Nebraska Football: My Game-by-Game Prediction for the 2026 Season
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Last year I did my game-by-game prediction for the 2025 season and was batting 1.000 until Nebraska was embarrassed by Iowa at the end of the season. I had picked Nebraska to go 8-4 but instead they went 7-5. The game that flipped the 2025 season was the USC game in Lincoln. Nebraska was leading 14-6 at half and then Dylan Raiola is injured with 12 minutes left in the third quarter.
Then Nebraska ended the season losing three out of their next four games.
A few weeks prior to the end of the regular season I was talking to a local Nebraska fan (lets call him JR). He said that he is having a hard time justifying the time he is using to even watch Nebraska football at home on his television. I was getting close to that point as well.
Fast forward to the Iowa beatdown in Lincoln. At some point in the second half I said “enough is enough” and I shut the television off and decided to go for a drive. During the drive I would turn the radio on to check on the game. Then I would turn it back off.
After a while I found myself driving by his house and off in the distance was a man walking down the gravel road. It was JR. He was by himself, without any headphones and alone with his thoughts. He had a look on his face which was exactly how I felt as Nebraska’s regular season came to an end.
I turned the radio back on and Iowa forced another punt. So I turned the radio off.
He kept on walking and I kept on driving.
Good thing that this is a new season with new players and new coaches. I agree with Matt Rhule when he says that this is the best team he has had since he arrived at Nebraska. However, as we are all aware the schedule does not set up well for Nebraska.
A seven win season in 2026 is probably equivalent to a nine win season in most years based off of the strength of schedule. So here we go.
Ohio at Home – Win
One of the things that have gone relatively underreported as we lead up to the first game is that the last time Anthony Colandrea played football he lost to Ohio (17-10). He threw for 184 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. We can’t put it all on Colandrea as Ohio ran the ball 43 times for 207 yards.
Colandrea had UNLV’s lone touchdown by a 2 yard run up the middle.
Fast forward to 2026 and apparently Colandrea wants to see them again. He’s on a new team and Ohio is not returning a lot of production. Reports state that Ohio lost 17 of their 22 starters.
Ohio also has a new head coach but he was the defensive coordinator the prior season. I expect Nebraska to run away with it in the third quarter, though Ohio will make it difficult.
Bowling Green at Home – Win
Eddie George comes to Lincoln for the first time since he stole Tommie Frazier’s Heisman Trophy in 1995.
I think this might get ugly early and fast. They are starting a quarterback who played for Assumption University who was a Division 2 team last season.
Nebraska should make quick work of this squad. Hopefully.
North Dakota – Win
This is the game that makes me nervous.
North Dakota is a top 10 ranked FCS squad who is not afraid of anybody. This is a proud football program that lost to Kansas State by three last season. Since Nebraska is not playing a Power Four opponent in the non-conference this season I am hoping North Dakota is going to give them a real test before Nebraska can walk away with a double digit win.
If Nebraska takes North Dakota to the woodshed then I will feel much more optimistic about this season than I currently do at this time.
At Michigan State – Win
Why couldn’t Pat Fitzgerald find a job somewhere outside of the Big Ten? The last time we saw Fitzgerald was in Ireland when Nebraska decided to try and onside kick after going up 11 points in the second half. Here it is in case you forgot. Fun times.
Fast forward to 2026 and Pat Fitzgerald is going to be wearing green as Michigan State’s head coach.
Michigan State is returning Alessio Milivojevic (redshirt sophomore) at quarterback. He started the last four games of 2025 and threw for 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. Where he went up against Minnesota, Penn State, Iowa and Maryland. He went 1-3 in those games but he gained a lot of Big Ten experience against some good defenses.
Nebraska needs to get this win as Michigan State’s over/under win total is sitting at 4.5 wins. However, we know that Pat Fitzgerald always seems to do more with less and this year he is doing with a lot of less.
Still I expect Nebraska to win this game in East Lansing. Hopefully it isn’t a one possession game in the fourth quarter.
It is important that Nebraska starts 5-0 and with this game on the road I am less confident they will get this win compared to Maryland.
Maryland at Home – Win
It is crazy that Head Coach Mike Locksley is in his eighth year at Maryland. This season their over/under win total is at 5.5 wins but according to Locksley they are returning 74% of their production on defense and 68% of their production on offense.
The biggest returning starter is their stud quarterback Malik Washington. He started all 12 games as a true freshman in 2025 and threw for almost 3,000 yards. He is going to be a problem for Rob Aurich’s defense when they come to Lincoln.
Defensively Maryland lead the conference in interceptions and they return their defensive coordinator.
I expect that Nebraska will lean on the running game in this one and find a way to win.
Nebraska starts 5-0 to the start the season.
Indiana at Home – Loss
At the beginning of this offseason there were talks of whether Nebraska was going to get to six wins. Then as the off-season turned to fall camp all the sudden the expectations started to get dialed up. Here is our beloved Will Compton to illustrate my point.
