'They're a solid team': Huskers not overlooking Northern Illinois
LINCOLN, Neb - Nebraska hosts the Huskies of Northern Illinois on Saturday in the 2023 home opener at Memorial Stadium.
Saturday's matchup will be the fifth all time meeting between the Huskers and the Huskies, the last being a 44-8 Nebraska win 2019. With that being said, Northern Illinois has a history of beating power five opponents, such as the Huskers in 2017 and Boston College just two weeks ago.
That's something head coach Matt Rhule and the Huskers are not overlooking.
"They have a long history of going in and beating people," Rhule said. "That's because they have really good players... And they come from a fertile recruiting area, they have a cool system, so we're going to have to play really really well to beat them."
"They're a solid team," defensive back Isaac Gifford said. "They've been beating power five teams for a long time, so they're a good team."
The Huskies are 1-1 on the year, with a 14-11 loss last week to FCS rival Southern Illinois. Huskies quarterback Rocky Lombardi is no stranger to Memorial Stadium, having played in Lincoln as Michigan State's starting quarterback in 2018.
However, what has the eye of the Huskers is NIU's defensive line. The Huskies have six sacks through the first two games of the year, and are allowing just over 100 rushing yards per game.
"We're going to take every opponent as the same," running back Gabe Ervin Jr said. "We're going to treat these guys like they're Michigan. They have a great defensive line, so we're preparing for that so we'll see what happens on Saturday."
Offensive lineman Benn Scott discussed how the O-Line is preparing for the Huskies.
"They're going to avoid us on double teams, get us on 1-on-1's as soon as possible," center Ben Scott said. "That way we can't drive them off the line as much."
Nebraska and NIU kick off at 6:00 p.m. central time, 5:00 p.m. mountain time.