Kenny Larabee, KLIN
Emmett Johnson goes 47 yards for the game's first touchdown.

Nebraska 68
Akron 0

Sep. 6, 2025 • 6:30 p.m. Central
Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE • BTN
1st 2nd 3rd 4th  F 
Akron 0 0 0 0 0
Nebraska 9 24 21 14 68
Quinn Clark hurdles a Zip
Kenny Larabee, KLIN
Nebraska wide receiver Quinn Clark hurdles Akron’s Rodrick Hunter on his way to a 37-yard touchdown during the second quarter.
First quarter
  NU: Johnson 47 run (Cunanan kick) 12:17
  NU: Safety, Pietrzak tackled Gant in end zone, 4:44
Second quarter
  NU: Cunanan 35 field goal, 13:56
  NU: Johnson 4 pass from Raiola (Cunanan kick) 8:17
  NU: Clark 37 pass from Raiola (Cunanan kick) 2:08
  NU: Lindenmeyer 10 pass from Raiola (Cunanan kick) 0:46
Third quarter
  NU: Johnson 6 run (Cunanan kick) 10:49
  NU: Key 12 pass from Raiola (Cunanan kick) 5:58
  NU: Ives 28 run (Cunanan kick) 2:37
Fourth quarter
  NU: M.Nelson 1 run (Cunanan kick) 13:01
  NU: LaTeef 8 run (Cunanan kick) 7:31

                         UA        NU
FIRST DOWNS ............ 13        30
  By rushing ............ 7         9
  By passing ............ 2        22
  By penalty ............ 4         0
RUSHES-YARDS ....... 36-113    33-234
PASSING-YARDS .......... 62       494
  Att-Comp-Int ..... 23-9-0   40-32-0
TOTAL OFFENSE ...... 59-175    73-728
Punt Returns-Yds ...... 0-0      5-92
K.O. Returns-Yds .... 6-125      2-42
Punts-Avg .......... 8-37.0       0-0
Fumbles-Lost .......... 2-1       1-1
Penalties-Yards ....... 1-5      6-71
Possession Time ..... 29:50     30:10
Third-Down Conv. ..... 1-14      8-10
Fourth-Down Conv. ..... 1-2       0-1

Attendance: 86,439
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Embed from Getty Images

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Like old times:
Huskers crush Zips

In an evening filled with career firsts and bests, the Huskers hammered Akron, 68-0, running up their highest point total in 13 years and registering their first shutout since 2009.

Dylan Raiola had his first 300-yard passing game as a Husker and threw for four touchdowns.

Emmett Johnson’s career-best 140-yard rushing performance included a career-long 47-yard scoring run, which opened the scoring.

Two Huskers scored their first career touchdowns as Nebraska built a 33-0 halftime advantage. As substitutes took over late in the third quarter, reserves got their chance to shine, and Mekhi Nelson also found the end zone for the first time. Quarterback TJ Lateef passed for 128 yards in his Husker debut and also scored.

Meanwhile, the defense kept the Zips largely bottled up. Akron’s most serious scoring threat was snuffed when Riley Van Poppel blocked a 33-yard field goal attempt midway through the third quarter.

Nebraska never punted. The offense rang up 728 yards on 73 plays.

During the 33-0 first half, a couple of failures inside the Akron 5 — a fumble and a turnover on downs — were about all that slowed the Nebraska offense. Emmett Johnson scored twice, while Quinn Clark and Luke Lindenmeyer scored their first touchdowns as Huskers. The defense also scored as Kade Pietrzak took down an Akron running back in the end zone for a safety; it was the true freshman lineman’s first career tackle.

Omaha World-Herald*
HuskerMax/On SI
Lincoln Journal Star*
Husker247
More Neb. Sources
HuskerOnline
Daily Nebraskan
Hail Varsity
KLIN
Inside Nebraska*
Corn Nation
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Akron Beacon Journal
Associated Press
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Pregame & team info
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Predictions | Stats matchup
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Practice reports

MON | TUE | THU
More pregame press
2025 results
08/28 @ Cincinnati W 20-17
09/06 Akron W 68-0
09/13 Houston Christian W 59-7
09/20 Michigan L 27-30
10/04 Michigan St. W 38-27
10/11 @ Maryland W 34-31
10/17 @ Minnesota L 6-24
10/25 Northwestern W 28-21
11/01 South­ern Cal L 17-21
11/08 @ UCLA W 28-21
11/22 @ Penn State L 10-37
11/28 Iowa L 16-40
12/31 Utah L 22-44
— 2024 | 2026 —

Commentary

Stryker

The best part of it was that every single Husker who got into the game brought a lot of energy and focus onto the field with him.

Tad Stryker
HuskerMax/On SI
Henry

The game seemed to take longer to get fully in hand than some would have preferred. The reason for that was the lack of red zone success early on.

Kaleb Henry
HuskerMax/On SI
Christopherson

Jacory Barney had 87 punt return yards on four attempts. That’s nice on any night. It’s especially so when you consider Nebraska had 75 punt return yards total in 2024.

Brian Christopherson
Husker247
Shatel

This was a performance the Huskers, their coaches and, yes, their fans all needed. That it came against winless and scoreless Akron is beside the point.

Tom Shatel *
Omaha World-Herald
Sherman

The ability to maintain a high level of play indicates a maturing team. The Huskers wanted more than a victory.

Mitch Sherman *
The Athletic
Beecham

All over the field, Nebraska showed who is going to be making headlines a few years down the line.

Ben Beecham
Daily Nebraskan
Sipple

Offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen wanted big plays on this night. He got them. A ton of them.

Steven Sipple *
HuskerOnline
Just

It doesn’t matter who it’s against; a performance like that is worth celebrating.

Amie Just *
Lincoln Journal Star
Feit

Yes, it was an empty-calorie cupcake win, but man, did it taste sweet.

Dave Feit
HuskerMax/On SI
Frommer

This feels like the patented Matt Rhule third-year culture shift in real time.

Justin Frommer *
Hastings Tribune
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