The rush defense for UNI was great holding BYU to a -19 rushing yards, however, BYU learned of UNI's weak spot and that was the pass defense. BYU had a hay day passing all over UNI with 355 passing yards and that's what almost beat UNI.
This game was the 5th greatest game of all time for UNI as they saw an amazing EIGHT lead changes in the game. UNI never really had a very big lead with 10 points being their biggest margin early in the first quarter but once BYU found the weakness of UNI, they exploited it and capitalized on it.
HB Steve Jackson won national honors as Player of the Week with 32 carries, 240 yards, and 5 touchdowns.
"BYU definitely played us higher than a #23 seed. They looked strong at times and exploited our weak pass defense and scored on us five times through the air" Coach Pelini said. "We've fixed our Special Teams allowing touchdown returns, now it's time to work on our pass defense and then I think this team could be unstoppable."