Nebraska gets its biggest test of the season Saturday, and the matchup with Indiana comes with the kind of uncertainty that makes early October so interesting. Both teams are unbeaten, both have padded their records against soft early schedules, and both are still carrying questions that only a game like this can answer.
Nebraska enters at 5-0 with Big Ten wins over Michigan State and Maryland. Those are solid results, but nothing that has moved the national conversation much.
Indiana’s path has looked a little sharper thanks to Northwestern’s rise, yet the Hoosiers were still a 19.5-point favorite in that game and have spent most of the season cruising through a slate that included North Texas, Howard, Western Kentucky, Northwestern and Rutgers. The record is spotless.
The résumé is still under review.
That’s why Saturday at Memorial Stadium feels different. Nebraska is trying to prove it belongs in the national picture, and a win over the defending national champions would change plenty of the chatter.
Matt Rhule is 2-25 vs. ranked opponents, and Nebraska hasn’t beaten a ranked team since Sept. 17, 2016, against Oregon. The Huskers also haven’t started 6-0 since 2016.
There’s a lot sitting on this one.
FanDuel has Nebraska as a 7.5-point underdog, the first time the Huskers have been underdogs this season. Nebraska is ranked 33 in The Athletic 138, while Indiana sits at No. 7, the same spot it holds in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Here are three reasons Nebraska can win this game.
First, the setting matters. Nebraska has waited a long time for a chance like this, and the game means more to the Huskers in terms of prestige than it does to Indiana.
Program restoration can be a real fuel source, especially for a team that is still trying to break back into the national conversation. A win here would serve as validation for a 5-0 start that still has people asking questions.
Second, Nebraska needs an early punch. The Huskers have dealt with slow starts, and getting ahead of Indiana could be huge.
An early lead would send a message to the locker room, and it would keep Memorial Stadium alive. A 14-0 Indiana lead would probably drain some of that energy quickly, but Nebraska jumping out first could make the whole day uncomfortable for the Hoosiers.
Third, the Huskers’ defense gives them a real path. Nebraska is aggressive and has the numbers to back it up: 17th in total defense at 265.8 yards allowed per game, 30th against the run at 100.6, 22nd against the pass at 165.2 and second nationally in third-down defense, allowing opponents to convert only 13 of 61 tries.
Indiana’s offense is balanced and dangerous, averaging 237 passing yards per game and 252.6 rushing yards per game. Nebraska’s best chance is to get stops, force a turnover or two and make the Hoosiers work for everything.
And here are three reasons Nebraska could lose.
The first is talent. Indiana has won 21 straight games dating to a 2024 College Football Playoff loss at Notre Dame, and the Hoosiers know how to finish.
The source of that edge starts with coach Curt Cignetti, who took the sport’s historically worst team and won a national title in two skinny years. He recruits well, develops talent and has his team playing with real belief.
Indiana had eight players drafted by the NFL in April. From 2017 to 2024, Indiana had seven total draft picks.
That’s a different level of roster-building.
The second issue is discipline. Nebraska ranks 125th nationally with 43 penalties, or 8.6 per game, and it was flagged 16 times against Maryland.
That didn’t sink the Huskers last week, but against Indiana, sloppiness could be costly. Nebraska does not need perfection, but it does need to be relatively clean.
The third concern is whether Nebraska’s quarterback can handle this step up in class. Anthony Colandrea’s turnover history was a real issue before Nebraska, with 29 interceptions in 33 games.
This season in Lincoln, he has been far sharper, with only two interceptions and 13 touchdown passes. Still, the Hoosiers present a much tougher test, and that question looms large.
If Indiana’s running game gets going, the passing game can open up quickly for quarterback Josh Hoover, and Nebraska will need Colandrea to answer.
There’s also the memory of the last meeting, a 56-7 Indiana win in 2024. Revenge stories make for good speeches, but speeches only go so far against a team with this kind of edge.
Nebraska has played well enough to create this opportunity. Now it has to prove it can take it.
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What stands out most is how many different combinations DeVries can now consider. The Hoosiers believe they have improved their size and rebounding, and the backcourt has a different look with Burton in the mix, but the next step is figuring out how all of those pieces fit together once practice and lineup decisions begin. For a team that spent the offseason loading up, the biggest question now is not who Indiana has, but which two roles are still waiting to be claimed. [Read more 🡒]