Nebraska reached its bye week at 5-2, and the record tells one story while the near-misses tell another. The Huskers have already let a couple of games slip away, but the bigger picture is still sitting right there in front of them: every goal they started with remains alive.
Matt Rhule put it plainly. Nebraska is not a team that got derailed by some dramatic collapse.
It just needs to execute better. Across all four quarters, not just the last one.
That idea sits at the center of what the first seven games have revealed about this team.
This is Rhule’s most complete Nebraska team so far. It may not end up with the best record of his tenure, but in terms of balance and ceiling, this group stands above the others.
The offense has shown more burst than it ever has under Rhule, the defense has looked like the version from his first two seasons, and the Huskers were right there against Indiana and Oregon late in those games. They led Indiana by 11 in the fourth quarter.
They were up eight on Oregon and didn’t trail in either one until the closing stretch.
Nebraska still needs to prove it can beat the kind of teams that separate good seasons from forgettable ones. That means business in November.
Through seven games, though, there’s enough evidence to say this team has turned a corner. The final step is finishing.
At quarterback, Anthony Colandrea has given Nebraska exactly what it needed. Rhule said some SEC programs were tampering with him, which makes sense based on what Colandrea has done.
He has accounted for 271 total yards per game and has 18 touchdowns, including four on the ground. He’s also the team’s second-leading rusher and is completing 62 percent of his passes.
Nebraska began talking with him last month about a new contract to bring him back next season, and his first seven games only sharpen that urgency. The Huskers have found a playmaker at quarterback. Keeping him matters.
The backfield, though, has not held up nearly as well. Early in the year, Nebraska looked like it might avoid a major drop-off at running back.
The Huskers ran for more than 200 yards in four of their first five games. Since then, the production has faded.
Jamal Rule has 22 carries for 68 yards in conference play, a 2.8 average, and he has been banged up. Mekhi Nelson has 143 yards on 44 carries in league play, averaging 3.3 yards per attempt.
Isaiah Mozee has 20 carries for 97 yards, but he will be out “for a while.” Rule has a shot to return against Washington in two weeks, yet the depth chart already looks thin.
The top three Nebraska running backs have combined for 86 carries and 308 yards, or 3.5 per carry. After half the Big Ten schedule, that feels like one of the team’s biggest weaknesses.
The offensive line has been better, even if it still has room to clean things up. Nebraska has allowed 14 sacks through seven games.
That’s not nothing, but it hasn’t wrecked the offense the way sack issues did under Dylan Raiola. Indiana got to Colandrea five times, and Oregon and Indiana combined for nine sacks.
Colandrea sometimes holds the ball too long while trying to create something, but he has also avoided more sacks than he’s taken. The running game helped stabilize things in spots, so the final verdict can wait until the last five games.
One of the clearest wins for Nebraska has been on defense, where Rob Aurich has already made his mark. Even after the disappointment in the last two games, the Blackshirts’ numbers stand out.
They are allowing 271 yards per game and just 15.4 points per game, which ranks 16th. They also own the best third-down defense in college football at 19.4 percent.
Oregon and Indiana converted only 4 of 28 third-down chances against them.
There’s more. Nebraska is tied for 13th nationally with 18 sacks and ranks 44th in tackles for loss with 36.
The defense still needs to be sharper in the fourth quarter, but the difference from last season is obvious. Aurich has been a home-run hire.
Special teams, on the other hand, have become a real issue. A strange holding call against a Michigan State defensive lineman kept the unit from having a major mistake in three of four Big Ten games, but the problems have been there.
Nebraska missed a field goal in a three-point loss to Indiana after a bad snap turned a chip shot into a miss. Another bad snap against Oregon forced Archie Wilson to catch the ball on one knee, which made him down and handed Oregon a free field goal.
Jacory Barney also coughed up a punt, though Nebraska got away with that one. The kickoff return game has repeatedly left the offense starting inside its own 20.
For a team this good, that’s a rough place to be.
The final stretch will define how the season is remembered. Nebraska has five games left, including three on the road.
Washington and Ohio State are at home. Rutgers, Illinois, and Iowa are on the road.
The Huskers could win all five. They could lose all five.
But anything short of 3-2 down the stretch would be a disappointment.
And if this really is Rhule’s best team, then beating Iowa has to be part of the story. If Nebraska can’t do that in Year 4, it will say plenty about where the program stands.
In Other News...
Nebraska Lands A Huge Blackout Spotlight As Backfield Concerns Grow
Nebraskas Halloween Blackout game against Washington now has a stage to match the atmosphere, with the Cornhuskers set for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff on Big Ten Network. The broadcast details also are in place for upcoming games against Illinois and Iowa, while the television plans for Rutgers and Ohio State will come later as kickoff draws closer. For a fan base that has circled this stretch on the calendar, the schedule rollout adds another layer of anticipation to a month already built for prime-time attention.
The timing matters even more because Nebraskas backfield picture is getting thinner. Fullback Vincent Genatone is done for the season, and running back Isaiah Mozee will be out for an extended period, leaving the Huskers to sort through depth and roles as the schedule tightens. With Washington set for a national audience on Halloween, Nebraska will have a spotlight to go with the questions it is still trying to answer in the run game. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Suddenly Has A Big Defensive Line Opening
Nebraskas defensive front took a hit against Oregon when Anthony Jones suffered a broken foot, and the injury will keep him out for an extended period. Jones had started all seven games this season, giving the Cornhuskers a steady presence up front and a player whose impact went beyond the box score.
Former Nebraska lineman Jay Moore pointed to Jones leadership and maturity as qualities the defense will miss on the field, while also naming Kade Pietrzak as the player expected to step into the starting spot. Pietrzak has appeared in all seven games but has not started yet, so this becomes a meaningful chance for him to take on a bigger role at a time when Nebraska needs the depth to hold up. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Let Oregon Hang Around Until One Lanning Decision Changed Everything
Oregons quarterback situation has been a moving target since injuries and uneven play forced the Ducks to keep searching for answers, and Dan Lanning made another eyebrow-raising call against Nebraska by sticking with Brock Thomas under center. Thomas got the start because he had looked better than backup Dylan Raiola in the previous game, a decision that fit the recent pattern of trying to ride the hotter hand even as the offense continued to search for stability.
The game turned when Raiola finally entered in the fourth quarter and gave Oregon a different gear. He helped the Ducks put together the final push and score the last 11 points, flipping what had been a manageable Nebraska position into a comeback loss. For Nebraska, it was the kind of finish that lingers because the door stayed open long enough for Oregon to walk through it. [Read more 🡒]