Dana Holgorsen’s Nebraska offense has gone flat at exactly the wrong time, and the latest stumble made that impossible to ignore.
Nebraska’s 17-7 loss to Washington on Saturday night stretched a troubling trend that has now swallowed more than a month of football. The Huskers haven’t scored 20 points in a game since Oct. 3, when they put up 20 in the fourth quarter against Maryland.
Since then, that total has become the benchmark - and even that may be too optimistic with Illinois next on the schedule. At this point, it doesn’t even feel certain Nebraska could reach 20 against a struggling Rutgers defense.
Holgorsen arrived with a reputation that once carried real weight. His Air Raid offense used to light up scoreboards, and when he came to Nebraska, he talked about blending that system with the Huskers’ desire to run the ball. Instead, the offense has looked stuck, confused and increasingly incapable of delivering when it matters.
The numbers tell the story in blunt fashion. Since that Maryland game, Nebraska has scored 41 points across the next 12 quarters.
If you remove the late field goal against Washington with 30 seconds left and Nebraska trailing 17-7, even that total looks generous. Since the Huskers moved to 5-0 behind an offense that never scored fewer than 30 points in a game, they’ve averaged just 13 points over their last three contests.
That drop-off has come against a mixed schedule, but the recent failures have been especially hard to explain. Against Indiana, Nebraska managed 17 points against one of the nation’s best defenses and even built a 17-6 lead in the fourth quarter. Those 17 points have stood as the high-water mark over the last four weeks.
The next week against Oregon, the offense looked like it had already accepted defeat. The plan seemed to be to bleed the clock from the opening snap, and even that didn’t hold up when Holgorsen’s former quarterback led the Ducks on an 18-play drive that consumed the final five minutes.
Saturday night brought another chance to deliver in a tight game, and Nebraska didn’t come close. With just over five minutes left, the Huskers forced a punt and held a 7-3 lead against a Washington defense that ranks among the worst in the Big Ten.
Then came a three-play series that looked like chaos, not a winning drive. Washington answered with the go-ahead touchdown, again in the fourth quarter.
The defense did enough to win. Nebraska allowed just 10 points and still walked off the field as the loser at home.
The frustration inside Memorial Stadium was obvious. The boos told the story.
Fans have run out of patience for an offense that keeps wasting opportunities, including a first-and-goal at the 5-yard line with a chance to push the lead to 14-3 and put the game away. That sequence ended with three empty-backfield pass plays, each one worse than the last in execution.
Holgorsen had previously taken thinly veiled shots when Dylan Raiola entered the Transfer Portal, suggesting Raiola had been part of the problem at times. But on Saturday, it wasn’t Raiola calling the plays. It was Holgorsen, and the offense again had no answers.
The message from the crowd was loud enough to hear. Nebraska fans have seen enough, and the case for change is getting harder to ignore.
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Nebraska Still Has One Late-Game Problem A Former Champion Didn't Ignore
Clester Johnson has seen enough Nebraska football to know when a team is leaving something on the table, and in a recent podcast interview the former wingback and national champion returned to a familiar theme: finishing. Johnson talked about the importance of closing out games and the accountability that comes with it, while also looking back on how Tom Osbornes staffs handled those moments when the pressure tightened and the details mattered most.
Johnson also framed the challenge in a more modern light, noting that todays Nebraska has to navigate a different college football reality with retention and recruiting adding another layer of difficulty. He pointed to quarterback Anthony Colandreas ability, but said the offense still needs more balance around him, a reminder that the late-game issues are rarely about one player alone and usually come back to whether the whole operation can hold up when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
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
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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 🡒]