Nebraska could still finish 8-4 in the regular season and, on paper, that would look like progress. But for Matt Rhule and the Huskers, it may end up feeling a lot more hollow than that.
If Nebraska fans had been handed that record before the season, along with three-point losses to Indiana and Oregon, plenty of them probably would have taken it. But college football has a way of turning almost-good enough into its own kind of frustration.
An 8-4 season would technically be better than Rhule’s first three years in Lincoln, yet it still would not land like real forward movement. It would feel more like another round of “what could have been.”
Rhule has certainly been willing to make changes. He has not let loyalty block him from reshaping his staff when he thinks someone is not getting the job done.
Over his first three seasons, he has made a lot of moves, and heading into Year 4 this season, Marcus Satterfield is the only on-field coach who has been with him since the beginning. Even Satterfield no longer has the same title he once did, having gone from offensive coordinator to tight ends coach.
Still, the bigger question is whether all of that movement has actually changed the outcome. In some cases, it may have made things worse. Letting Mike Ekeler go after just one season, apparently because the two men did not get along well, looks like one of the decisions that may have set Nebraska back.
The latest example is Dana Holgorsen, the offensive coordinator brought in to energize the offense. Holgorsen said 2026 would be the year he could really cut loose and call his offense after replacing Dylan Raiola with Anthony Colandrea. For Nebraska’s first five games, the Huskers looked like a team with a different gear and a more dangerous attack.
Then came the late losses to Indiana and Oregon. Nebraska put up only 17 points and 14 points in those games, but the biggest issue was how the offense disappeared when it mattered most. The Huskers have been outscored 25-7 in the fourth quarter, and in both of those losses they carried a lead into the final period before letting it slip away.
That is not all on Holgorsen, of course. It is a team problem, plain and simple.
But it does force a harder question: is this really the ceiling for a Rhule staff? Is coming close to beating the defending national champion the best Nebraska can hope for?
With No. 1, No.
2, No. 5, No. 6, and No. 7 all losing on the same day, Nebraska fans have every reason to wonder why the breakthrough never seems to be them.
Why does the rise look like Indiana under Curt Cignetti, or UCLA under Bob Chesney, instead of happening in Lincoln?
If Nebraska gets to eight wins, Rhule will still have shown enough progress that his job is not in danger. Even so, if the Huskers get to 9-4 after bowl season, it could go down as the emptiest, most frustrating 9-4 record in Nebraska football history.
Something needs to change. The trouble is that it does not seem like the thing that needs changing is actually changing, even with Rhule and his staff clearly trying.
In Other News...
Oregon Exposed A Nebraska Problem That May Get Worse
Nebraskas offense spent a long afternoon trying to find any kind of rhythm against Oregon and never really did. The Huskers managed 242 yards on 67 snaps, with quarterback Anthony Colandrea doing what he could to keep drives alive, finishing 18 of 33 for 164 yards and a touchdown while adding 38 rushing yards and another score on the ground. Even with that effort, the bigger picture was hard to miss: the run game never got rolling, the passing game lacked separation, and the offense as a whole looked stuck in place.
The issues went beyond one bad outing, too. Nebraskas top running backs were held to 58 yards on 18 carries, the offensive line gave up a sack and five pressures, and four penalties made an already uneven night even messier. Injuries along the line and at running back only added to the concern, while receivers struggled to create the kind of space that can help an offense recover when the ground game is bottled up, leaving a problem that could be even tougher to solve if the same limitations keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Left Wondering After Two Late Replay Moments Swung Everything
For much of the night, Nebraska had a chance to leave with a statement win before Oregon finally nudged in front with 28 seconds left. The finish came with the kind of replay drama that tends to stick with a team long after the final whistle, starting with a touchdown catch by Kwazi Gilmer that was upheld after officials said there was not enough clear evidence to overturn it.
Then came the other moment that had Nebraska wondering what might have been. A potential late fumble by Isaiah Mozee was not reviewed, and the Cornhuskers kept possession as the game tightened in its closing stretch. In a contest decided by the smallest of margins, those two replay decisions became part of the story almost as much as the score itself. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Fans Have One Brutal Debate After Another Late Collapse
Nebraskas recent stretch has left fans stuck in an uncomfortable place: encouraged by how far the program has come, but frustrated by how often close games are slipping away late. The Cornhuskers dropped tight decisions to Indiana and Oregon after holding leads in both, a sequence that has sharpened the conversation around whether the progress under Matt Rhule is real enough to matter when the fourth quarter arrives.
Against Oregon, the offensive issues were impossible to ignore, with nine punts and little production on the ground, even as the defense did enough for three quarters to keep the game within reach. The broader picture still shows a team that has outperformed preseason expectations, but the debate now is whether thats enough when the same late-game breakdown keeps showing up in the toughest moments. [Read more 🡒]