PREDICTION TIME

Mike Babcock

Strong defense and special teams are just the ticket for the first time on the road, especially with a young quarterback, regardless of how confident and unflappable he might seem. Jake Locker's ability to run -- he set the Pac-10 rushing record for quarterbacks as a freshman -- will pose problems for the defense, and the Husky offense will be energized by the home environment. But that won't be enough. Nebraska's defense will adjust. Nebraska 35 Washington 20 Season: 2-0 vs. the spread: 1-1

Robin Washut

All the noise and hostility of Husky Stadium will probably have an effect on redshirt freshman quarterback Taylor Martinez early on, but I don't think any of that or Washington's defense will be able to slow him down enough to pull off the upset. The biggest reason is Nebraska's defense, especially the front four against UW's offensive line. Jake Locker is obviously a great quarterback, but the Huskers have faced their share of great quarterbacks over the past two years. Nebraska won't be intimidated by any of the crowd noise or Locker's Heisman hype, and I see the Huskers finally getting that solid non-conference road win they've been searching for. Nebraska 30 Washington 13 Season: 2-0 vs. the spread: 1-1

Aaron Babcock

After watching Washington's first two games, my evaluation of the Huskies remains the same as when I attended a practice in August. The Huskies have outstanding skill position players on offense. But the Washington offensive and defensive lines are inferior to Nebraska's and its special teams are poor. I made my pick in the magazine during the first half of Washington's game against Syracuse, when the Huskies looked awful - hence my 38-17 pick for Nebraska. If the Huskers avoid turnovers and stupid mistakes, the game should be lopsided. However, I have a hard time predicting a road blowout with a young QB under center. Nebraska 24 Washington 17 Season: 2-0 vs. the spread: 1-1

John Talman

After a special performance by Nebraska's secondary in week two, it's hard not to think the Huskers defense is exactly what the fans would want going against such a talked-about quarterback in Jake Locker. The biggest question of course is how will they handle the inside run-game from a better opponent, on the road and how will redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez handle a better defense in a different environment. Regardless, I think with each passing game the team gets better in a lot of areas. There is a lot of young talent on the team and this is another huge dose of experience to help in Big 12 play. Nebraska 31 Washington 17 Season: 2-0 vs. the spread: 1-1

SEATTLE - The Nebraska football team will get their first true test of the season today when they take on Washington at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

There are several different storylines and things to watch as we get closer to kickoff. Here are the five keys to a Husker victory over Washington, along with our Huskeronline.com staff predictions on today's final outcome. NU enters today's match-up as a 3 ? point favorite over the Huskies.

Strike early

Any time you go on the road to a hostile environment it's important to start fast and take the crowd out of the game as much as possible.

A sellout crowd of over 72,000 is expected to be in Seattle for today's game and it will be important for the Huskers to either make some big plays on offense right out of the gate or force Washington into some early three-and-outs.

If NU can take the crowd out of the game early with a few big plays, I don't see the home field advantage being near as much of a problem for the Huskers.

Don't settle for field goals

In both the Texas and Virginia Tech games a year ago Nebraska's offense crossed the 30 yard line quite frequently, but the only problem is the Huskers settled for nine field goals and didn't score a single touchdown.

This is an area that has to improve if the Huskers want to win some of these bigger games on the road. Settling for 3's instead of 7's will always come back to bite you and Nebraska found out the hard way a year ago.

I think NU will be tested this week in short yardage situations and they need to prove that they can consistently pick up the third-and-short plays that gave them problems a year ago.

Containment on Locker

We all know that Washington's Jake Locker can throw the ball as