Nebraska will open the season just outside the national spotlight, even after a Sweet 16 run that raised the bar around the program.
The Huskers were left out of the preseason AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll, landing in the first group of teams just beyond the rankings. Nebraska collected 70 points from the media, which placed it at the equivalent of No. 27 in the AP poll.
In the coaches poll, the Huskers earned 66 points, good for No. 26.
Florida starts the year No. 1 in both polls.
Illinois is the highest-ranked Big Ten team, coming in at No. 3 in both rankings. The conference placed five teams in the AP Top 25: Illinois at No.
3, Michigan State at No. 6, Michigan at No.
16, USC at No. 21 and UCLA at No. 22.
Nebraska was also slotted fifth among the 18 Big Teams in an informal media poll, sitting behind Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan and UCLA and just ahead of Purdue.
The Huskers have one more exhibition left before the games count. They’ll meet Kansas State next Monday in Grand Island for their third and final tune-up.
Nebraska then opens the regular season two weeks later, on Monday, Nov. 2, against Le Moyne at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Preseason all-Big Ten pick Pryce Sandfort Sandfort said the team has been coming together since the summer, and he pointed back to last season’s shared mindset as the standard.
"I think we have similarities with everybody wanting to win," Sandfort said. "I think that's what we had last year is what made us so good is everybody had this deep desire to win above everything else. So you saw a lot of unselfish basketball and that's the most fun basketball I've ever played."
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 🡒]