Nebraska walked off the field Saturday night with another loss that felt avoidable, another late-game failure that left the Huskers at 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten after a 17-10 defeat to Washington. The Huskies also moved to 5-3 and 2-3 in conference play, but the bigger story was how Nebraska managed to hold Washington down for almost the entire game and still come away empty.
For 58½ minutes, the Blackshirts did enough to win. Washington was limited to three points for nearly the whole night, finished just 5-of-15 on third down, and ran for only 32 yards.
That kind of defensive effort should have been enough. Instead, Nebraska’s offense and special teams never matched it, and the result was another gut punch in a stretch that has gone from frustrating to hard to explain.
The contrast inside this team is impossible to ignore. Rob Aurich’s first eight games as defensive coordinator have produced clear progress, while the offense has gone in the opposite direction. Nebraska has too much talent to be sitting at 5-3, too much talent to have dropped three straight, and too much talent to leave its fan base feeling this worn down this early in the season.
The offense, in particular, has become the problem. Before the year, the expectation was that unit would carry Nebraska.
Eight games into 2026, that idea has fallen apart. The last two games have been especially rough, and there’s no softening that reality.
Dana Holgorsen has not gotten enough out of a group filled with experienced, capable, and well-compensated players.
That’s why the loss to Washington felt so significant. In the view expressed here, it all but sealed Holgorsen’s fate.
“He's got to go.” The offense Nebraska put on the field on Halloween was tough to watch, and even though its season-long numbers are better than a year ago, this version of the unit does not measure up to what the Huskers showed with TJ Lateef at quarterback during the closing stretch of 2025.
Holgorsen isn’t the only one who owns this mess. The players do, too.
But the comparison between what Aurich has done in less than a year and what Holgorsen has done in more than two is hard to miss. Another coordinator change under Matt Rhule would not be ideal, but it’s also difficult to picture Holgorsen still calling plays for Nebraska in 2027.
Special teams added another layer to the frustration. Kyle Cunanan entered 2026 after making 16 of 19 field goals last season, including a career-long 52-yarder in his first game in scarlet and cream.
Since that 2025 opener against Cincinnati, though, his run has gone downhill. He is now just 4-of-8 on field goals this year.
Nebraska kept sending him out there anyway. He missed a 40-yard attempt against Indiana in a game the Huskers lost by three, then missed a 36-yarder Saturday that would have pushed the lead to two scores.
Only after that miss did Nebraska make the switch. John Hohl later hit from 42 yards to pull the Huskers back within one score, but by then the damage was already done.
Whether Cunanan’s miss directly decided the game is impossible to say. What is clear is that the move should have come sooner.
Hohl appears set to handle kicking duties the rest of the way in 2026, though what Nebraska looks like beyond this season is anyone’s guess. The roster and coaching staff could look very different when the year ends, and at this point, that uncertainty may be the only thing left that feels settled.
In Other News...
Washingtons Penn State Hopes Suddenly Ride On One Unsettled Decision
Washington is heading into its matchup with Penn State with the most important offensive question still unresolved, and it centers on the quarterback spot. Third-year passer Demond Williams Jr. is dealing with a rib injury, and the Huskies are treating the week as a true wait-and-see situation as they get ready for one of the biggest games on the schedule.
Jedd Fisch said both Williams and Elijah Brown will work with the first-team offense in practice, a sign the staff is keeping its options open right up to game day. Williams is the preferred choice if he is healthy enough to go, but Brown remains in the mix if the injury keeps Williams from being cleared, leaving Washington with a decision that could shape the entire approach against the Nittany Lions. [Read more 🡒]
Washingtons Late Defensive Surge Flipped Nebraskas Night Upside Down
Nebraska had control deep into the night, but Washington kept hanging around long enough for the game to turn on a few critical possessions. The Huskies secondary was a major reason why, coming up with multiple interceptions and helping keep Nebraskas offense from finding any rhythm, especially on the ground and up front where the Cornhuskers struggled to protect and create space.
Washington also made a notable quarterback switch in the fourth quarter, going from Elijah Brown to Demond Williams, and the change helped spark the decisive drive. What had looked like a Nebraska finish became a tense late scramble instead, with Washington finding just enough offense to put the pressure back on a home team that had been trying to close it out. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Fans Still Have One Big Debate After Washington Loss
Rob Aurich spent part of the week trying to steady the conversation around Nebraskas defense after the Huskers 17-10 loss to Washington, a game that turned on a few key snaps and left plenty of second-guessing in its wake. Nebraskas first-year defensive coordinator said the units performance deserved a hard look, but he also pointed to Washingtons execution and to the atmosphere created by Huskers fans, which he said made life difficult for the visiting offense.
The biggest debate, though, keeps circling back to a critical fourth-and-18 sequence late in the game, the kind of call that lingers long after the final whistle. Aurich addressed the pressure of the moment and the scrutiny that followed, underscoring how one decision can define the conversation after a close loss, even when the broader defensive effort had stretches worth defending. [Read more 🡒]