We discuss what Nebraska can gain from Saturday's game with Fordham and more in this week's 3-2-1 column.

1 - This will be Nebraska's first non-Big Ten game since Sept. of 2019

Think about this, Nebraska has not played a non-conference game in football since September of 2019.

NU has now played 18 straight games against Big Ten opponents dating back to 2019, and their record over that stretch is 6-12.

Everyone agrees, this has been a very tough 18-game stretch of Nebraska football to watch. Seven of those 12 losses have been decided by 8 points or less and, in most cases, they were controllable mistakes why NU came out on the other side.

This week's game against Fordham is a dud in a lot of respects, but it's a game the Huskers desperately need.

The Big Ten Conference schedule just doesn't allow for games like this very often. The last time NU had one was in 2018 when they played Bethune-Cookman, who replaced Akron on the schedule late in the year.

That game was big at the time just to get a lot of players valuable time and build confidence going forward. The following week, the Big Red went into Ohio State and nearly beat Urban Meyer's Buckeyes. J.D. Spielman dropped a touchdown pass that would have put NU up 28-16 late in the third quarter.

The Husker team still feels a long way off, but they need to use this opportunity on Saturday to get better.

2 - Credit Trev Alberts for salvaging the sellout streak

Nebraska's sellout streak was all but over. NU had around 2,500 tickets still to sell for the Fordham game, most of which were returned opponent seats. Fordham only used 400 seats of their allotment and returned the rest.

If you are new Athletic Director Trev Alberts, I think the last thing you want to do is have your first game as boss be the end of the 59-year 375-game sellout streak.

Alberts challenged his staff, and Senior Associate Athletic Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dr. Lawrence Chatters came up with an idea.

Thanks to two generous donors, the remainder of the near 2,500 seats were sold and will now be part of the "Red Carpet Experience" program headed up by Chatters.

This will allow children in eighth grade and younger that may not normally be able to attend a Husker game the opportunity to come with two adults. This is a wonderful idea, as I think some of us take for granted just how special the experience can be for a young person attending a game in Memorial Stadium the first time.

It's also hard to be critical of Alberts for this move. He was very transparent about everything and even hinted that generous donors for years have done something similar to help salvage the sellout streak in other interesting times. The first time I ever remember it happening was the 1992 game against Middle Tennessee State, which at that time was about the lowest profile team to ever play at Memorial Stadium in the modern era.

3 - The offensive line left Champaign as the biggest question

Nebraska's offensive line left the Illinois game as without a doubt the biggest question.

The updated grades on PFF had the line with 23 allowed pressures (sacks, hits, hurries) on 44 dropbacks. In all, Adrian Martinez was pressured on 26 of 44 total dropbacks on Saturday. Guard Ethan Piper gave up three sacks, one hit and one hurry, as those are numbers you don't typically see from an interior lineman. NU's other guard Sichterman gave up one sack, one hurry and one QB hit. So eight of the 23 pressures allowed came from the Huskers two starting guards.

Tackles Bryce Benhart (four hurries), Turner Corcoran (six hurries, one QB hit) and Brant Banks (two hurries, one QB hit) also struggled.

The only lineman that graded out fair in the final numbers on PFF in pass pro was center Cameron Jurgens, who didn't allow a pressure on 47 pass plays and earned a grade of 84.7 in pass protection.

The bottom line is, yes Martinez missed some guys on Saturday, but the numbers do not lie. He was under pressure on 26 of his 44 dropbacks. In comparison, Illinois's quarterbacks were only under pressure 5-of-23 dropbacks.

1 - What was the biggest bright spot from the Illinois game?

There were not a lot of bright spots for Nebraska on Saturday against Illinois, but the biggest had to be the play of the defensive pass rush.

We saw NU get to Illinois with a four-man rush, most of which happened in the first half. I thought that was a very promising sign of the gains this group has made, particularly Pheldarious Payne, who led the way with two quarterback sacks.

2 - Was last week the low point of the Scott Frost era at Nebraska?

Was the loss at Illinois the low point of the Scott Frost era at Nebraska? I would say no, as for me 2019 Purdue, 2020 Illinois and 2020 Minnesota were lower moments for Frost at NU.

Saturday's loss was very tough, but I still feel like the way they lost to Purdue, along with the nature of the 2020 Illinois and Minnesota losses, was tougher.

This was also a unique game opening the season against a team you weren't familiar with. The bottom line is, if the Caleb Tannor's late hit and personal foul penalties don't happen in the second quarter, the Huskers were going to have the ball at midfield with a chance to go up two-possession before halftime.

That play was also a reminder of how thin a line the Huskers walk each week in the Big Ten Conference. The coaching and talent level in this league is too good to make mistakes like that and expect to win when you don't have a significant talent advantage over your opponent.

Nebraska should take care of business in this game right away on Saturday. I predict you will see two quarterbacks in the first half and four quarterbacks total will see snaps on Saturday against Fordham.

Look for both Matt Masker and Heinrich Haarberg to make their Husker debuts, as well as Logan Smothers.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET's Big Red Wrap-Tuesday's at 7 pm.