Matt Rhule’s Nebraska tenure is heading into the kind of season that usually decides whether a rebuild is real or just talk.
The expectations are not subtle anymore. Nebraska is coming off a year that started 6-2 before Dylan Raiola suffered a season-ending injury, and that collapse wiped out the chance at an eight- or nine-win finish. Rhule also went through a quarterback reset, moving on from Raiola and bringing in Anthony Colandrea, a dual-threat option who still carried a price tag over $1 million after winning Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year in 2025.
That matters because this is the first time Rhule has walked into a season with a quarterback who can threaten defenses in both directions.
Colandrea rushed for 649 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, while also leading the Mountain West with 3,459 passing yards and 33 total touchdowns. He has also thrown at least nine interceptions in every college season, so the ball security piece is still a real issue.
But Nebraska has spent too long living with quarterbacks who were one-dimensional. In 2023, Heinrich Haarberg “couldn’t really throw.”
In 2024 and 2025, the Huskers had a starter who “couldn’t run.” Now Rhule finally has a modern quarterback who can create on third down and in the red zone.
That’s only part of why this team has a chance to be better.
The offensive line should be much sturdier, too. Geep Wade arrived as a major upgrade, and he brought in three starters through the transfer portal.
There’s also a useful base of holdovers, including Tyler Knaak, who played in all 13 games with one start last season, and Gunnar Gottula, who has started before and will compete at right tackle. Justin Evans is the highest-rated returning center, according to Pro Football Focus, and Elijah Pritchett should be a day-two pick at left tackle.
However the line shakes out, the competition should make the group better. Rhule was supposed to fix this unit in year one.
It looks like it may finally happen in year four, under Geep.
The defense has a chance to take a meaningful step, too, with the switch to the 4-2-5. The old 3-3-5 wasn’t necessarily the problem, but Nebraska’s defensive linemen fit a four-man front better.
The Huskers already used plenty of four-man looks before, so this isn’t a total reinvention. It should simply put the right pieces in the right spots more often.
Rob Aurich brings a track record that suggests this can work. He turned around defenses at Idaho and San Diego State, and Nebraska is counting on that background to show up quickly.
John Butler, by contrast, was not the right fit. Aurich now gets a roster that has depth and experience across all three levels, and the next step is getting more playmakers to emerge.
There are plenty of candidates. Transfers Owen Chambliss, Dexter Foster, Dwayne McDougle, Anthony Jones, and Jashear Whittington could all make noise, and five-star freshman Danny Odem is in the mix as well.
So are breakout possibilities like Vincent Shavers, Kade Pietrzak, and Williams Nwaneri. If enough of those names hit, Nebraska could field a top-25 defense, which would matter in games like Washington, Iowa, and Illinois.
The schedule is still brutal. ESPN FPI has Nebraska at No. 30, and the Huskers face three playoff teams from last season along with six Big Ten opponents that won at least nine games.
That makes a true leap difficult. But seven or eight wins, plus a win over Iowa and an end to the losing streak against top-25 teams, would still count as a breakthrough in Rhule’s world.
For Nebraska fans, though, the patience has thinned. Rhule was supposed to reach this point already. Now he has the quarterback, the line, and the defensive setup to finally deliver something tangible.
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