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“I truly believe we needed those things to happen. I didn’t need this to be 70-to-whatever.”

A coach does not see a game like a fan. Until they are just a fan themselves, and even then, they tend to look at things through the lens of the man with the whistle.

Matt Rhule is one of these men, though the idea of watching a game with him sounds both enlightening and irritating at the same time. I could learn a lot from a man who is a quarter-century into his coaching journey, while dreading the non-stop talking at 95 MPH and getting lost in thought, veering off course, then getting back to the subject like a wandering tourist who accidentally finds where he is going.

Rhule is also not like a fan in that the first half of Saturday’s 137th Husker football season opener didn’t have him running to social media with gallows snark.

At halftime, the score was 14-13. Ohio was playing well enough to win. The Bobcats looked like they belonged on the field with the B1G Huskers. Fans, many of whom were already a mix of trepidation, dread, and/or resignation about the season, were wondering if their well-used pitchforks were in the attic or the garage. I took a break from Twitter and left for the media lunchroom, where I ran into a seasoned colleague.

After a sigh and shoulder shrug, came the words I never thought I would hear.

“Can basketball season start?”

HFAUFJKCNDKJNOUWHREUF, what?!?! Basketball?!?!? At NEBRASKA?!?!?

It was one half, and admittedly not a pretty one, but only 30 minutes of hot, sweaty, inconsistent football. One-twenty-fourth of a season. About 4.2%.

I know what Rhule’s Nebraska is up against. It’s pessimism. It’s anger. It’s hope-turned-to-resignation that the more things change, the more they stay the frustrating, confounding, anger-inducing, joke-making same.

I am not here to tell you how to think or how to feel. I can only tell you how I think and how I feel. And here it goes.

I’m encouraged and intrigued, but I am not any more concerned about the 2026 Huskers than I was prior to kickoff. The schedule is the schedule, but what I saw on the field Saturday was kind of what I expected, while also seeing some things that I came away pleasantly surprised by.

E.J. Barthel and Matt Rhule were right to like their running backs. I do, too. At least for what one game can tell us. Rushing for 217 yards on 31 carries is good work. 67 of those came on six carries AFTER Ohio drove to within one score with 9:00 to play in the game. It looks like Jamal Rule is what was promised in the Spring Game. Running tough, finding holes, and being decisive. Then Mekhi Nelson made two great-looking chunk plays. Love the fourth-quarter toughness on the dump-off pass in which he broke three tackles and raced 51 yards to the end zone to basically end the game.

The quarterback looked good. Made some good throws, especially on the run. The best of which came when NU was backed up on their own 8-yard line after Nyziah Hunter inexplicably ran the wrong way on a kickoff return. The score was Ohio 13-7, and a three-and-out deep in their own end would have had the “murmurs” echoing through the humid Lincoln air. But Anthony Colandrea, on a 2nd and long rolled right, saw Kwazi Gilmer angling towards the sideline and dropped in a dot. First down. Out of the shadow of the goal post. Five plays later, they executed a running back screen and Jamal Rule gave Nebraska the lead for good. Also, no turnovers. Even after a mesh with Nelson went awry, Colandrea beat the Ohio defender to the ball, and disaster was averted.

The defense? Kind of what I thought. Growing pains. And not having LB Owen Chambliss, the “green dot” quarterback communicator, did not help. I liked some of the unique pressures dialed up by Rob Aurich, like zone blitzes and using Jeremiah Jones in a “cheetah” package. There were some key pass breakups, and Ohio’s only running game was QB Nick Poulos breaking contain. They’re not threatening greatness and are still undersized upfront, but there are some playmakers in the back seven, and I think we’ll see a smoother running operation as time goes by.

The thing that torqued me off? Stupid penalties. Back-to-back procedure penalties on Brendan Black. And even if you think the official was being too sensitive on Jacory Barney’s blindside block, nullifying a Nyziah Hunter catch-and-run house call, it was NOT necessary. Seven yards behind a streaking Hunter with no chance in Hell to catch him. Just get in his way. Get in the running lane. Throw your hands up as if to say “I surrender,” or just peel off and leave it be. Against better teams, losing that score can lose you the game. It’s poor decision-making. Can’t do it.

But you know what? I’m not discouraged. Not in the least. Is Nebraska good enough to be an 8-win team? I still don’t know. But I do know a little more about these Cornhuskers today than I did last week, and next week we get to learn a little bit more.

I like that.

N’SIDE THE NUMBERS

Nebraska’s 523 total yards is the most in a season opener since the 565 they put up in a loss to Colorado in Scott Frost’s official debut in 2018. The 7.1 yards per play is the most in an opener since 8.5 YPP versus FAU in 2014. Rhule’s Nebraska teams are 10-1 when reaching the 6.0 YPP mark.

