Huskers finally kicking off as ranked team again Saturday

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — No. 23 Nebraska will enter its game against Northern Iowa on Saturday as a Top 25 team for the first time in five years.

That fact elicited little more than a shrug from coach Matt Rhule.

“It’s where we should probably be, but it’s not where we want to be,” he said. “My kids were excited, so I’m happy for them. My players were probably excited, but we have bigger plans than that.”

The Cornhuskers, who are 2-0 for the first time since 2016, will host an opponent from the second-tier Football Championship Subdivision before opening Big Ten play with next week’s Friday night home game against Illinois.

UNI, from the Missouri Valley Football Conference, is ranked No. 21 in the FCS after opening with wins over Valparaiso and St. Thomas (Minnesota), both members of the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League.

The Huskers are coming off an emotional 28-10 win over Colorado in a night game that produced one of the loudest and most raucous atmospheres in recent memory at Memorial Stadium.

“I don’t think you get prepared for it,” Panthers coach Mark Farley told reporters in Cedar Falls, Iowa, this week. “I think you guys will be just excited when they start shooting the fireworks off. I bet your heart rate goes up a little bit too. So it’ll be fun, that part of it.”

Rhule said he is looking for his team to be sharper than it was in the second half against the Buffaloes. The Huskers were held scoreless and were called for nine of their 12 penalties after halftime.

“I believe there is three stages,” he said. “There is eliminating losing football, then you play winning football, and eventually you are going to play championship football. I think we are playing winning football and so we have to get to championship football.”

FBS vs. FCS

Nebraska is 14-0 in games against FCS teams, all since 1992. North Dakota was the most recent FCS opponent, in 2022. Northern Iowa has played at least one FBS opponent every year since 1992.