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Nebraska football enters a pivotal 3rd season under Matt Rhule. I saw this tweet a few weeks back, and it peaked my interest on where I land for 2025.
I have only bet on Nebraska’s season win total twice. I took their under in 2022 and then some other under the last decade. But is this the year that I reverse course? Can I stand to look myself in the mirror for a third time like this:
I go position by position using Phil Steele’s rankings (number to the side of the position). I know some don't like him, but I think he's the most accurate and I like how he puts ratings to things to see where you stack up.
Quarterback – 2nd
It all starts with Raiola. While I think his game was good enough to beat our early season opponents, once he played some viable B1G defenses he struggled. That’s expected for a true freshman. Add in that he got banged up and it resulted in a very up and down finish. With Holgo calling the plays now I like where we are heading here. We are tied with a few other teams at 2nd here, but I think top 5 is where we are, so that's accurate.
Runningback - 11th
Probably the scariest position in my eyes on our team. If EJ goes down we are in a world of hurt. We have 3 guys on the depth chart behind him, and they combine for less than 10 carries in college football. This is our thinnest position on the team and we need to do everything we can to keep the carries/hits off EJ early in the season. Things got so bad we moved one of our promising younger WRs to RB in the summer. This is probably accurate considering the RBs in this league and how thin we are... EJ can play us better than this ranking if he stays healthy though.
Wide Receiver - 7th
This position is so tough to grade for a magazine, you can pretty much always have Ohio Stae way up there, but almost everyone has talented WRs. Those are a dime a dozen IMO. Which makes it crazy to think that Kade Warner was our safety blanket at one time. Hunter and Key are great, Barney is obviously a stud, so we are fine there with plenty of depth behind them, Mills, Bonner, Clark and Smith give us options if something happens. While I think our WR room is better than the ranking, other teams probably have similar so I’m not mad at it.
TightEnd - 7th (TE/WR are the same I believe)
Losing Markway hurts bad. But I’m high on Lindenmeyer and Haarberg/Nelson will be situationally dependent. I wish we could have kept Nate and not let him take off to A&M, but it is what it is at this point unfortunately.
Offensive Line - 7th
I agree with most pundits that this is the best/deepest OL we have had in quite some time. Spindler leading the charge helps a ton, and I am not ashamed to admit I was wrong about Evans-Jenkins when I saw him year 1 and wasn’t impressed. The middle of our line is experienced and talented with 5 guys that could play there. While tackle does worry me a bit, we are in a better spot this year than we have been in years past. We should be able to keep Raiola clean and create some run lanes for Johnson. I think we are undervalued here, and I believe we can have a top 5 line if our tackles stay healthy.
Defensive Line - 14th
This is my second biggest concern for our team behind RB. We lost our entire starting front 4 (if you include JACK), 3 of our transfers out are starting at their new school (Wallin – Oregon State, Umanmielen – Ole Miss, Williams – Florida State) and that doesn’t include the guy I’m most frustrated with losing in Butler who is a backup at LSU. While I think Van Poppel will be good in 2026, he needs a year like Nash did back in 2022. There will be a steep drop off and I think we are very well suited for getting pressure on the QB, but maybe not so much for stopping the run. That will create some new wrinkles people will see with added DL on the field. Our JACK spot is in a good situation as we have McCullough, McGahee, Noonan, and Ochoa, and Rogers. But again, are any of them a Sherman type guy? Time will tell. Phil Steele has us ranked pretty low here, and when you lose as much as we did, it's tough to argue. We have a lot of upside, but these guys have to grow up in a hurry.
Linebacker - 7th
While I’m frustrated with losing our two starters in Bullock (made a 53 man roster) and Gbayor (Mizzou to NC and 2nd string), I like the addition of Watson-Trent and if we can keep Wright healthy, I don’t anticipate a huge dropoff. Add in Shavers and I think we have 3 that we feel good with (when he gets healthy). We just need to find one more these first few games. I like who we have in our top line, but I again think this is coming from us losing our starting LBs and JACK from last year.
