Getting To Know The Enemy: 6Qs About The Nebraska Cornhuskers

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Big Ten football starts in two days. Hopefully you already had a chance to read Mike’s preview. Here to answer some questions on the school that made us a 12-team conference is Jon Johnston from Corn Nation. Let’s see what he had to say.

TOC:  Nebraska is now in year 4 of the Matt Rhule era.  Your regular season records under him have been 5-7, 7-5, and 6-6.  What are your thoughts on your head coach?  What sort of pressure is he under this year to get Nebraska to a better record?  How hot is his seat if you do not improve?

Jon Johnston: This is the year that Matt Rule has to show some proof. He’s had some bad hires, and I think he’s changed that to have his best coaching staff ever. He got saddled with a five-star legacy quarterback, and his uncle who coached the offensive line, that was never going to work out for, well, it was never going to work out.

I don’t think Matt Rule is going to be fired unless there’s a complete collapse. He could probably go 6-6 or 7-6 this year and still keep his job. I think Nebraska is making moves to be better in the NIL market and we’re seeing a good influx of better players. But he has to show some progress.

TOC: Nebraska brought in Anthony Colandrea from the transfer portal to be the starting QB.  He threw for nearly 3,500 yards and 23 TDs last year at UNLV.  He has 8 TDs through 3 games this year, though his yardage has dropped in each game.  What are his strengths and weaknesses?  Was there a QB competition this offseason and how secure is his starting role?  What is your confidence level in him if you need a game-winning/tieing drive late in the 4th quarter?

JJ: No, there was no quarterback competition this offseason. His role is secure. I have complete confidence in him if we need a game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter. Keep in mind that Nebraska is coming off one of the weakest non-conference schedules to start this season. 

AC hasn’t looked bad. He has a quick processor and I think that’s his best asset. I don’t know if we’ve seen him up against tough competition. I don’t know if he really has any weaknesses other than he’s going to throw some balls that he shouldn’t.

TOC: Nebraska’s rushing offense is currently 12th in the nation with 263 yards per game on the ground.  Is this more due to a strong offensive line or is your RB1, Jamal Rule (a freshman averaging 8.7 YPC), the real deal?   What other skill position players will MSU fans become familiar with on Saturday?

JJ: We had an offensive line coach left over from Scott Frost that… probably couldn’t coach high school ball. I’m not even going to be sorry about that statement. He was Dylan Raiola’s uncle, and he was kept around just so he could get Dylan Raiola. 

We now have an offensive line coach that could probably coach high school football! Jeep Wade, who comes to us from Georgia Tech and is probably the biggest addition to the 2026 Nebraska team. Jamal Rule is very young. He uses his blockers well and he can break tackles. Makai Nelson is the second best back and I think he offers a little bit more speed than Rule and they are making a good 1-2 pairing.

Jacory Barney can be a great playmaker. He is elusive and can juke, and sometimes he runs sideways instead of towards the end zone. This will be true on punt returns and it will be fantastic. Can he make a big play or could he fumble the ball? So far, he’s made a big play. And keep in mind that we haven’t played anybody really tough yet.

TOC: Tell us about the Nebraska defense.  What is the base formation?  What level of the defense is the best?  Who is one player the MSU coaching staff needs to prepare for?

JJ: The other greatest transfer we had this season was Rob Aurich, the new defensive coordinator. He runs a 4-2-5 scheme. Our defense has been capable against the three overmatched opponents that we played. Now we’re going into Big Ten play, and I know that Pat Fitzgerald will want to rock fight us like he usually does. 

Is our defense going to stand up to the Big Ten run game? I feel like we could be had there. Linebacker Owen Shambless is probably the best player on the defense, and it’s because he transferred from San Diego State with Rob Aurich and understands the defense better than anybody else. 

TOC: Fill in the blank: Nebraska will win if ______. 

JJ: We eliminate turnovers and we keep the penalties to a minimum.  

I think our offense could be one of the best in the Big Ten, as long as we don’t make stupid mistakes.

TOC: Predict the final score.

JJ:Nebraska 34, Michigan State 21.

Our offense is very good. A lot of Big Ten defenses are going to have problems stopping us on offense. Defense… we’ll see. 

TOC: Bonus question:  Nebraska Men’s Basketball finished 2nd in the Big Ten last year and went to the Sweet 16.  MSU fans mostly cheer for the Huskers’ hoops team due to the Hoiberg connection (Coach Fred Hoiberg’s son Jack played for Tom Izzo at MSU).  Any chance Nebraska is transforming into a basketball school?

Jon: I have other writers at CornNation that are better about basketball than I am. Fred Hoiberg is a good coach and he’s a Husker. It was time that Nebraska started at least paying attention to the basketball program because I think the fans were hungry to get that “never won an NCAA game off of our shoulders”.

It was a fun ride. And I hope that we will continue to be in the upper half of the Big Ten from now on, rather than just leaving men’s basketball to wither and die.

Are we a basketball school? 

Maybe if the football program doesn’t see any improvement.

TOC would like to thank Jon for his contributions to this article. Here’s hoping his prediction is way off.

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