Friday Flakes: Ranking Nebraska Football’s 2026 Away Games for a Road Trip
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I’m the type of person that likes to pick a destination based off of what we can do on the way there, while we are there and what we might be able to do on the way back home.
Yesterday I stumbled upon a fun video on youtube, which I posted below, which ranks each Big Ten Stadium and puts it in tiers.
Which is when I all of the sudden became motivated to try and convince my wife for us to go to a Nebraska away game in 2026. Will it happen? Probably not. Will I try? Absolutely.
So in the meantime, here is my ranking of Nebraska’s 2026 road trip away games in terms of enjoyment. To be clear, the only other Big Ten stadium I have been to besides Memorial Stadium in Illinois is Michigan State. That game was in 2012 when Nebraska was driving to end the game. I was so nervous that we would turn it over that I was begging Nebraska to just kick a field goal.
Instead Taylor Martinez threw the game winning touchdown to Jamal Turner in the corner of the endzone. That was fun.
Here are my rankings of Nebraska’s five away games in 2026.
#5 – at Michigan State
Road Trip? 10 hours, 44 minutes to East Lansing, MI
Thoughts: Having made the trip, it is kind of a rough ride. Just like it would be with Iowa. Admittedly, any drive on I-80 is brutal. You could fly into Chicago and make a 3.5 hour drive to East Lansing to make things a bit easier. Or even into Detroit, but those flights are not as easy as a flight to Chicago. But if you can stay away from an airport then I think you do your best to avoid it.
The best part about going to a game at Michigan State is that you will meet a lot of friendly Michigan State fans. Luckily, they are also likely to not have a great team yet but I have all the confidence that Pat Fitzgerald will get that figured out quite soon. Take advantage when you can.
#4 – at Rutgers.
Road Trip? 19 hours, 14 minutes to Piscataway, NJ (from Lincoln, NE)
Thoughts: Seems like low hanging fruit to throw Rutgers near the bottom (or top I guess) of the list. But I have actually looked into a trip to Rutgers in the past. Do you know what is about an hour away? New York City. The home of the NBA Champion New York Knicks and also where Kevin McCallister threw bricks from the top of a building that surely should have killed Marv in Home Alone 2.
This would probably be a trip for somebody trying to hit every Big Ten stadium but with NYC within an hour that is why it jumped Michigan State.
#3 – at Iowa
Road Trip? 4 hours, 32 minutes to Iowa City, IA
Thoughts: I do have to admit that if I could put Iowa at the bottom of any list that I would but since I am completely objective in this subjective list I will place them right in the middle of the pack.
Good for Nebraska, but bad for enjoying a great atmosphere is that this game will be at 11 a.m. on Black Friday. I have not been to a game in Iowa, but night games with the black and yellow mustard colors are quite the sight on television.
Iowa does have the real cool post first quarter tradition of turning to the pediatric patients and waving. That would be awesome to be a part of at some point in the future.
I’ve been told the Pedestrian Mall (Ped Mall) is a cool place to go before or after a game for drinks or a bite to eat. As the name implies, it doesn’t allow cars to drive through so there you are free to roam from business to business.
#2 – at Illinois
Road Trip? 7 hours, 52 minutes to Champaign, IL
This is the part of the ranking in which the video below had the most influence. He was quite complimentary of Gies Memorial Stadium. Everything in the video made me think that it is probably a stadium every fan should want to visit.
Add the fact that I think Bret Bielema is a really good coach and he is hilarious.
It might be hard to drive there for me but there are definitely flights you might take. But this would be a great win for Nebraska this coming season. As far as the games go that Nebraska will be able to show progress this is definitely one of them.
Iowa and Nebraska will likely forever be a blood rivalry but between the two I think this would be a better measuring stick.
No this is not a “we have to evaluate where Iowa was” type of comment. I think it is difficult to use a blood rivalry game to measure whether there has been progress in the program. I mean, the last time Nebraska beat Iowa it was when Mickey Joseph was leading the Huskers after Scott Frost was fired.
The combination of the Gies Memorial Stadium, Bret Bielema and the hope of some demonstrable progress is why I give a trip to Illinois the nod over Iowa in 2026.
#1 – at Oregon
Road Trip? 24 hours, 24 minutes to Eugene, OR
I mean, this is easy right? I do wonder how many will choose to make the trip in a car from Lincoln to Eugene, OR.
Like a lot of these trips, and especially this one, it comes down to money. Unless you’re willing to make that drive to Oregon, you might have to budget for a flight to Seattle or Portland. Personally, I’d vote for a direct flight to Seattle and then drive the 4.5 hours to Eugene.
Currently Oregon is running in the “too early” top 25 rankings as #2 right behind Ohio State.
By that time, Nebraska could be a (generous) 5-1 if they can beat Michigan State and Maryland with the assumed loss to Indiana.
Maybe Nebraska can make a game of it.
Maybe Anthony Colandrea goes and gives Dylan Raiola a big hug after the game (win or lose of course).
SPORTS! SPORTS! JORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS!
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