Secondary - 9th
This one I’m not as worried about, as this is where we return most of our experience. We have young guys coming up and veteran guys to help out there that have multiple starts. Not a ton to say here, but I think our secondary is better than we are giving credit for here from Phil Steele. Ton of experience back and a ton of guys behind them trying to make a name for themselves.
Special Teams
There’s no way this can be worse, and Ekeler will get us right.
Offense:
I tried telling myself Satterfield wasn’t a bad hire, I tried telling myself Sims would be better here, turns out I should have just stuck with my gut. Holgo calling the plays and Raiola in year 2 with an experienced OL is going to look great this year. The whole goal is to keep EJ and Raiola healthy, and this will be a very good looking unit if for no other reason than the playcalling. But I think this is the most talented offense we have had in Rhule's tenure here, and our best OC, so I expect a big jump.
Defense:
I think we take a step back here. We took a step back in 2024 from 2023, and with what we lost from last years team and a new DC (yes I know he was here last year) I think we will fall back to maybe top 40/50 in scoring defense instead of top 30. Our DL is inexperienced and we have new starters at LB. Hopefully Butler can dial up some schemes that make us not so vulnerable, and I believe he can. But the reality is we lose a lot in our front 7, we have to get some guys ready for when Michigan comes to town on September 20th.
Overall:
I have concerns. Our DL, depth at certain spots, 3 new coordinators, those all point to possibly a let down. Not a single coordinator that Rhule hired when he first started is in that position for us in year 3. That's a tough stat. But there are things that are positives, of the 3 new coordinators from the start of last year 2 of them were here in 2024. Year 3 of Matt Rhule has always seen an uptick in wins. 2nd year is where massive jumps can be taken, and we have that at the most important position with Raiola.
Honestly if we can’t get to 8 this year with our schedule avoiding Oregon and Ohio State, grabbing Michigan off a 7 win season, and only really having a tough game against Penn State, I’ll have some big concerns this offseason.
I’m going over 7.5 for the first time in betting the Husker season win totals.
Cincinnati – W
vs Akron – W
vs HCU – W
vs Michigan – L
vs Sparty – W
@Maryland – W
@Minnesota – L
vs Northwestern – W
vs USC – L
@UCLA – W
@Penn St – L
vs Cockeye - W
I have only bet on Nebraska’s season win total twice. I took their under in 2022 and then some other under the last decade. But is this the year that I reverse course? Can I stand to look myself in the mirror for a third time like this:
I go position by position using Phil Steele’s rankings (number to the side of the position). I know some don't like him, but I think he's the most accurate and I like how he puts ratings to things to see where you stack up.
Quarterback – 2nd
It all starts with Raiola. While I think his game was good enough to beat our early season opponents, once he played some viable B1G defenses he struggled. That’s expected for a true freshman. Add in that he got banged up and it resulted in a very up and down finish. With Holgo calling the plays now I like where we are heading here. We are tied with a few other teams at 2nd here, but I think top 5 is where we are, so that's accurate.
Runningback - 11th
Probably the scariest position in my eyes on our team. If EJ goes down we are in a world of hurt. We have 3 guys on the depth chart behind him, and they combine for less than 10 carries in college football. This is our thinnest position on the team and we need to do everything we can to keep the carries/hits off EJ early in the season. Things got so bad we moved one of our promising younger WRs to RB in the summer. This is probably accurate considering the RBs in this league and how thin we are... EJ can play us better than this ranking if he stays healthy though.
Wide Receiver - 7th
This position is so tough to grade for a magazine, you can pretty much always have Ohio Stae way up there, but almost everyone has talented WRs. Those are a dime a dozen IMO. Which makes it crazy to think that Kade Warner was our safety blanket at one time. Hunter and Key are great, Barney is obviously a stud, so we are fine there with plenty of depth behind them, Mills, Bonner, Clark and Smith give us options if something happens. While I think our WR room is better than the ranking, other teams probably have similar so I’m not mad at it.
TightEnd - 7th (TE/WR are the same I believe)
Losing Markway hurts bad. But I’m high on Lindenmeyer and Haarberg/Nelson will be situationally dependent. I wish we could have kept Nate and not let him take off to A&M, but it is what it is at this point unfortunately.
