Nebraska football bold predictions for Northern Iowa game after making top-25 poll

09/11/2024 04:27 PM

We are now through two weeks of the college football season, and we are ready to do it again in week three. The college football season has been a ton of fun already as we have already seen a lot of upsets and we have learned a lot about teams across the country. Contenders are beginning to present themselves, and we have already seen pretenders fall flat (sorry Florida State). So much has happened in just a couple of weeks, and week three is sure to provide more excitement. One game that will be an interesting watch will feature the Nebraska football team, who is now ranked, taking on Northern Iowa.

Week three is almost here, but this will be the fourth week of games as we did have a week zero this year that had a mini slate. Week one and week two have provided some great matchups, but week three is a little bit slim. Nebraska vs. Northern Iowa isn’t a marquee matchup by any means, but it’s going to be interesting to see how the Cornhuskers respond to their emotional win over Colorado.

ESPN's College GameDay goes to the best game every week, and they will be at LSU vs. South Carolina for week three. A lot of people would argue that there are better matchups out there, but that will be a good one. Missouri-Boston College is one of just two matchups featuring two ranked teams. The other one will take place on Friday night as Arizona and Kansas State will square off in a crucial Big 12 game.

One good one to watch this weekend will be taking place in Madison, Wisconsin as Alabama will hit the road to take on the Badgers. There are also some intriguing rivalry games for former Pac-12 teams as Washington will battle Washington State, and Oregon will take on Oregon State. Now that these teams aren’t in the same conference anymore, they have to change their rivalry week.

Other notable matchups include Notre Dame at Purdue and Georgia at Kentucky. There are some decent matchups, but it is a pretty slim week. Conference play begins in week four for most teams, so this is the calm before the storm. However, weeks like this are sometimes the ones that produce the most chaos.

It’s been awhile since Nebraska football fans had this kind of hope, and it’s been awhile since we saw the Cornhuskers creep into the AP Poll. It’s going to be exciting to see how the fans react on Saturday and how the team plays with this momentum. Before we get into predictions about this game, let’s take a look at where each team is at heading into the matchup.

Nebraska is ranked #23

The Nebraska football team is ranked #23 in the country, and there is hope among Cornhuskers fans. That is exactly what Matt Rhule was brought to Lincoln to do, and he is delivering in year two.

Nebraska is currently 2-0 after wins against UTEP and Colorado. The Cornhuskers looked good in week one against the Miners as they cruised to a lopsided victory, and it was clear that they found something special in true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola.

Raiola purposefully does a lot of stuff not in-game that looks like Patrick Mahomes. He wears #15, he wears the bandana, he does the same pregame hype-up ritual with the fans. But then in the game, his play emulates the star NFL QB as well. That was seen in week one with an impressive side arm throw. Raiola is the real deal.

In week two, the Nebraska football team had another dominant performance as they hosted rival Colorado. The Buffaloes have had a lot to say in the offseason, but they were awfully quiet after getting embarrassed by the Cornhuskers.

That win put Nebraska in the top-25, and now they have Northern Iowa coming to town.

Northern Iowa is 2-0

Northern Iowa is also coming into this game with a 2-0 record, but their competition has obviously been much easier than Nebraska’s. Northern Iowa took down Valparaiso in week one, 35-7, and that a pretty impressive performance. The Panthers took care of business.

Week two was a little bit closer as St. Thomas put up a good fight against Northern Iowa. The Panthers trailed 10-7 heading into the fourth quarter, but they got it together late and outscored St. Thomas 10-0 in the final quarter to win 17-10.

Things are getting much more difficult this week with the road trip to Nebraska. It would take a miracle for them to pull this one off, but you never know. Here are three predictions for this weekend’s game.

Dylan Raiola will throw three touchdown passes

Dylan Raiola has gotten off to a hot start for this Nebraska football team. Through two games, he is 42/57 for 423 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He has great command over this offense and he has been taking care of the football.

Raiola is going to have another good game this weekend. Northern Iowa is no match for the Cornhuskers, and if he wasn’t going to come out at halftime because of the lopsided score, Raiola would probably have six touchdowns on Saturday.

Northern Iowa will not score

Dylan Raiola and the Nebraska offense have been great, but the defense has been phenomenal this year, too. Northern Iowa has a great running back in Tye Edwards who is currently averaging over 10 yards per carry, but this Nebraska defensive line has been stout this season. They are going to shut him down, and the Panthers are not a threat in the passing game. They are going to have a very hard time moving the football.

Final score: 62-0

We’re going to add in a final score prediction here, and it’s going to be ugly. Some teams have a bit of a hangover after a big win, but Nebraska won’t. This team hasn’t been in this position in a long time, and they aren’t going to let this opportunity slip away. Northern Iowa is not good, and they are going to get blown out of the water on Saturday.

Nebraska and Northern Iowa will kickoff at 7:30 ET/6:30 CT on Saturday night from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. The game will be airing on BTN, and the Cornhuskers are big favorites.

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