Nebraska stays at home for a second consecutive week when the Huskers welcome the Buffalo Bulls to Memorial Stadium for a non-conference matchup. Nebraska enters the game with a 1-1 record after defeating Fordham, 52-7, in its home opener last Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Buffalo heads into the contest with a 1-0 record following an impressive 69-7 rout of Wagner last Thursday evening at Buffalo. The Bulls surged to a 38-0 lead at halftime and cruised to the victory. Buffalo amassed 569 yards of total offense, while limiting Wagner to just 97 yads of total offense. The Bulls are in their first season under the direction of Head Coach Maurice Linguist, who joined the school after a brief stint at Michigan and served as the Dallas Cowboys’ cornerbacks coach in 2020.
Date/Time: September 23, 2017 at 2:30 p.m. CDT
Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE Capacity: 85,458
Surface: Field Turf
Opposition Blog: Check out Bull Run for everything Buffalo.
Series Record: The matchup is the first-ever meeting between the two schools and the Huskers’ third matchup with a Mid-American Conference opponent in the past five years.
TV: The game will be televised on BTN with Play-by-Play:Brandon Gaudin, Analyst: J. Leman, and Sidelines: Rick PizzoIt. The game can be streamed on Fox Sports app with a login from your service provider.
Radio: Check for your local station at the Husker sports radio network. The audio can also be streamed live for free at huskers.com The crew will be: Greg Sharpe, Matt Davison, and Bredan Stai.
More streaming options: The official Huskers app is available on iTunes and Google Play. The audio of Husker games is no longer available on TuneIn.
Weather: WHOA NELLY. At kickoff it is expected to be 97 degrees and mostly sunny. There will be a south-southwest breeze at around 16 mph. On the field, the players will be experiencing temperatures that will feel like 115-120 degrees. Fans should bring water bottles and plenty of sunscreen. Expect a lot of game stoppages for players that are cramping and a lot of substitutions to minimize heat exhaustion. The trainers for both teams will be getting a workout. See the bottom of the article for fan information sent by the athletic department because of the heat.
Odds: Nebraska is favored by 14 points.
Trivia
Saturday’s game will fall on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Nebraska played the first major college game following 9/11, taking on Rice in a re-scheduled game on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001 at Memorial Stadium.
Nebraska rushed for 329 yards and passed for 304 yards in the victory over Fordham. The offensive output marked the third time in school history Nebraska has topped 300 yards in both rushing and passing (SDSU, 2013; @ Illinois, 2019).
The Nebraska defense has held opponents to less than 400 yards in six consecutive games dating back to the final four games of the 2020 season. That is the longest streak of allowing less than 400 yards since also holding six straight opponents under 400 yards to complete the 2012 regular season.
Quotables
Frost discussed the heat this weekend is bringing and how the team is preparing for it.
“We are going to adjust warmups a little bit make sure we do not spend too much before the game,” Frost said. “We got the guys as prepped for that as we possibly can. I hope the fans take care of themselves too when it gets that hot in the stadium. Hope everybody can be safe on the field and off.”
Frost was asked if the heat in the Illinois game affected the performance of the team.
“I did not think that was a factor for us in game one,” he said. “We have to make sure to hydrate and do everything we can to get ready. It is good that we have more depth than we have had before so we can get some more guys in.”
He spoke about perimeter blocking and the progress the team is making with it.
“A mark of a good team is when receivers are really blocking downfield,” Frost said. “I thought we could have been better than we were last Saturday. Some of that was just confusion of assignments with some of the new stuff we have in but that is something that we are continually working on.”
Frost explained the benefit of the increased number of touchbacks in the Fordham game.
“That is going to make a big difference,” he said. “Maybe not on individual kickoffs but over time. You have a lot less chance of giving up a kick return if you are kicking it through the end zone. So those two guys are doing a good job and we look forward to more of that.”
Fan Information
Due to the heat, the athletic department is making an exception to its policy on what fans can bring into the game.
EXCEPTION For September 11th ONLY
Nebraska Athletics will allow ticketed patrons the opportunity to bring one (1) full bottle of water into Memorial Stadium. Gate staff will be trained to allow the exception. Weather models are predicting high heat throughout the day, peaking near kickoff. In consultation with University public safety officials, Nebraska Athletics has taken this step as a course of action to help mitigate heat distress during the game.
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