Offensive Line - 7th
I agree with most pundits that this is the best/deepest OL we have had in quite some time. Spindler leading the charge helps a ton, and I am not ashamed to admit I was wrong about Evans-Jenkins when I saw him year 1 and wasn’t impressed. The middle of our line is experienced and talented with 5 guys that could play there. While tackle does worry me a bit, we are in a better spot this year than we have been in years past. We should be able to keep Raiola clean and create some run lanes for Johnson. I think we are undervalued here, and I believe we can have a top 5 line if our tackles stay healthy.
Defensive Line - 14th
This is my second biggest concern for our team behind RB. We lost our entire starting front 4 (if you include JACK), 3 of our transfers out are starting at their new school (Wallin – Oregon State, Umanmielen – Ole Miss, Williams – Florida State) and that doesn’t include the guy I’m most frustrated with losing in Butler who is a backup at LSU. While I think Van Poppel will be good in 2026, he needs a year like Nash did back in 2022. There will be a steep drop off and I think we are very well suited for getting pressure on the QB, but maybe not so much for stopping the run. That will create some new wrinkles people will see with added DL on the field. Our JACK spot is in a good situation as we have McCullough, McGahee, Noonan, and Ochoa, and Rogers. But again, are any of them a Sherman type guy? Time will tell. Phil Steele has us ranked pretty low here, and when you lose as much as we did, it's tough to argue. We have a lot of upside, but these guys have to grow up in a hurry.
Linebacker - 7th
While I’m frustrated with losing our two starters in Bullock (made a 53 man roster) and Gbayor (Mizzou to NC and 2nd string), I like the addition of Watson-Trent and if we can keep Wright healthy, I don’t anticipate a huge dropoff. Add in Shavers and I think we have 3 that we feel good with (when he gets healthy). We just need to find one more these first few games. I like who we have in our top line, but I again think this is coming from us losing our starting LBs and JACK from last year.
Secondary - 9th
This one I’m not as worried about, as this is where we return most of our experience. We have young guys coming up and veteran guys to help out there that have multiple starts. Not a ton to say here, but I think our secondary is better than we are giving credit for here from Phil Steele. Ton of experience back and a ton of guys behind them trying to make a name for themselves.
Special Teams
There’s no way this can be worse, and Ekeler will get us right.
Offense:
I tried telling myself Satterfield wasn’t a bad hire, I tried telling myself Sims would be better here, turns out I should have just stuck with my gut. Holgo calling the plays and Raiola in year 2 with an experienced OL is going to look great this year. The whole goal is to keep EJ and Raiola healthy, and this will be a very good looking unit if for no other reason than the playcalling. But I think this is the most talented offense we have had in Rhule's tenure here, and our best OC, so I expect a big jump.
Defense:
I think we take a step back here. We took a step back in 2024 from 2023, and with what we lost from last years team and a new DC (yes I know he was here last year) I think we will fall back to maybe top 40/50 in scoring defense instead of top 30. Our DL is inexperienced and we have new starters at LB. Hopefully Butler can dial up some schemes that make us not so vulnerable, and I believe he can. But the reality is we lose a lot in our front 7, we have to get some guys ready for when Michigan comes to town on September 20th.
Overall:
I have concerns. Our DL, depth at certain spots, 3 new coordinators, those all point to possibly a let down. Not a single coordinator that Rhule hired when he first started is in that position for us in year 3. That's a tough stat. But there are things that are positives, of the 3 new coordinators from the start of last year 2 of them were here in 2024. Year 3 of Matt Rhule has always seen an uptick in wins. 2nd year is where massive jumps can be taken, and we have that at the most important position with Raiola.
Honestly if we can’t get to 8 this year with our schedule avoiding Oregon and Ohio State, grabbing Michigan off a 7 win season, and only really having a tough game against Penn State, I’ll have some big concerns this offseason.
I’m going over 7.5 for the first time in betting the Husker season win totals.
Cincinnati – W
vs Akron – W
vs HCU – W
vs Michigan – L
vs Sparty – W
@Maryland – W
@Minnesota – L
vs Northwestern – W
vs USC – L
@UCLA – W
@Penn St – L
vs Cockeye - W
