Nebraska made it out of the FAA travel mess, but the bigger question hanging over Saturday is whether the Huskers and Rutgers will actually kick off at 11:30 a.m.
The good news for Nebraska is simple: the team was already in the air before the nationwide ground stop hit, and the Huskers landed safely in New Jersey. That means they avoided the scramble that left plenty of other programs waiting around to find out if they’d even make it to their games.
The less certain part is the timing. The matchup is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on the Big Ten Network, but that start time is still up in the air. Networks and conferences are reportedly still sorting through scheduling issues, with some teams wondering whether they’ll need to bus to road games or push them back later in the season.
Nebraska-Rutgers is hardly the kind of game that reshapes the national TV picture, but it could still get caught in the ripple effect. Fox may need extra inventory if its schedule gets thrown off, and BTN could decide to move the game later in the day if another matchup doesn’t go as planned.
For Nebraska, the trip itself is no longer the issue. The Huskers are in place, and Saturday’s game is still on for now. That at least gives fans a chance to see whether new offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas can help straighten out an offense that has struggled through the second half of the season.
The Nebraska-Rutgers game is one of several around the country that remained intact despite the travel chaos. Others already in the air or safely landed include Boston College at Notre Dame, Cincinnati at Iowa State, Duke at Miami, JMU at UConn, Kansas at WVU, Louisville at UNC, Michigan at Oregon, Missouri at Georgia, Stanford at Virginia Tech, Syracuse at NC State, Texas Tech at Oklahoma State, UAB at Temple, and Wisconsin at Maryland.
A few teams are making the drive instead, including Alabama to Vanderbilt, East Carolina to Charlotte, and Georgia Tech to Clemson.
Then there’s the group still caught in the FAA ground stop: Arizona State at UCF, Baylor to BYU, FAU to Tulsa, Kansas State to TCU, Minnesota to Penn State, Ole Miss to Oklahoma, Purdue to Iowa, Tennessee to Texas A&M, Texas to LSU, Tulane to Rice, UNLV to New Mexico, Utah at Arizona, and Washington to Michigan State.
For now, Nebraska and Rutgers are still set to play Saturday morning.
In Other News...
Nebraska Just Got A Huge Opening In Its Bowl Push
Rutgers spent much of its recent news conference focused on Greg Schianos contract extension through 2027, but the conversation also turned quickly to the bigger picture for Saturdays matchup with Nebraska. The Scarlet Knights are trying to navigate a stretch that has already been complicated by injuries to key players, including top receiver KJ Duff and quarterback Dylan Longeran, and that changes the way this game looks for a Nebraska team still trying to strengthen its bowl case.
Matt Rhule has already made clear that Rutgers is not a soft landing spot, pointing to the Scarlet Knights running game and special teams as real concerns for the Cornhuskers. Even so, the injury situation gives Nebraska a chance to take advantage of a suddenly more fragile opponent, and in a late-season race where every opening matters, this one stands out as the kind of break a bowl hopeful needs to notice. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas Bowl Hopes Now Ride On One Huge Rutgers Gamble
Matt Rhule made a notable midstream change this week, firing Dana Holgorsen as Nebraskas offensive coordinator and turning the offense over to Glenn Thomas just ahead of the Rutgers game. It is the sort of move that signals urgency, especially with the Cornhuskers still trying to keep their postseason path alive and needing a cleaner offensive showing at exactly the right time.
The timing of the switch only sharpens the stakes because Rutgers will not be at full strength, with starting quarterback Dylan Lonergan and top wideout KJ Duff both unavailable. Nebraska now gets a chance to reset its offense against a shorthanded opponent, but the bigger question is whether the new setup can translate all the statistical promise into the kind of performance that actually keeps bowl hopes on track. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas Secondary Suddenly Has A Late-Season Problem
Nebraskas secondary took an unwelcome hit late in the season with Andrew Marshall undergoing foot surgery, a development that leaves the Cornhuskers without one of their most experienced defensive backs for the stretch run. Marshall had been a two-year starter, so his absence strips some stability from a unit that had already been counting on continuity as the schedule tightened up.
For a defense trying to hold together in November, losing a veteran presence in the back end is never simple, especially when the margin for error gets smaller every week. Nebraska now has to sort out how it wants to replace that experience and communication on the fly, with the timing of the injury making the challenge even more difficult. [Read more 🡒]