Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports
Juwaun Johnson scores on NIU’s second pick-six.

N. Illinois 21
Nebraska 17

Sept. 16, 2017 • 11 a.m. Central
Memorial Stadium •Lincoln, NE • FS1
1st2nd3rd4th F 
N. Illinois1400721
Nebraska0010717
1st quarter
NIU: Lurry 87 interception return (Hagan kick) 11:24 Video
NIU: Johnson 25 interception return (Hagan kick) 1:13 Video
3rd quarter
NEB: Lee 4 run (Brown kick) 8:05 Video
NEB: Brown 36 field goal, 0:15
4th quarter
NEB: Lee 1 run (Brown kick) 11:14 Video
NIU: Huff 2 run (Hagan kick) 8:52
 
                             NIU      NEB
FIRST DOWNS ................. 13       18
  Rushing .................... 7        6 
  Passing .................... 5       12 
  Penalty .................... 1        0
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) ....... 31-85    36-85
PASSING YDS (NET) .......... 128      299
  Att-Comp-Int ......... 23-15-0  47-25-3
TOTAL OFFENSE ........... 54-213   83-384
Fumble Returns-Yards ....... 0-0      0-0
Punt Returns-Yards ....... 2--10     5-13
Kickoff Returns-Yards ..... 1-25     3-91
Int. Returns-Yards ....... 3-121      0-0
Punts (Number-Avg) ...... 8-46.4   6-47.3
Fumbles-Lost ............... 3-1      2-0
Penalties-Yards ............3-25     5-48
Possession Time .......... 23:27    36:17
Third-Down Conv. ....... 3 of 13  6 of 19
Fourth-Down Conv. ....... 0 of 0   2 of 4

RUSHING
NIU: Huff 16-105; Childers 2-10; Jones 1-3; Blake 1-minus 1; Santacaterina 7-minus 9; TEAM 4-minus 23

NEB: Wilbon 24-90; Ozigbo 2-8; McNitt 1-4; Spielman 2-1; Lee 7-minus 18

PASSING
NIU: Santacaterina 15-22-0-128; Blake 0-1-0-0
NEB: Lee 25-47-3-299

RECEIVING
NIU: Blake 5-77; Wesley 3-29; Brown 3-18; Tears 2-minus 3; Huff 1-6; Jones 1-1
NEB: Pierson-El 8-101; Morgan 6-94; Spielman 3-52; Wilbon 3-14; Lindsey 2-18; Hoppes 2-17; Reimers 1-3.

Attendance: 89,664

Embed from Getty Images

Coverage

Stats & Recap
Complete Stats

Huskies Upend Huskers: Nebraska put up 171 more yards of total offense than Northern Illinois, but the Huskies used three interceptions including a pair of first-quarter pick sixes to defeat the Huskers, 21-17.

Nebraska quarterback Tanner Lee completed 25 of 47 passes for 299 yards, but he threw three interceptions and was sacked three times. Nebraska trailed 14-0 after one quarter, despite outgaining NIU, 115-32 in the period, while running 22 plays compared to just 10 for the Huskies.

Omaha World-Herald*
Lincoln Journal Star*
More Neb. sources
Hail Varsity
Huskers Illustrated
HuskerOnline
Daily Nebraskan
KLIN
Huskers.com
Grand Island Independent*
Other sources
Associated Press
Awful Announcing
Land of 10
DeKalb Daily Chronicle
Northern Illinois Athletics
Photos/Audio/Video
Photos
Video
2017 schedule
04/15Reds 55, Whites 7
09/02Arkansas St.W 43-36
09/09@ OregonL 35-42
09/16N. IllinoisL 17-21
09/23RutgersW 27-17
09/29@ IllinoisW 28-6
10/07WisconsinL 17-38
10/14Ohio St.L 14-56
10/28@ PurdueW 25-24
11/04NorthwesternL 24-31
11/11@ MinnesotaL 21-54
11/18@ Penn St.L 44-56
11/24IowaL 14-56
Pregame links & info
Pregame page & opponent info
Predictions
Series history
Courtesy of Huskers.com
Khalil Davis makes a stop.

Commentary

Chatelain

One quarter into the 2017 season, the Huskers are flirting with a Pederson/ Callahan/ Keller disaster.

Dirk Chatelain *
Omaha World-Herald
Christopherson

The entire Husker offensive line’s performance could be graded with red ink all over the paper.

Brian Christopherson
Huskers Illustrated
Husker Dan

This season could get ugly. Real ugly.

Husker Dan
HuskerMax
Barfknecht

Riley ... is having a hard enough time winning without his own boss generating five days of needless distraction before a game.

Lee Barfknecht *
Omaha World-Herald
Shatel

This is Nebraska football as we know it in 2017. What happened can no longer be surprising. And that’s the biggest punch in the gut.

Tom Shatel *
Omaha World-Herald
Hardesty

Losing to Northern Illinois at home is a terrible look for this program, but this isn’t a death sentence for the season.

Matt Hardesty
Daily Nebraskan
Vogel

Saturday was really the first time the Riley era reminded me of late-period Pelini.

Brandon Vogel
Hail Varsity
Peterson

So, three weeks in and there have been zero questions answered.

Derek Peterson
Hail Varsity
Callahan

It was a game that just sucked the life out of Husker fans, and left them wondering why this thing is not looking like it’s supposed to.

Sean Callahan
HuskerOnline
Washut

It was a major step back for the offensive line as a whole.

Robin Washut
HuskerOnline
Sipple

As for maintaining a strong sense of optimism for where Riley’s program is headed, well, good luck with that.

Steven M. Sipple
Lincoln Journal Star
Stryker

This is a proud college football blueblood suffering from a serious deficiency in the very core of its program – the offensive line.

Tad Stryker
HuskerMax
Keeler

The final analysis is a long ways off, but where the Huskers are right now is a very dark, very lonely place.

Sean Keeler
Land of 10
Hamar

There were dropped passes. There were missed receivers. There were penalties that put the Huskers in bad positions. Kind of the same old story.

Bob Hamar *
Grand Island Independent
* Article may require subscription