Ten years have passed, and Nebraska still hasn’t found a way to beat a ranked opponent.
That streak sits at 31 straight losses, a number that has turned from aggravating into flat-out stunning. Saturday’s matchup with No. 7 Indiana gives the unbeaten Huskers a shot to finally snap it, while also putting Matt Rhule’s best Nebraska start in a decade in front of one of the toughest tests on the schedule.
The last time Nebraska took down a ranked team was Sept. 17, 2016, when Mike Riley’s group beat No. 22 Oregon during a 7-0 start that briefly pushed the program into the top 10. Since then, every chance has ended the same way.
Rhule brings his own history into the game, too. He entered the season with a 2-25 career record against ranked opponents, a .074 winning percentage that ranked fourth-worst among Big Ten coaches with at least nine such games.
The track record has been rough at Nebraska as well. Seven of Rhule’s nine losses to top-25 teams with the Huskers have come against Big Ten opponents, including close defeats to USC and Michigan last fall.
Nebraska’s path only gets harder from here. The Huskers’ two Big Ten wins have come against Michigan State and Maryland, and those teams are a combined 4-6 this season with no league victories.
After Indiana, Nebraska heads to No. 13 Oregon and still has No.
5 Ohio State and No. 20 Iowa waiting in November.
Indiana, meanwhile, hasn’t lost since its first-round playoff exit at Notre Dame on Dec. 20, 2024. Curt Cignetti’s team has won 21 straight games, and the Hoosiers are coming off the program’s first national championship last season.
The Hoosiers also hammered Nebraska by 49 points in 2024 on the way to their first College Football Playoff appearance, a game that featured five Nebraska turnovers and left a mark on Rhule.
"I hope it has grown," Rhule said when asked this week if his program has changed since that matchup. "I think we were ranked in one of the polls at that point, right?
So, I guess maybe not that far, but I think we've grown. We're just a better football team.
I hate looking back, but I guess I should.
"I went back and watched it this week. So, I always look back.
I like to feel the pain myself and relive the pain… It was, I think, just poorly done by us as coaches. You know, not giving our guys the best chance.
And then kind of maybe panicking a little bit."
Rhule also has a new long-term deal in place, after signing a two-year extension through 2032 last October. Saturday gives him his first real chance in the 2026 season to show Nebraska that investment is paying off.
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Urban Meyers latest comments just added another layer to the conversation, and it is the kind of skepticism Indiana is likely to keep hearing until it proves itself against the leagues top tier. Meyer questioned how much weight should be given to wins over lower-level opponents, which only sharpens the pressure on the Hoosiers as they move deeper into a slate that will decide whether this start is just a nice story or something far more substantial. [Read more 🡒]