The run offense gained 248 yards on 42 carries, a 5.9-yard-per-carry average. Even with Emmett Johnson, the Huskers only did better than that number three times all last season.

Huskers allowed 303 total yards (139 on the ground, 164 through the air) and at 4.67 YPP, it is the lowest average by a Husker opponent since the Michigan State game last year. Over the last eight games of 2025, the defense allowed over 6.2 YPP.

What was most impressive was the number of HAVOC plays (tackles for loss, forced fumbles, interceptions, pass breakups, and QB hurries) the Huskers had. NU had 13 HAVOC plays out of 65 snaps faced, a 27.7% HAVOC rate. Only one game last season (Akron, 30.5%) was better. The 8 pass breakups are the second-most under Matt Rhule (2024 Rutgers, 9).

Red Zone Efficiency

Good news: Nebraska was 4 for 4 on scoring TDs in the Red Zone. Bad news: Ohio was 2 for 2 in scoring TDs in the Red Zone. We know how bad the Blackshirts were inside their own 20. Still waiting for that next stop.

Turnover Margin

A clean game by Nebraska and Anthony Colandrea, plus a late interception by Rex Guthrie, gave the Huskers a +1 turnover margin. Nebraska is 10-1 under Rhule when winning the turnover battle and is 258-21-1 since 1973 in such games.

Colandrea Offensive Rate

Last year, Colandrea accounted for 65% of UNLV’s total offense, a figure that would put him in the top three all-time at Nebraska dating to 1962. But thanks to a productive day by the “Three-Backs”, Colandrea accounted for 298 of the 523 yards, just a tick under 57%. While a high number by a quarterback doesn’t mean a team is doomed to fail, I think if Colandrea’s number is closer to 50- 55%, it means Nebraska’s running backs are doing their share of the lifting.

Point Spread Differential

Thanks, Rex Guthrie! The Huskers covered the 23.5, making it just the third time since 2017 that the Huskers have beaten the point spread. For the season, NU is sitting at a +4.5 spread differential. They were -47 in the last three games of 2025.

HELMET STICKERS

Each week on the KLIN (1400 AM, Lincoln) Friday Husker Tailgate, we pick helmet stickers for the previous week’s game. Here are mine for Ohio.

• Donovan Jones – two huge PBU’s (one saving a TD) and physical hitting.
• Jamal Rule – 166 total offensive yards. According to Arbitrary Analytics, only two Huskers since 1996 have had more total yards in their first game than Rule. Frantz Hardy: 152 against Maine in 2005 and Taylor Martinez: 127 against Western Kentucky in 2010. First 100-yard rushing game by a Husker RB in an opener since Tierre Green in 2004 – that seems impossible to believe.
• Mekhi Nelson – 64 yards rushing, 65 receiving. Nice tightrope down the west sideline for his first touchdown and his three-tackle-breaking effort on his catch-and-run score.
• Honorary sticker: Dana Holgorsen. I have been tough on Nebraska’s offensive coordinator, but I thought he called an excellent game. The utilization of the screen game and the second drive of the third quarter after Ohio’s missed go-ahead field goal was an element out of Nebraska’s past. An 11-play drive featuring 9 runs, with the last seven plays all called on the ground. Colandrea scored his first Husker TD on a quarterback draw, giving the Huskers a 21-13 lead. Does a mobile QB make a play caller better? Sure. But this might have been one of his best-called games since coming to Lincoln.
• Honorary sticker II: Nick Poulos – the kid was tough, poised, and threw a good ball, completing some under duress, twice picked up errant snaps, and still found open receivers. It was just his second start. I think Ohio can rest easy about their QB.

COLANDREA vs. MINCHEY

Just because.

Colandrea, 18/32, 275y, 3 TD vs. 0 INT, one fumble (not lost), 10 rushes, 23y, 1TD

Minchey (vs. Youngstown St.), 18/27, 301, 4 TD vs. 0 INT, 1 rush, 17y (won 45-13)

Maybe all parties can be happy with what they ended up with?

THE FIFTH DOWN FOR A NEW GENERATION

Excuses will be made. “Video evidence” will be produced, but nothing, NOTHING will excuse what happened in Ann Arb…er, the B1G replay command center in Rosemont, Illinois. The clock had clearly reached zero once the ball was touched by the Western Michigan defender. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but would it surprise you if the red phone in the command center went off from the office of the Big Man upstairs? The 21st-century version of the infamous Colorado 5th Down fiasco. It is inexcusable. Disgusting. God bless the Western Michigan Broncos and curse you, B1G officials; you should be ashamed. I wouldn’t blame any MAC program for not agreeing to schedule another B1G foe again, unless MAC referees worked the game.

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