No. 25 Nebraska and Boise State are headed for a Sunday afternoon collision in Sioux Falls, S.D., and the matchup comes with a sharp contrast in identity.
The Huskers have built their 3-0 start on defense and control. The Broncos have spent their first three games running teams into the ground and scoring in bunches.
Nebraska enters with a school-record 27-game nonconference winning streak and a defense that has done the heavy lifting so far. Opponents are averaging just 60.7 points against the Cornhuskers while shooting 35.0 percent overall and 23.0 percent from beyond the arc.
Boise State, meanwhile, has been on a scoring tear. The Broncos have topped 100 points in each of their first three games for the first time in school history and are averaging 114.3 points while shooting 53.4 percent from the floor and 41.3 percent on 3-pointers.
"They're really high paced, playing extremely fast," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. "They shoot it all over the place. They're rolling right now and clicking all over the place."
The Broncos have six players averaging in double figures, with Aginaldo Neto leading the way at 20.0 points per game. Neto scored 25 in Wednesday's 111-79 win over Oakland, and Damari Wheeler-Thomas added 23 in that one as Boise State kept the pressure on from start to finish.
"These guys, they've been great to coach," said Boise State coach Leon Rice, in his 17th season running the program. "It's hard to play that fast ... but they're playing so fast and putting so much pressure on the defense but yet they're under control and making good decisions."
Nebraska's offense has been productive too, averaging 89.0 points per game, but the engine has been Pryce Sandfort. He is putting up 22.3 points per game and has scored at least 20 in four straight games, a stretch that includes last season's Sweet 16 loss to Iowa. Four other Cornhuskers are also scoring in double figures, including South Dakota transfer Damon Wilkinson, who is averaging 12.0 points off the bench.
The Huskers' best defensive showing came in a 67-58 win over Providence in Uncasville, Conn., when they held the Friars to 30.6 percent shooting. Their other wins have come in blowouts over Le Moyne and Lindenwood at home.
"It’s our collective defense that gets our offense going," Hoiberg said.
Boise State is off to its best start since 2017-18, a sharp turn from last season when it opened with a home loss to Division II Hawaii Pacific. The Broncos were picked to finish sixth in the revamped Pac-12 Conference after spending 15 seasons in the Mountain West.
"We're still not where we want to be with our depth, and that's going to be a key for us," Rice said. "We need our bench to keep developing."
Nebraska will be in Sioux Falls for the fifth time since 2018, and it has gone 3-1 there. That includes a 105-99 win over Oklahoma last season. Sunday’s game is the Huskers' second of four neutral-site matchups this season, with Butler in Chicago and Missouri in Kansas City still ahead.
"It's one of my favorite games of the season, I can't wait," Hoiberg said. "It really is one of the highlights for us. I know our fans love it as well."
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Boise State GameDay Crowd Got A Viral Moment Fans Will Love
The pregame buzz around Boise States matchup with Oregon State got an extra jolt during ESPNs College GameDay stop in Idaho, when fan Easton Hanson stepped into the spotlight for a million-dollar field goal attempt. Hosted by Pat McAfee, the contest came on the heels of a previous million-dollar kick by Leighton Vander Esch for charity, giving the crowd another big-stage moment before the Broncos even took the field.
Hanson delivered on his first try, turning what could have been a novelty sideline segment into the kind of viral snapshot college football fans will be talking about. With GameDay rolling and the focus already building toward Boise States game, the kick added one more layer to a weekend that had plenty of energy before kickoff ever arrived. [Read more 🡒]
Boise State Gets A Timely Boost Before A Huge Oregon State Test
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Oregon State Had A Boise Travel Problem Before This Huge Road Game
Travel headaches were already part of the backdrop before Oregon State ever got to Boise for a big road test, with the kind of uncertainty that can turn a normal trip into an all-day scramble. The timing only added to the drama around a game that already had plenty of attention, and it was hard to miss how much the broader travel situation was affecting everything around campus.
Even ESPNs College GameDay felt the ripple effect, with Pat McAfee making his entrance in a way that fit the moment and the setting at Boise State. For Oregon State, the practical side of getting in and getting settled suddenly mattered almost as much as the matchup itself, and the travel contingencies around the game became part of the story before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]