Nebraska-Northern Iowa wasn’t the subject of Alice’s comment in Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland, of course. But “curiouser and curiouser” might well have been had she been among the 86,546 at Memorial Stadium on a pleasant Saturday night.
First, consider Northern Iowa dominated time of possession, 38:07 to 21:53. Then, consider the Panthers ran 71 plays to Nebraska’s 48.
If that’s all you knew, would you conclude the Huskers won 34-3?
Curious, right? Those numbers don’t seem to match up.
Now, consider how curious these numbers are.
Nebraska had only four possessions in the first half, with the fourth ending on downs at the UNI 25-yard line with 30 seconds remaining. But the first three ended in touchdowns, the first on an eight-play, 75-yard drive, the second on a seven-play, 75-yard drive and the third on a four-play, 80-yard drive.
On the third play of the third drive, Dylan Raiola hooked up with Jaylen Lloyd on a 59-yard pass play to the Panther 10-yard line. On the next play, Jacory Barney Jr. scored the third touchdown.
Third drive, third play and the third touchdown. Curious.
Raiola completed his first three passes, threw an incompletion and then hit 11 more in a row before his final two passes in the first half fell incomplete. He finished 17-of-23 for 247 yards and the first two touchdowns, with one interception — a well-thrown pass, and a well-played pickoff, which Rhule asked to be reviewed.
The first touchdown went to Carter Nelson for 24 yards, the second to Isaiah Neyor for 18 yards.
As you probably know, Nelson played eight-man football in Ainsworth, Nebraska. Saturday’s game was just Nelson’s third with 21 other players on the field, Rhule pointed out.
Actually, it was his second. He didn’t play last week against Colorado. Still …
“I think the sky’s the limit for him,” said Rhule.
Raiola said he couldn’t “have enough praise” for Nelson, who caught three other passes.
Curious?
Tristan Alvano kicked field goals of 31 and 21 yards on Nebraska’s two third-quarter possessions — Malcolm Hartzog’s second interception of the season set up the drive ending in Alvano’s first — and Emmett Johnson ran 36 yards for a touchdown on the Huskers’ second possession of the fourth quarter. Heinrich Haarberg directed that drive behind a second-team line.
Haarberg played briefly earlier, in the backfield with Raiola, catching a pass and carrying the ball, much to the delight of the fans. “I know that the crowd loves him,” said Raiola, whom the crowd also loves, as you know by now. “I’m happy for him, proud of him.”
Northern Iowa managed a field goal on its first possession. Defensively, the Huskers didn’t meet expectations in the first half, curious considering they allowed only the three points despite the Panthers’ dominance in time of possession. The field goal drive consumed 10:08, 16 plays.
“The defense, we didn’t really play to our standard the first half,” said Isaac Gifford, who had a game-high 10 tackles and a sack-and-a-half. “I think everyone thought that. We came out in the second half and we picked it up, and what we were doing.”
Bottom line, however: “I’m happy with a win, and a solid win at that,” he said. Another thing about which he and Rhule were happy was the back-up defense stopping the Panthers on four downs from the Nebraska 8-yard line on their final possession.
For good measure, here’s another bit of curiosity. Nebraska scored on six of its nine possessions in the game. So there wasn’t “a lot of punt work from (Brian) Buschini,” Rhule said.
Not a lot? How about Buschini, among Nebraska’s game captains, never punted? He kicked off four times, John Hohl three.
The Huskers’ ninth “possession” followed UNI’s failed attempt to score at the end, first-and-10 from the Nebraska 2-yard line with 16 seconds remaining. Haarberg gained a yard. Game over.
Rhule was asked what his “loves and hates” were after three games.
“I like being 3-0,” he said. “There’s nothing that I hate.”
Curious? Hardly, if you’ve been paying attention.
