Nebraska Football: Four keys to victory vs Northwestern Wildcats

Defense needs to shine

Say what you will about a defense that allows 52 points, but there were certainly some bright spots on the Huskers defense. They recovered a fumble in the second half to make things look a little less bleak (unfortunately the offense couldn’t take advantage) and when looking at OSU’s stats from that match-up, it wasn’t THAT bad.

Northwestern’s offense was firing on all cylinders in their first game, but they stalled a bit more last week vs Iowa. Slowing down the Wildcats is crucial and Husker fans would love to see something out of this defense.

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Nebraska and Northwestern have had quite the rivalry since the Huskers joined the Big 10 nearly a decade ago, going 5-4 against the Wildcats in that span. Nebraska won last year, but it was a narrow 13-10 victory. In fact, most of these match-ups have been tightly contested with only 2014 and 2016 resulting in double digit wins (Nebraska won both of those games).

Nebraska fans have grown to dislike Northwestern because this wasn’t a team Husker fans expected to have so much trouble with when the program moved to the Big 10. Northwestern has constantly been a thorn in this team’s side, but the Huskers will look to make it two straight wins against the Wildcats on Saturday.

A 1-1 start to the year would be a much better look than 0-2, so here’s to hoping Nebraska can get things figured out and leave Evanstonwith a win!