Northern Illinois vs. Nebraska: Keys to victory, HOL score predictions

Nebraska (1-1) will try to get back on track this week, as the Northern Illinois Huskies (1-1) come to Lincoln for a 7 pm contest on FS1.

The defending MAC champions are led by first-year head coach Thomas Hammock after former head coach Rod Carey and his staff moved on to Temple this off-season.

As things get closer to kickoff, here are today's keys to victory for Nebraska against the Huskies. NU is currently a 14.5 point favorite over Northern Illinois.

KEY 1: Coming out wanting to fight

Last week was rough. The entire state of Nebraska took the loss to Colorado hard. How do the Huskers come back this week? NU needs to come out mad. They need to come out swinging, but most importantly they need to do it with self-control.

KEY 2: Handling the Huskies early pressure

Look for Northern Illinois to bring more men than the Huskers can block at times on Saturday. They will do a lot of pre-snap shifting and movement to try and throw the Big Red off. NU needs to handle this and not let it lead to negative plays.

KEY 3: Take away NIU's run game

Northern Illinois has struggled to run the ball two weeks in a row now, despite returning most of their offensive line from a year ago and a 1,000 yard running back in Tre Harbison. The Huskers need to continue that trend and force the Huskies to be one-dimensional.

KEY 4: Offensive tempo

A big part of Nebraska's offensive struggles is they've failed to establish any tempo or rhythm. NU needs to find a way to establish early tempo today, especially on first and second down so Scott Frost can keep the Huskies off-balanced.

KEY 5: Give the crowd something to get into the game early

Nebraska needs to make plays in this game to regain the trust back from Memorial Stadium. Too many people are on edge with this football team after a shaky Week 1 and a meltdown in Week 2 at Colorado. The Huskers need to get some early three-and-outs on defense and put together some scoring drives on offense. That will turn Memorial Stadium around very quickly.

Sean Callahan - HuskerOnline Publisher

Nebraska will shut down Northern Illinois's run game and control the line of scrimmage on defense. The Husker offense will find some rhythm in this game and pull away in the fourth quarter. The offensive line will struggle at times handling the numbers the Huskies bring at them, but they will be able to create enough big plays to get the win.

Nebraska 31, Northern Illinois 20

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Robin Washut - HuskerOnline Senior Writer

Nebraska desperately needs a confidence boost right now, and it’s going to come down to its team leaders to provide it. I see Adrian Martinez stepping up while the defense continues to lead the way for a bounce-back victory.

Nebraska 31, Northern Illinois 14

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Nate Clouse - HuskerOnline Lead Recruiting Analyst

Nebraska’s offense has not looked sharp through the first two weeks of the season, but we did see some improvement last week in Colorado. I think that improvement continues today against Northern Illinois as the Huskers look to get the taste of last week’s overtime loss out of their mouths. The defense continues to be stout against the run and some key turnovers help the Big Red cover the spread.

Nebraska 35, Northern Illinois 17

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Mike'l Severe - 1620 the Zone

The Huskies defense will make a lot of plays at and behind the LOS but also can give up some big plays inside cause of the way they slant their DL. On the other hand I see NIU hitting a couple of deep passes maybe with former Husker commit Spencer Tears. In the end, NU wins a workmanlike performance.

Nebraska 33, Northern Illinois 20

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Andy Kendeigh - KETV Channel 7 Sports Director

Can history repeat itself? Eight of NIU's 22 starters from 2017 return to Memorial Stadium. Overall 18 Huskies on the current roster that played in that upset win that truly sealed Mike Riley's fate two years ago. Northern Illinois will not be intimidated. This is a good squad which won the MAC title last season and has made 10 bowl appearances in the last 11 years. Nebraska is not good enough to take anyone lightly. I do not think they will.

Nebraska 35, Northern Illinois 24