But truthfully, if Nebraska starts 5-0 and then an undefeated Indiana team comes into Lincoln then anything can happen. This iteration of Indiana will probably not have been tested up and to this point. Before showing up to Lincoln, Indiana will have played North Texas, Howard, Western Kentucky, Northwestern and Rutgers.
The same can probably also be said for Nebraska. At least Marcus Mendoza won’t be playing QB for the Hoosiers this season.
At Oregon – Loss
Oregon probably has the best roster in the entire country with the best quarterback at the helm. That quarterback is Dante Moore and he threw for 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2025.
Oh, and they have that back-up quarterback (or is he third string?) in Dylan Raiola.
That will be a storyline heading into the game. Will Dylan Raiola make some idiotic statement again? Heck, he might be starting if Dante Moore gets hurt. Wouldn’t that be interesting to see Nebraska show up with a whole bunch of motivation.
There is too much talent on this team to expect a win. This is a game that I could see Anthony Colandrea making a few plays that can keep it close but we can expect Oregon to win this easily.
Washington at Home – Win
The Blackout on Halloween. There is a good chance that Washington will be ranked coming into this game which will pose as a great opportunity for Nebraska to finally beat a ranked team. If they are ranked and Nebraska finds a way to win then it will be the first ranked win for Nebraska in over 10 years. That’s insane. You would think Nebraska could have fumbled into a ranked win somehow.
Washington has Demond Williams Jr. at quarterback who many think is one of the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten. Williams put up some big numbers in 2025 but if you look at the schedule he really struggled against some of the better teams on the schedule.
Both will have a bye week coming into this game, but I think the Huskers will take advantage of the blackout atmosphere and find a way to beat Washington.
At Illinois – Loss
It’s simple for me. I believe in Bret Bielema. I’ve said this for years. He would have been a great hire for Nebraska. His teams are always physical and he likes to run the ball.
He will have to replace Luke Altmyer who started for Illinois for three seasons. There is a lot of roster turnover for Illinois and Nebraska is going to be coming in on a short week.
Though last night they struggled to stop UAB as they had 413 yards of total offense compared to 332 for Illinois. Illinois still won by 19 but Bielema said they didn’t get to do a lot of tackling in fall camp because of injuries.
They will have gotten a lot of tackling experience before Nebraska comes to town.
At Rutgers – Win
Oh, good ole Greg Schiano. He is a good coach and his team always plays hard. They are bringing in a new defensive coordinator and a transfer quarterback (sounds familiar). This is the easy conference game of the season.
If Nebraska cannot get a win, even though it’s at Rutgers, then we might have bigger problems than we want to admit.
This is even more so since Rutgers got embarrassed by UMass last night. Rutgers lost by 18 and the thought that continued to roll through my head as I watched it was like UMass looked like a better team all the way around. If they played again next week I would expect UMass to win.
Ohio State at Home – Loss
I heard earlier this week that there are some NFL executives who consider Ohio State to be the NFL’s 33rd team. That is how much talent Ohio State has on their roster.
My most optimistic view of the Nebraska’s season would have Nebraska at 9-1 at this point. That would be getting wins against Indiana and Illinois.
Now lets say that my most optimistic view actually happens. That means that the defense has improved a whole lot under Rob Aurich and that a combination of Anthony Colandrea and the improved offensive line has far exceeded our expectations.
If that were to happen and Ohio State comes to town then all bets are off.
However, at this point I still have to go with Ohio State winning this game.
At Iowa – Loss
Iowa has won 10 of the last 11 meetings against Nebraska and until the Huskers beat Iowa and look like the more dominant program like it should then there is no use in picking Nebraska. Iowa wants this game more than any other game on the schedule and Nebraska just has not brought that same urgency.
Looking at the schedule, Iowa could easily start 3-3. Their Big Ten schedule starts with games against Michigan, Ohio State and Washington.
Their remaining schedule is pretty easy. They might trip up against Minnesota and Illinois but they should easily go 7-5.
My argument for a Nebraska win is that the quarterback position leaves a lot to be desired for Iowa. Also Iowa’s special teams coordinator is now at Michigan State. They also replace a lot of production.
Still it feels like all of that doesn’t matter as Iowa will be Iowa.
In The End: 7-5 is my prediction
I do remember that six months ago the prediction in my head was a 6-6 season. I have made a concerted effort to not allow myself to be influenced by the hopes of what could be and try and think of what we know.
We have a dramatically improved offensive line (and a proven offensive line coach).
We have a transfer quarterback who I am actually excited to watch play. Though we need to get ready for the ups and downs of what he provides.
A 7-5 season would be a success in my mind for the 2026 season. That is because a 5-7 and 6-6 season (or worse) is surely on the table.
When I call it a success I do not mean to say that 7-5 is good enough, because it surely is not. Matt Rhule would agree that he did not come here to win seven games.
A seven win season would indicate to me that Matt Rhule continues to move the program in the right direction. Though I know a whole lot of you who are reading this would disagree.
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