Nebraska’s 2026 schedule won’t just test the Huskers on the field. It will put Matt Rhule across from some of the most accomplished coaches in the sport, including the last two national champions and a Heisman Trophy winner.
That’s the kind of lineup that can expose where a program stands. Rhule has pushed Nebraska forward in his three seasons in Lincoln, where he is 19-19, but the next step is still waiting. And in 2026, plenty of the answers will be sitting on the other sideline.
The toughest names come later in the year. Indiana’s Curt Cignetti will bring a national championship ring to Lincoln on Oct. 10, and Ohio State’s Ryan Day will do the same on Nov.
- Bowling Green arrives Sept. 19 with Eddie George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner.
Then there’s November’s date with Iowa and Kirk Ferentz, who has beaten Nebraska 10 times in the last 11 meetings. October also brings Dan Lanning and Oregon, with returning quarterback Dante Moore, a team that might be the favorite to win the national title in 2026.
September, though, is the softest stretch on the schedule, and Nebraska will need to handle it cleanly if it wants the season to go anywhere.
The opener at Memorial Stadium comes against Ohio coach John Hauser, whose career record is 1-0 after taking over in December following the Frisco Bowl. Ohio went 9-4 in 2025 and closed with a 17-10 win over UNLV and quarterback Anthony Colandrea. Hauser’s background is on defense, and this will be his first head-coaching job after a long run as an assistant across the Midwest.
Bowling Green follows at Memorial Stadium with George, now in his second season leading the Falcons. His head-coaching record stands at 28-30.
George is a familiar name to Nebraska fans for obvious reasons: the former Ohio State star won the 1995 Heisman Trophy, with Tommie Frazier finishing second. He also spent four seasons as head coach at Tennessee State, where his final team shared the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference championship and finished No.
Nebraska’s third September opponent is North Dakota coach Eric Schmidt, whose career record is 8-6. Schmidt spent 2025 as Fresno State’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, and four of his players earned All-Mountain West honors.
Before that, he spent two seasons at Washington as special teams coordinator and edge coach. In 2023, Washington won the Pac-12 title game over Oregon before falling to Michigan in the national title game.
The month closes with Michigan State’s Pat Fitzgerald, whose career record is 110-101. Fitzgerald has not coached since 2022, when he ended a 17-season run at Northwestern, his alma mater.
His teams there were known for being tough and punching above their weight, and that history matters as the Spartans try to rebuild. Northwestern reached 10 bowl games during Fitzgerald’s tenure, and Nebraska will see how Michigan State looks once he gets the program back on track, presumably with more talent than he had in Evanston.
In Other News...
Nebraskas Surprise RB Addition Says Plenty About This Backfield
Nebraska quietly added another body to its running back room ahead of fall camp, a move that speaks to how teams often keep building depth even after most of the offseason work is done. The new arrival comes with a stop at Penn State and experience at Iowa Western Community College, and while his college usage has been limited, he gives the Cornhuskers another option as they sort out the backfield.
The timing matters because Nebraska is still navigating some uncertainty at the position, which makes any late addition more notable than it might otherwise be. For a room that needs insurance as camp approaches, this kind of pickup can be less about headlines and more about making sure the staff has enough trusted pieces in place when the real evaluation begins. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas New QB1 Was Just Doubted More Than Fans Expected
Anthony Colandrea arrives in Lincoln with a rsum that should make him one of the more intriguing quarterback additions in the Big Ten. The former UNLV standout was Mountain West Player of the Year in 2025 after a season that included 3,459 passing yards, 23 passing touchdowns, 649 rushing yards and 10 rushing scores, production that helped Nebraska land a dual-threat QB with real game-changing ability. He also brings a little power-conference background from his two seasons at Virginia, which only adds to the sense that the Cornhuskers added a player capable of making an immediate impact.
Still, not everyone is buying the hype at the same level Nebraska fans might expect. In Ari Wassermans latest Big Ten incoming transfer quarterback rankings, Colandrea landed lower than some of the other names in the class, a reminder that reputation and production do not always line up the same way in these offseason lists. For Nebraska, the ranking is less important than the opportunity ahead, because Colandrea now has a chance to turn a fresh start into the kind of season that changes how people talk about him. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas Future Schedule Is Starting To Feel All Too Familiar
Nebraskas non-conference calendar is already taking shape deep into the decade, and the early read looks a lot like what fans have seen before: a mix of familiar regional opponents, Group of 6 matchups and a few FCS games spread across the next several seasons. The Huskers are set through 2027 and 2028, with games already lined up against Northern Illinois, Miami (OH), Northern Iowa, UTEP, South Dakota State, Arizona, Nevada and Oklahoma, so the real question now is how the open windows in 2029 and possibly 2030 get filled.
According to reports, Georgia State, Eastern Illinois and Murray State have all reached out about the 2029 opening, and Nebraska has not finalized anything yet. The most interesting part may be how the board is already starting to sort itself out, with Eastern Illinois and Murray State looking like the likelier fits for 2029 while Georgia State could wind up in the 2030 spot if that opening remains available. [Read more 🡒]