Dana Holgorsen is out, Glenn Thomas is in charge of the play-calling, and Nebraska heads to Rutgers with a chance to make a clean, simple statement. The matchup sets up well on paper: Rutgers is battered, undermanned, and not especially dangerous right now. The real question hanging over the Huskers is whether they can shake off the “shell shock” from their last 4 games.
A big part of that conversation starts with how Nebraska has been lining up. SMQ has been digging into the offense, and the recurring theme is Holgorsen’s preference for 11 personnel - one running back, one tight end, and three wide receivers. That’s a perfectly valid look, but in the Big Ten it can also feel like bringing a knife to a sledgehammer fight.
Nebraska has the kind of body type that should let it lean into something heavier. The offensive line is big.
The tight ends are big. The running back is big.
So why not use it? Put two tight ends on the field.
Maybe add a fullback. Run 12 personnel.
Run 22 personnel. Dust off the I-formation if that’s what it takes.
Eric Ingersoll gives the Huskers exactly the sort of option that can change the tone of an offense. At 6-foot-7 and 265 pounds, he’s the kind of tight end you can put on the line and let work.
The point isn’t to turn Nebraska into a throwback for nostalgia’s sake. It’s to build a run game that makes defenses adjust and, maybe even more importantly, keeps the offensive line from having to pass protect on nearly every meaningful snap.
Of course, the problems haven’t come down to formation alone. Nebraska’s offense has been tripping over itself with false starts, holding penalties, and other mental mistakes that kill drives before they ever get rolling.
Luke Lindenmeyer gave a revealing answer this week when he said some of the mistakes that have shown up on Saturdays have also been happening in practice. The assumption, apparently, was that those issues would disappear once the lights came on.
If that sounds backwards, it is. And it helps explain why Nebraska has found so many different ways to lead late, rack up yards, and still end up losing.
Thomas now has a chance to simplify things, bring some physicality back into the offense, and make the whole operation look a little less frantic.
Rutgers is in rough shape, too. Greg Schiano is coming back in 2027, but 2026 has been a disaster. The Scarlet Knights will be without standout receiver KJ Duff, who is out for the season after ankle surgery, and quarterback Dylan Lonergan is also out for this game.
That should leave Nebraska with a clear path to control the line of scrimmage, shut down the run, and force Rutgers into having to beat them through the air. The Blackshirts do have their own issue, though: Owen Chambliss and Andrew Marshall are both out for this game.
Even so, there’s no real excuse for Nebraska to lose here. Matt Rhule’s buyout makes a coaching change a very expensive move, but another head-scratching defeat would only turn up the volume on the questions around his leadership.
Bob sees Nebraska winning 27-17, though not without making life harder than it needs to be. Jay has it 31-14, with the Huskers handling things more convincingly if they can remember the direction they’re supposed to be going.
If a nor’easter shows up, the whole thing could get uglier and lower-scoring. Either way, the formula is the same: get bigger, get more physical, and stop giving away yards with stupid penalties.
In Other News...
Nebraskas Bowl Hopes Now Ride On One Huge Rutgers Gamble
Nebraskas bowl picture has been thrown into sharper focus by a coaching shakeup, with Matt Rhule firing offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen and turning the offense over to Glenn Thomas just before the matchup with Rutgers. For a team still trying to steady itself, the timing matters, because the game arrives with plenty on the line and with the Cornhuskers looking for any edge they can find as they try to keep their postseason path alive.
Rutgers, meanwhile, is dealing with its own major personnel hit on the other side of the ball. The Scarlet Knights are already without starting quarterback Dylan Lonergan, and the absence of star receiver KJ Duff only adds to the challenge of matching Nebraskas urgency in a game that could come down to which sideline handles the disruption better. With the numbers and matchup metrics pointing toward a tight, uncertain contest, the biggest question is whether Rutgers can absorb those losses well enough to keep the game in reach. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Faces A Defining Road Test With Bowl Hopes On The Line
Nebraska arrives in Piscataway with its season hanging in the balance, needing one more win to become bowl eligible after a four-game skid and a midseason shakeup on offense. The Cornhuskers are 5-4 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten, and the move from Dana Holgorsen to Glenn Thomas at offensive coordinator has put even more attention on how they respond in a game they are expected to win.
Rutgers, meanwhile, is dealing with its own injury-hit quarterback situation and will turn to backup AJ Surace, which changes the look of a matchup Nebraska is supposed to control. For the Scarlet Knights, the challenge is not just surviving another Big Ten Saturday, but doing it against a team that badly needs this result to steady its own season and keep its postseason path intact. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Nebraska Lands In A Spot Big Ten Cant Afford To Waste
Big Ten football has been packing stadiums this season, with home crowds across the league showing up at a healthy clip and nobody reporting attendance below roughly 86% capacity last week. For Rutgers fans, that kind of in-person support is part of the familiar league backdrop, but it also comes with a reminder that the conferences reach is being judged well beyond the turnstiles.
The bigger issue is what happens on television, where the Big Ten has not matched the SECs visibility in recent weeks and only a handful of league games cracked the top tier of national viewership. With a slate of upcoming matchups headed to major networks, including Indiana-USC and Illinois at UCLA, the spotlight will be on how much attention the conference can command, and Rutgers meeting with Nebraska lands in a spot the Big Ten cannot really afford to waste. [Read more 🡒]