Nebraska Football Preview 2025: And Now the Cornhuskers Take the Next Step
by Pete Fiutak, CollegeFootballNews.com
It's Year Three of the Matt Rhule era. This is when it all starts to work and the program gets back to normal. 2025 Nebraska Cornhuskers season preview.
It's impossible to understate just how consistently amazing Nebraska used to be at football. It was among the all-time "Don't Fix What's Not Broken" programs.
The model of reliable greatness, Nebraska failed to win at least nine games just twice -- 1967 and 1968 -- from 1962 to 2001. Over those 39 years, the Big Red Machine won five national titles and was in the mix for a whole lot more, and then came the slip.
Nebraska was still fantastic after changing offensive styles away from its powerhouse rushing attack -- it won nine games or more ten times from 2002 to 2016 -- but it lost its national championship-level mojo.
But you knew all of that.
The "Nebraska-Was-Great" thing has been done, but in 2025, there's a whole new generation of sports fans who don't know a time when the Huskers were relevant.
For a program that used to consider a nine-win campaign a disaster, going seven straight seasons without coming up with a winning record is impossible. This is NEBRASKA FOOTBALL. It falls into the "too-big-to-fail" category, and it did.
So you can understand why going 7-6 with a win in the Pinstripe Bowl was such a big, hairy deal to an entire region of the country.
No, 2024 Nebraska wasn't great, and no, it shouldn't be that heavy a lift to have the most minor successes in football, but it was a step.
Nebraska invented new and creative ways to gack games and seasons away, and last year, finally, it pulled up out of the nosedive, beat Wisconsin -- who, by the way, is currently the top "DON'T MESS WITH WHAT WORKED" program -- and got bowl eligible for the first time since 2016.
And now it's time for head coach Matt Rhule to make Nebraska football take one giant leap forward.
Rhule has a rising superstar at quarterback. He pulled in a fantastic recruiting class, there's talent across the starting 22, and he's doing what he's done in the past with other college programs.
At Temple, he went from two wins, to six, to ten and then ten again. At Baylor, he went from one win, to seven, to 11.
It's Year Three in Lincoln. The reasonable expectation from the stunningly patient fan base is to go from five wins, to seven, to ........
The University of Nebraska football program is supposed to be national title great. And it's getting closer.
OFFENSE
- Nebraska didn't exactly dominate after Dana Holgorsen came in to take over the offensive coordinator duties, but there was a difference. Overall, the Cornhuskers were better. They led the Big Ten in time of possession, the passing game was just good enough, and .......
Nah, the Nebraska offense still wasn't anything great, scoring 20 points or fewer in seven of the last eight games, but it's improving thanks to.......
- Dylan Raiola didn't play like the second coming of Patrick Mahomes quite yet, but the superstar recruit threw for over 2,800 yards and 13 touchdowns, and more importantly, he added a spark and swagger to the program.
There were 11 picks, and he didn't run at all, but .....he was a true freshman. It gets lost in all the hype that he's just getting started. Get ready for a whole lot more because .......
- Despite the loss of two top targets Jahmal Banks and Isaiah Neyor, the Huskers are stronger at receiver than they've been for a long while. There isn't any one main man to get crazy about, but all of a sudden, this bunch is deep with talented underclassmen and newcomers about to go off.
Jacory Barney is a quick inside target who led the team with 55 catches, but Kentucky transfer Dane Key should be the most reliable playmaker, catching 126 passes for 14 scores in three years at Kentucky.
Nyziah Hunter caught 40 passes with five scores in one year at Cal, and then there are all the freshmen. Isaiah Mozee and Cortez Mills will be thrown into the rotation right out of the gate.
- It's Nebraska, so the offensive line is supposed to be amazing. This one isn't, at least compared to the historical greatness of the program's front fives, but it is a good unit. Three starters are back, but the powerhouse of the bunch should be Elijah Pritchett, a 6-6, 310-pound veteran from Alabama set to take over one of the tackle spots.
- The running backs are okay. Dante Dowdell is gone to Kentucky after powering for 12 touchdowns and a team-high 614 yards, but Emmett Johnson was a strong No. 2 with close to 600 yards and a score. After Johnson it'll be a work-in-progress rotation.
