Clester Johnson didn’t sound like a man ready to pump the brakes on Nebraska’s season. The Husker legend came back on the Common Fan Podcast during the bye week and made it clear he still sees a path for this team to reach nine wins as the Big Red heads back into conference play.
One of Johnson’s biggest themes was finishing. He pointed back to the way Tom Osborne handled close-game situations, saying, “I remember that being a huge focus of emphasis for Coach Osborne,” Johnson said in reference to closing out close games.
That lesson came from experience. Johnson recalled how Osborne treated pressure situations as something that had to be trained, not wished for.
After Nebraska’s painful 18-16 loss to Florida State in the 1994 Orange Bowl, Osborne had the team spend the next summer running conditioning drills with 1:16 on the clock - the exact amount of time left when the Huskers gave up the lead. The message was simple: if you want to win at the end, you have to rehearse the end.
Johnson’s view was that responsibility doesn’t stop with the players, and it doesn’t stop with the coaches either. Players have to make the plays, but coaches have to put them in those moments before the lights are brightest. He suggested creating tougher practice settings on purpose: first-team offense against first-team defense, short fields, and situations where the defense has to get a stop with the game hanging in the balance.
For Johnson, accountability is not about pointing fingers. It’s about making sure the same breakdowns don’t keep showing up.
He also drew a contrast between the Nebraska he played for and the Nebraska of today. When he was in the program, he said, the winning culture was already there. “We just hadn't quite gotten over the edge.”
That edge, in his telling, was the final step from being a strong program to being a championship one. Osborne inherited a foundation that was already in place, even if he helped build it along the way as an assistant. Nebraska had been good for years before the 1990s run, and Johnson said those teams were close enough that a few adjustments could push them over the top.
He sees a different climb for today’s Huskers. Johnson argued that the last 10 to 15 years have made the hill much steeper, and he wasn’t suggesting Nebraska should back off its standards. His point was that the program has more ground to make up now than Osborne’s teams did, and the modern college football landscape makes that job even harder.
Johnson spent time on that landscape too, noting how much the sport has changed with the transfer portal and player compensation. In his view, being a head coach now is a different kind of job, and the usual win-loss shorthand doesn’t capture everything that goes into it.
He used Nebraska’s need to keep a talented quarterback like Anthony Colandrea as an example of how much roster management matters. A quarterback can raise the ceiling, but one player alone doesn’t build a lasting program.
When Johnson talked about Colandrea, he was clearly impressed. “I’m like, all right, this kid’s gonna be good,” he said. He want on to say he was “way better feet than Raiola.’
He liked what Colandrea brings as a runner, but he also made it clear that those legs should be a bonus, not the whole offense. Johnson pointed to championship teams that paired strong quarterback play with a productive run game, citing USC’s Reggie Bush and LenDale White and Indiana’s two-headed rushing attack in 2025.
For the full conversation, Johnson’s latest appearance on the Common Fan Podcast covered plenty more ground, but those were the big themes: finish games, build pressure in practice, and keep stacking the kind of pieces that can raise a team’s ceiling.
In Other News...
Nebraska Found Another Brutal Way To Waste A Winnable Game
For most of the afternoon, Nebraska and Washington played the kind of tight, low-scoring game that leaves every possession feeling heavier than the last. The Cornhuskers had chances to keep control of it, but quarterback Anthony Colandreas interceptions and a missed field goal from Kyle Cunanan kept turning manageable moments into wasted ones.
Washington finally broke it open late with a touchdown, then slammed the door with a pick-six off Colandrea to seal a 17-10 win. For Nebraska, it was another frustrating reminder that in a game there to be won, the biggest damage often came from self-inflicted mistakes. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Could Get A Huge Boost Before Its Blackout Showdown
Nebraska is getting healthier at just the right time, with defensive lineman Riley Van Poppel expected back for the Washington game after missing recent action because of injury. Running back Isaiah Mozee is also likely to be available, giving the Cornhuskers a little more depth as they prepare for a marquee blackout matchup that should draw plenty of attention.
The injury report still leaves some holes, though, with offensive lineman Gunnar Gottula and safety Jamir Conn ruled out. Washington is dealing with its own uncertainty as quarterback Demond Williams has gone from doubtful to probable, even if the Huskies have not yet announced a starter, so Nebraska may still have to wait until kickoff to see exactly what kind of challenge it is facing. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Has A New Ohio State Scouting Problem To Watch
Ohio States quarterback picture has changed in a hurry, and Nebraska now has another layer to sort through before the teams meet. Julian Sayin is expected to miss a significant stretch with an injury, which has opened the door for Luke Fahey, a true freshman who is set to make his first career start against USC after appearing in four games this season.
Fahey earned the job by outworking Tavien St. Clair in practice, and Ryan Day has already pointed to his work ethic and competitiveness as reasons the staff trusts him. For Nebraska, the bigger issue is not just who starts, but how much the Buckeyes can lean into their offense while the quarterback situation remains in flux heading into that matchup. [Read more 🡒]