Nebraska Football picked up its first victory of the Matt Rhule era, as Kearney Catholic alum Heinrich Haarberg guided the offence to a 35-11 win over the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday night.
Haarberg, just the fourth Nebraska native to start for the Huskers since 2001, went 14-24 with 158 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first start. He also had 98 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.
The game started with a 3 and out for Northern Illinois, and Nebraska would quickly turn around for a 6 play, 55 yard drive that ended in a 10 yard touchdown pass to Billy Kemp.
After the Huskers defense stalled the second Northern Illinois drive, Nebraska would quickly cough it up. Northern Illinois would dial a blitz that surrounded Haarberg and forced a fumble deep in Huskers territory. The defense would stand tall, forcing Northern Illinois to settle for a 30yd field goal from Jake Seibert.
Both teams would trade punts for much of the second quarter, with neither team able to cross into opponent territory until a short Husky punt put the Huskers at Northern Illinois’ 36 yard line. From there, Haarberg would only need four plays to find the endzone, finding Thomas Fidone for a 16 yard touchdown pass. Neither team would find the endzone before halftime.
Nebraska would eat up a majority of the third quarter with a 14 play, 76 yard drive that ended in a 3 yard punch in from Gabe Ervin Jr to extend the lead to 21-3.
Northern Illinois would stall a drive again, and Haarberg would produce more points, running it himself from 20 yards out. After a Javin Wright interception at the Huskies 32, Anthony Grant would convert the takeaway into points with an 11 yard rush late in the game.
The Huskers had 382 yards on the game, with 158 yards through the air and 224 on the ground. Ervin had 67 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown, and Grant had 46 yards on 7 attempts with a touchdown. Fidone was the leading receiver for the Big Red, with 42 yards on 4 receptions, including a touchdown. Billy Kemp also had a receiving touchdown, with three catches on 13 yards. After the first two weeks, maybe the most impressive stat was the turnover battle, which wasn’t lost by the Huskers, rather being a tie, with both teams giving it away once.
Nebraska will be at home next week, as the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech make the trip to Lincoln. Kickoff is at 2:30 PM, and can be heard on KGFW 1340AM/96.1 FM, and on HITS 106 (105.9FM).