Nebraska’s November slate comes with a familiar kind of headache: veteran head coaches, and plenty of them have had the Huskers’ number.
The month opens with Illinois’ Bret Bielema, then brings Rutgers’ Greg Schiano, Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. Three of those four have regularly made life miserable for Nebraska, and the schedule only gets tougher from there with three road games and the lone home date coming against the Buckeyes in Lincoln.
That Ohio State matchup stands out for obvious reasons. The Buckeyes were 12-2 last season, won the 2024 national championship and once again look like a team built to chase the top of the sport. Nebraska gets them at Memorial Stadium, but that hardly softens the blow.
Illinois and Iowa were both 9-4 last season, and each spent enough of the year in the playoff conversation to suggest they’re sitting in that next Big Ten tier Nebraska needs to start beating more often. That’s been a problem under Matt Rhule.
Against Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, USC, Penn State and Washington, the Huskers are 1-9 under him. They’re 0-7 over the past two years, with the lone win coming in 2023, Rhule’s first season, a 20-7 victory at Illinois.
Rhule is 2-5 against Nebraska’s November opponents and 2-10 in November games overall.
November has a way of sorting teams out. It’s the stretch when programs decide who they are, and how they’ll be remembered.
Some are fighting to get bowl eligible. Others are trying to lock up a College Football Playoff spot or a conference title game berth.
And for Nebraska, the month ends with Iowa on Black Friday in Iowa City.
Bielema brings a 124-84 career record into the month and has gone 5-2 against Nebraska. Rhule is 1-1 against Illinois.
The Illini’s 2025 record was 9-4, and their passing game was led by Luke Altmyer, who is now with the Detroit Lions. Katin Houser, who has played at Michigan State and East Carolina, transferred to Champaign and is expected to keep the offense moving.
Schiano’s Rutgers team went 5-7 in 2025, and his career record sits at 99-108. He is 0-3 against Nebraska, while Rhule is 1-0 against Rutgers. The game at SHI Stadium could carry extra weight for the Scarlet Knights, who may see it as a last chance to become bowl eligible.
Day’s Ohio State team is the heavyweight of the group. He owns an 82-12 career record, is 4-0 against Nebraska and will bring a roster that includes veteran quarterback Julian Sayin, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and the kind of dominant lines the Buckeyes always seem to have, along with their endless supply of running backs. Rhule is 0-1 against Ohio State.
Then comes Ferentz, whose Iowa program has built its identity on defense and enough offense to get by. He has been at Iowa for 27 years, owns a 213-128 record and has gone 11-6 against Nebraska. Rhule is 0-3 against the Hawkeyes, and Ferentz has won 10 of the last 11 meetings with the Huskers.
In Other News...
Brad Underwood Is Already Chasing Illinois Next Frontcourt Anchor
Illinois is already looking past the current frontcourt cycle, and that is no small thing for a program that has leaned on size to shape its identity. With the Ivisic brothers moving toward graduation and David Mirkovic potentially headed for the NBA Draft, Brad Underwood and his staff are doing what good staffs do - lining up the next wave before the roster churn arrives.
One of the names now on the radar is Benjamin Berrouet, a rising national prospect from Dallas who has drawn major attention from across the country. Illinois sees a player whose size and style could fit the same lane Mirkovic occupies now, but the Illini are hardly alone in that evaluation, which means this one could turn into a real recruiting fight before it settles into anything more concrete. [Read more 🡒]
Shauna Green May Have Found Illinois Next Frontcourt Cornerstone
Shauna Green has spent the offseason continuing to shape Illinois into a team with real size inside, and the early signs suggest the frontcourt may be the next area to take another step. Berry Wallace and Cearah Parchment already give the Illini a solid interior base, but the program is also looking ahead, and that means identifying the kind of post presence that can fit alongside a perimeter-heavy attack.
One name to watch is Eve Fowler, a highly regarded center from Sage Hill in Newport Beach who has already drawn an Illinois scholarship offer. Fowlers profile points to the kind of player who can anchor the paint with post scoring and defense, traits that would make her a natural complement to what Green is building. With Wallace set to move on eventually, Illinois is clearly thinking beyond the present and trying to line up its next frontcourt cornerstone before the need becomes urgent. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Still Has One Huge Stefan Vaaks Question To Answer
The Big Tens lead-guard picture for 2026-27 is starting to take shape, and Illinois has a name right in the middle of it. Stefan Vaaks is being sized up alongside the conferences best ball-handlers, a sign of how much attention his game is already drawing before he has even settled into his next role in Champaign. For Illinois, the appeal is obvious: a guard with enough skill and versatility to matter in a league that is expected to lean heavily on perimeter creators again.
What still makes Vaaks such a fascinating puzzle is how Illinois will actually deploy him. The conversation around him is not just about whether he belongs near the top of the Big Tens lead-guard group, but whether he becomes the primary organizer or spends time working both on and off the ball. However the Illini choose to use him, that decision could shape the way their offense looks next season, and it is the kind of detail that will tell a lot about how high his ceiling really goes. [Read more 🡒]