 7 p.m. (CT) kickoff.

Game Summary
Nebraska          34
Northern Iowa   3
Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Attendance: 86,5476

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NEB - 11:40 - Carter Nelson 24 pass from Dylan Raiola (Tristan Alvano kick), 8 plays, 75 yards, 3:20, NEB 7-0
UNI - 1:32 - Caden Palmer 31 FG, 16 plays, 62 yards, 10:08, NEB 7-3

Second Quarter
NEB - 13:04 - Isaiah Neyor 18 pass from Raiola (Alvano kick), 7 plays, 75 yards, 3:28, NEB 14-3
NEB - 6:51 - Jacory Barney Jr. 10 run (Alvano kick), 4 plays, 80 yards, 2:05, NEB 21-3

Third Quarter
NEB - 6:17 - Alvano 31 FG, 9 plays, 63 yards, 3:31, NEB 24-3
NEB - 0:43 - Alvano 21 FG, 6 plays, 33 yards, 3:11, NEB 27-3

Fourth Quarter
NEB - 4:31 - Emmett Johnson 36 run (John Hohl kick), 8 plays, 80 yards, 4:33, NEB 34-3