Nebraska’s weekend had more than one storyline, but the one that should make the loudest noise came from the volleyball court.
While the football team took a painful loss on Saturday, the Huskers’ volleyball squad kept rolling on Sunday with a statement win over No. 7 Wisconsin. Nebraska swept the Badgers 25-23, 25-14, 25-20 inside Bob Devaney Sports Center during the annual blackout, extending an undefeated season that now sits at 17-0 overall and 6-0 in Big Ten play.
The Huskers also finished a 2-0 week against top-15 opponents, adding another elite win to a resume that already looks every bit like a title favorite. Dani Busboom Kelly liked both the performance and the stage.
“It feels great,” Busboom Kelly said after the win. “It was an awesome atmosphere tonight, and I thought Indiana was a great atmosphere too. So just to sweep two ranked teams, one on the road, one at home, I think it makes a statement that we’re playing great, but we all know there’s another level there and some fun things we can sprinkle in as this season continues to go on.”
Nebraska now heads into another split-location week, with a trip to Northwestern on Thursday before coming home to face No. 16 Purdue.
There was other Nebraska news floating around the weekend too. John Cook was selected as the Aksarben Foundation’s 2026 Most Honored Citizen, with the announcement coming Saturday night at the group’s annual ball at the CHI Health Center. The honor is tied to the foundation’s celebration of families in the Midlands who have built success and contributed back to the community.
On the basketball side, Nebraska opened exhibition play with a 79-74 loss to Saint Louis. Fred Hoiberg said the game gave his team exactly the kind of problems he wanted to see before the results start counting for real.
“This was the perfect game for us because we’re gonna see a lot of that,” Hoiberg said after the loss. “And we’ll see it from pretty much the first game of the season, and it’s gonna go all the way through.”
The football program also has an interesting week ahead. Nebraska lost to Indiana on Saturday, and next week’s trip to Oregon picked up another layer after Dylan Raiola was benched in the Ducks’ loss to UCLA. Oregon turned it over six times Saturday, and Raiola was responsible for three of those giveaways while going 6 of 19 for 43 yards and two interceptions.
That leaves questions hanging over Eugene. Will Raiola start against Nebraska?
It doesn’t look likely. The bigger question now is whether Dante Moore will be back, or if Brock Thomas, the third-string quarterback, gets the nod.
In Other News...
Dylan Raiola Just Changed The Feel Of Nebraska's Oregon Showdown
Dylan Raiolas trip to Oregon now comes with a little more uncertainty attached to it, and not just because of the opponent. The Ducks quarterback situation took a sharp turn in their recent game against UCLA, where the offense stalled badly enough that Raiola was eventually benched after a rough outing, opening the door for Brock Thomas to finish the game.
Thomas did enough in relief to make the next decision interesting, especially with Dante Moores status still tied to concussion recovery. For Nebraska, that means the Oregon matchup just picked up a new layer of uncertainty, since the Cornhuskers may not know until later which quarterback they will actually be facing when the game arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Let Another Big Opportunity Slip Away Under Matt Rhule
Nebraska had another chance to announce itself against a top-tier opponent and came up short again, falling 20-17 to No. 7 Indiana in a game that fit too neatly into a painful recent pattern. The Cornhuskers had the opportunity to break through against a ranked team, but instead extended their losing streak against top-25 opponents to 31 games, a number that says plenty about how long this drought has lasted.
The loss also added another layer to Matt Rhules early tenure in Lincoln, since Nebraska still has not beaten a ranked team under his watch. The bigger picture is even harsher: the Huskers have not knocked off a top-seven opponent since 2015, leaving every close call to carry the same old weight until they finally find a way to finish one of these games differently. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Let A Huge Opportunity Slip Away Against Indiana
Nebraska had enough working in its favor against Indiana to make Saturday feel like the kind of game the Cornhuskers could and should have finished. They controlled the ball longer, piled up more yards and still walked off the field on the wrong end of it, a frustrating result shaped by a missed field goal, some busted coverage on defense and a few coaching choices that only deepened the sense that a winnable game had slipped through their hands.
Injuries and absences only made the margin for error thinner, and Nebraska never quite found the finishing touch it needed once the game got late. For a team that spent enough of the afternoon looking like it had the better of the play, the loss was a reminder that moving the ball and managing possession are only part of the job when the details around the edges keep going sideways. [Read more 🡒]