Amie Just’s takes: Nebraska dominates Northern Iowa

Yeah, there’s hype around Colorado and its stars. But Northern Iowa was way more physical — emulating what Nebraska will face down the road in Big Ten play.

But once again, No. 23 Nebraska came out victorious — rolling to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2016.

Here’s what I loved, liked, loathed and was let down by in Nebraska’s 34-3 win over Northern Iowa:

Remember last week with all the penalties?

Nebraska had zero penalties on the offensive side of the ball on Saturday. ZERO.

What a game for true freshman receiver Carter Nelson. The Raiola-to-Nelson connection was alive and well early, as Raiola found Nelson twice on the 8-play drive — including once on the opening-drive touchdown for Nelson’s first Husker score.

Nelson — who had three catches for 21 yards against UTEP — finished the third game of his freshman campaign with a game-high four receptions on four targets for 48 yards.

Call him a quarterback. Call him a running back. Call him a receiver. Call him whatever. His position doesn’t matter. Nebraska got him involved at points during the first half, but nothing formulated until late in the third quarter.

He — shortly after getting a thunderous ovation from those in Memorial Stadium — caught a pass from Raiola that went for 8 yards. He ran the ball on back-to-back plays out of the shotgun, too.

I love it. And knowing that Nebraska hasn’t shown all its Haarberg wrinkles, I can’t wait to see what’s in store in the future.

Haarberg finished the game at quarterback, completing all three of his passing attempts for 34 yards.

No. 2 was absolutely everywhere.

Ten tackles, a season-high. Four of those were solo stops. Pair that with the 1 ½ tackles for loss he had, and that’s a productive day at the office.

Like Gifford, No. 5 was absolutely everywhere.

Nine tackles, a season-high. Two of those were solo stops. Pair that with the sack and the tackle for loss and the pass breakup and the quarterback hurry.

What a great night for football. Standing in the shade on the field for pregame warmups was sublime. Wish we could bottle this up and save it for those miserable January days.

Raiola was darn-near perfect on Nebraska’s first three drives — completing 10 of his first 11 passes for 170 yards with two touchdown throws and one 59-yard explosive play to Jaylen Lloyd after shedding a free rusher. Oh, and he had a 15-yard rush on third-and-1 to move the chains on the first play of the second quarter, too.

Raiola finished the first half with 206 yards passing on 11-of-13.

Raiola’s final line, though, was 17-of-23 (74%) for 247 yards with two touchdowns and his first interception. That interception, though, was a 50/50 ball downfield on a shot to Jaylen Lloyd that was almost simultaneous possession. Weird play. Not entirely putting the blame on Raiola’s shoulders.

Six carries for 55 yards with a long of 38 yards for Dante Dowdell.

Four carries for 50 yards with a long of 36 yards for Emmett Johnson.

In total, Nebraska had eight ball carriers contribute for 22 carries that went for 142 yards rushing – in line with what they had last week against Colorado.

Another week, another gem for No. 9.

Two weeks ago, he had a tackle for loss that resulted in a safety. Last week, he blocked a field goal. This week, he batted down a third-down pass attempt.

Three straight games of him elevating his draft stock. Love it.

Sure, that fourth-quarter pick will go down on Raiola’s stats, but it wasn’t like he threw a duck or anything. The ball was thrown to the right spot. The receiver, Jaylen Lloyd, was in the perfect spot. He made a play on the ball. And the defender just wrestled it away from him.

Now, Raiola himself called it a “bad play” and a “bad throw.”

“The protection was perfect. I had all day,” Raiola said. “Jaylen ran really fast and Thomas (Fidone) did his job in his part of the concept. I just gotta let him run and throw it out there and let him go run under it. But we just learn from it and you move on.”

I think he’s being a little too hard on himself there, but that’s one thing Raiola will do — take the blame for mistakes that may or may not have been his fault.

Nebraska’s defense didn’t have nearly as hot of a start as it did against Colorado.

The Huskers were dinged twice on the opening defense series — both times for being offside.

Yes, Nebraska likes to be aggressive and go for blocks. But you can not — absolutely cannot — rough the opponent’s punter.

And that’s what happened early in the fourth quarter.

Northern Iowa’s Noah Pettinger cleanly got off what was a 61-yard punt, and then Nebraska receiver Isaiah Neyor came crashing into him.

Nebraska would have gotten the ball back at its 15-yard line, but instead, that extended the drive for Northern Iowa.

It ultimately didn’t cost Nebraska anything but 14 extra yards allowed, but that cannot happen down the road. That’s a penalty that could be game-changing for an opponent.