In a way, it will be a tiebreaker of sorts when Nebraska travels to Purdue for a Saturday afternoon game.
The teams have played 12 times with each winning six, so the winner will not only gain an important Big Ten conference victory, but the lead in the series.
More important than that, each team just wants to get back in the win column after falling last week.
The Cornhuskers (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) took their first loss of the season in heartbreaking fashion, losing 31-24 at home in overtime against Illinois. Nebraska is set to play its first road game.
Meanwhile, the Boilermakers (1-2, 0-0) are seeking to find their footing at home after a pair of lopsided losses, first at home against Notre Dame then at Oregon State.
Each team relies heavily on its quarterback for production, although the two players have different levels of experience.
Nebraska features one of the country’s top freshman signal-callers, Dylan Raiola, who has completed 72.2 percent of his passes (83 of 115) for 967 yards and eight touchdowns with two interceptions.
“He’s everything you want,” Purdue coach Ryan Walters said of Raiola. “Big and confident. I think the confident piece sort of sticks out the most. He’s not afraid to throw the ball in tight windows. He trusts his guys to go make plays. He can throw it from every different type of platform and get it there pretty accurately.”
Purdue has a quarterback who has an experienced quarterback, senior Hudson Card, who has connected on 63.2 percent of his passes (43 of 68) for 453 yards and six touchdowns with three interceptions.
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule called Card “an excellent quarterback,” but also is leery of a Purdue ground attack that produced 263 rushing yards against Oregon State. Devin Mockobee had 168 yards, while Reggie Love III had 66 yards.
“We have guys that I know can really respond,” Rhule said. “They’re going to have to because (the Boilermakers) run outside zone as well as any team we’ll face this year, and we’ll have a lot to get done.”
