Nebraska vs. Northern Illinois: Game Time, TV, Streaming, Odds and More

Nebraska returns home for the first of two straight games at Memorial Stadium on Saturday when the Huskers play host to Northern Illinois. Nebraska will be looking to extend its home winning streak to nine games this weekend.

The Huskers sit at 1-1 on the season after a 42-35 setback at Oregon last Saturday afternoon. Nebraska struggled in the first half in Eugene, falling behind 42-14 at intermission before rallying in the second half and having a chance at victory in the final minutes.

Nebraska's meeting with Northern Illinois is the first of four matchups between the two schools between 2017 and 2023. The Huskies will visit Memorial Stadium in alternating years over the next seven seasons. The game is also Nebraska's first against a Mid-American Conference opponent since taking on Western Michigan in 2008.

Northern Illinois will bring a 1-1 record to Lincoln for Saturday's matchup. The Huskies are coming off an impressive 38-10 victory over Eastern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. In its season opener, NIU held a second-half lead before Boston College rallied to defeat the Huskies, 23-20. Northern Illinois has featured a strong defense through two games, allowing opponents just 16.5 points per game and 263.0 total yards per contest.

Be sure to check out Husker Mike’s Northern Illinois review.

Date/Time: September 16, 2017 11:00 a.m. CDT

Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE Capacity: 85,458

Surface: Field Turf

Opposition Blog: Check out the Hustle Belt for MAC coverage

Series Record: Nebraska leads the all-time series 2-0. Those games were held in 1989 and 1990 in Lincoln. The score of each was 48-17 and 60-14.

TV: The game will be televised on FS1 with Tim Brando, Play-by-Play; Spencer Tillman, Analyst; Les Miles, Analyst; and Holly Sonders, Sidelines.

Radio: Huskers sports radio network. The audio can also be streamed live for free at huskers.com The crew will be: Greg Sharpe, Matt Davison, and Ben McLaughlin. The game is also on Sirius 135 and XM 195.

More streaming options: The official Huskers app is available on iTunes. The app is free but accessing live audio costs $4.99 (per season). The app is available for Android users for free but the live content requires an in-app purchase. I often use the TuneIn app for game audio.

Weather: At kickoff, the temperature will be 80 degrees with a southerly wind at 12 mph. The chance of precipitation at kickoff is currently 15% with that number increasing throughout the afternoon (but right now looking like it will hold off until after the game).

Odds: Nebraska is favored by 12-13.5 points depending on the source.

Trivia

-Nebraska is a perfect 5-0 all-time against members of the Mid-American Conference. NU's most recent victory was a win over Western Michigan in the 2008 season opener.

-Junior receiver Stanley Morgan Jr. has recorded back-to-back 100-yard receiving games to open the season. Morgan is the first Husker to post 100-yard receiving games in the first two games of the season in school history. A third straight 100-yard receiving game Saturday would tie a Nebraska record.

-Four former Nebraska greats will be inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame this weekend. Quarterback Zac Taylor, defensive end Chad Kelsay, offensive lineman Randy Theiss and offensive lineman Donnie McGhee are former Huskers in the 2017 HOF class.

Quotables

Coach Riley on what he thinks the team’s identity is after two games:

“Well there’s definitely a picture that’s there of what our defense can look like. If we put it together, do what we’re supposed to do and play good assignment football, good position football on defense. (Northern Illinois) will be the third spread team in a row. That will be good for us. That’s the great thing about college football, the variety of what you see, so to get a picture of how that all fits and how you can get better at it, I think that that’s good. Offensively, there’s a glimmer of what our identity can be. We’ve at times run the ball like you should run the ball and it looks good and there are glimpses of what that passing game can look like. What I mentioned earlier is what has to improve there, and that’s the consistency of it. It shows up for a while, disappears for a while. We have some great drives, good finishes and all that, and then we’ll go three-and-out three times in a row. It’s ridiculous. It shouldn’t happen.”