3 bold takeaways from Nebraska football's blowout win over Northern Iowa

It wasn't perfect. The Nebraska football team was sharper a week ago. But when the smoke cleared on Saturday night, the Huskers were 3-0 and beat the Northern Iowa Panthers.

And perhaps most important of all, they looked every bit the part of a team that belongs in the Top 25. They look like a team that should be 3-0. This isn't a Huskers squad that barely squeaked by or won a game it should have lost.

We've seen far too many of those types of games for the Nebraska football over the years. So, since "how did they manage to win that?" isn't part of tonight's takeaways, what are?

Dylan Raiola continues to play like a fifth-year senior

It is absolutely crazy to think tonight was Raiola's third career college start. It's not just that he has both a strong and accurate arm. It's not just that he's big and strong. It's that he stands in the pocket and waits for the play to unfold around him like I'm not sure we've ever seen a Nebraska quarterback do.

Zac Taylor might be the last guy who had the kind of poise and confidence in the pocket as Raiola.

That's not to say that Raiola might not revert at some point this season. He hasn't exactly faced world-beaters yet. But his demeanor has been imposing.

Tony White's defense is a pain even when it's not at its best

It was a little disconcerting to see Nebraska allow 301 yards of offense to an FCS squad after the job they did a week ago against Colorado, but the Huskers' DC always seems to find a way to make adjustments that limit the damage.

UNI held the ball for 10 minutes in the first quarter and scored a field goal in its first drive but didn't score again. They had the ball for 38 yards in the game, but some of that was the speed with which Nebraska scored.

It's worth pointing out that the reserves played quite a bit of the second half and it's a safe bet that White's defense was very vanilla as far as rushing the passer.

Ignoring the running game was weird

For the most part this year, offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield has demonstrated that all the calls for his job last year were based entirely on not understanding just how bad the quarterback situation was. He's called three good games so far this year.

However.

It felt like Satterfield fell in love with dialing Raiola's number to see what happens. He got cute in the second half. And I would have liked to have seen a bit more of a step on their throat approach early in the second half.

I also wouldn't have minded seeing the running backs get more than 15 carries tonight. Especially since 5 of those 15 carries came on Nebraska football's final scoring drive. Big Ten play starts next week. They're going to need to run the ball. I'd rather it not seem like a foreign concept when they do.