Nebraska football to get its physical play style tested

The work Nebraska players put in over the offseason, particularly in the weight room, was designed to build strength and give the Huskers the ability to dominate on the field — but doing it under the lights is another challenge altogether.

Nebraska wants to be the most physical team. So far, so good in Nebraska’s first two games after head coach Matt Rhule said the Huskers were the “more physical team” in their recent win over Colorado. But as Nebraska looks to finish its nonconference slate undefeated and improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2016, it’ll take a renewed level of physicality to get the job done against Northern Iowa.

“You better be ready for a physical battle with the way that they (Northern Iowa) play,” Rhule said.

Physicality shows up in many ways on the football field, but it’s most obvious in a defense’s tackling. In rallying to ball-carriers, taking good angles and not allowing opposing players to break tackles, the Nebraska defense has held its own through two weeks.

The tone has been set up front with a defensive line that both excels at rushing the quarterback and stopping the run. Nebraska currently holds the fifth-best rushing defense nationally with an average of 36 yards allowed per game — but NU has only defended 46 rushing attempts, the sixth fewest in the country.

If Northern Iowa has its way, the Huskers could see that many on Saturday alone.

In Weeks 1 and 2, Nebraska faced pass-heavy Colorado and UTEP offenses who struggled to break down NU’s 3-3-5 defensive scheme, especially in the secondary. Northern Iowa will stress the Nebraska defense in a much different way as it looks to move the ball on the ground and win at the line of scrimmage.

“You saw the pass rush and you saw some coverage stuff, well now you get a chance to line up and set your pads against an opponent that wants to try to impose their will on you,” defensive coordinator Tony White said.

Northern Iowa has racked up 298.5 rushing yards per game in a 2-0 start to its season, a mark which ranks fourth nationally.

Its star running back, Tye Edwards, is the third-highest individual rusher at the FCS level with a per-game average of 157.5 yards, while Omaha native Amauri Pesek-Hickson is nearly a 100-yard per game rusher in his own right. Edwards and Pesek-Hickson have accounted for five of Northern Iowa’s seven touchdowns this season due to the UNI offense’s reliance on its running backs.

Both Nebraska and Northern Iowa know it: the Panthers are going to roll into Memorial Stadium and try to run the ball. It’ll be up to the Blackshirts to prevent that from happening.

“We know we’re a physical team, they’re a physical team, so that’s going to be a fun game stopping the run,” Jimari Butler said.

Nebraska will need to exert its will on the offensive side of the ball too. Blocking on the perimeter is an area NU has been trying to strengthen in practice this week, but there are few concerns about the unit that sets a tone of physicality: the offensive line.

While not overly prolific, Nebraska has run the ball efficiently to the tune of 186 yards on the ground per game this season. With a powerful runner in sophomore Dante Dowdell set to lead the Husker backfield again, look for NU to try and establish the run.

Equally as important is the Husker offensive line’s success in pass protection, where they’ve allowed just one sack.

“Coach (Donovan) Raiola does an unbelievable job of demanding certain standards of which they play, and I think it’s showing,” offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said. “I think they’re doing a really nice job in the run game and they’re doing a really nice job in pass protection.”

Northern Iowa also possesses one of the FCS’ stingiest defenses, one that ranks in the top 10 nationally in run defense, yards allowed and points allowed. It’s the latest challenge in front of freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, who previously picked apart the UTEP defense and led a strong first-half showing against Colorado.

Consistency through all four quarters is what the Nebraska offense will be hoping to show this time around.

“I don’t think there’s any switching up we have to do; we’re going to play our brand of football,” Raiola said.

As Nebraska prepares to move into Big Ten Conference play following this matchup — including a short week of rest prior to facing Illinois next Friday — Northern Iowa will represent a positive stylistic change in that regard. In its run-heavy, physical approach to the game, UNI resembles a Big Ten team more than Colorado did.

But what truly concerns Rhule is that Northern Iowa is a program that knows how to win. Recalling a conversation he had with former Oregon and Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly many years prior, Rhule said on Thursday that it’s preferable to play FBS teams that are used to losing than FCS programs with a standard of winning.

Northern Iowa is one such FCS program. The Panthers test themselves yearly against FBS opposition, having lost one-score games to Iowa State in 2019 and 2021 after defeating the Cyclones most recently in 2016.

Nebraska has its own standards to uphold with a 14-0 all-time record against FCS schools. Not all of those contests have been the blowouts that were anticipated — a 2014 contest against McNeese State comes to mind — but the Huskers will be heavy favorites when they get a new test against Northern Iowa this Saturday.

“They know how to win. Their heart rate doesn’t go up, they don’t expect something bad to happen, they don’t say, ‘Here we go again,’” Rhule said. “… Northern Iowa is a Big Ten team that happens to be playing at the FCS level.”