DEFENSE
- Talent-wise, the Nebraska defense was and will be okay. It might not have a ton of elite stars, but there's no lack of energy or want-to, and it showed with the nation's eighth-best run defense a year ago. The pass rush needs to be a little stronger, and the secondary needs to come up with more plays, but it'll be more of the same overall, and that's not a negative.
- The line will be sound around the combination of Elijah Jeudy on the nose and Cam Lenhardt as a big end. They're not all that bulky, but they can move. The slight concern is on the outside, where top pass rusher Ty Robinson is done, along with most of the other top playmakers behind the line. It'll be about the rotation on the ends, needing transfers Williams Nwaneri (Missouri) and Jaylen George (Tennessee State) to shine right away.
- Dasan McCullough has the potential to be the star of the defense. Good at Indiana, he transferred to Oklahoma, where he had a decent sophomore year, but he hurt his foot and wasn't able to go full bore for most of last year. He should be a leading tackler and factor behind the line on the outside of the linebacking corps.
Javin Wright and Vincent Shavers combined for 59 tackles last season, but there's plenty of depth and competition for the three spots. Georgia Southern's Marques Watson-Trent has to find a spot somewhere -- he made 356 tackles over the last three seasons.
- The secondary is a great mix of experience and upside. With the addition of Idaho transfer Andrew Marshall at one corner, Malcolm Hartzog will likely move to a safety position to utilize his ball-hawking skills after leading the team with four picks, along with 45 tackles. DaShon Singleton was second on the team with 71 tackles and three broken up passes. He'll hold down one safety spot again, and Ceyair Wright is back after making 39 tackles with two picks, taking one for a score.
KEY TO THE SEASON
Get the downfield passing attack going. It's not that Nebraska didn't have a decent passing game with Dylan Raiola, it's that it struggled to find enough pop down the field. The addition of Dane Key should change that, and it might make a world of difference. The Huskers were 0-4 whey they didn't average at least 5.9 yards per attempt, and the overtime loss to Illinois was the only blip when they didn't average over 6.2.
KEY PLAYER
DT - Elijah Jeudy (SR)
The raw bulk isn't there on the Husker defensive front. It's a front three relying on quickness and a rotation to keep everyone attacking. It needs a true anchor, through, and that's where Jeudy needs to be a rock. He's got the experience and the skills, and he also appears ready to take over as a main man up front.
TOP TRANSFER IN, BIGGEST TRANSFER LOSS
Top Transfer In: Dane Key (WR, SR)
Linebacker Dasan McCullough from Oklahoma could turn into the best player among the new parts, and Alabama tackle Elijah Pritchett might be the most important, but Key is the one who can help solve that downfield passing problem. He averaged 14.2 yards per catch over three years at Kentucky, adding a needed veteran threat on the outside.
Top Transfer Out: James Williams (DE, JR)
Princewill Umanmielen might be the biggest talent loss -- the hybrid outside defender is off to Ole Miss -- but he never produced at the level he needed to. Williams only made 14 tackles, but he was second on the team with five sacks. Just growing into the job, now he's at Florida State.
KEY GAME
Michigan (Sept. 20)
Every once in a while there's one game that can define and change a program's trajectory. If Nebraska is any good, it should beat Cincinnati, Akron and Houston Christian without breaking too much of a sweat to start the season 3-0.
The Huskers are 4-8-1 all-time agianst Michigan, with the last win coming in 2013, and the last two meetings brutal beatdowns by the combined score of 78-10. Win this, and a 10-0 start isn't a crazy dream before dealing with a trip to Penn State.
TOP TEN NEBRASKA PLAYERS
1. QB - Dylan Raiola (SO)
2. LB - Dasan McCullough (SR)
3. WR - Dane Key (SR)
4. CB - Ceyair Wright (SR)
5. S - Malcolm Hartzog (SR)
6. DT - Elijah Jeudy (SR)
7. OT - Elijah Pritchett (JR)
8. DE - Cam Lenhardt (JR)
9. LB - Marques Watson-Trent (SR)
10. RB - Emmett Johnson (JR)
2024 FUN STATS
- Rushing TDs: Nebraska 22 | Opponents: 8
- Time of Possession: Nebraska 32:07 | Opponents 27:53
- Field Goals: Nebraska 13-of-19 | Opponents 9-of-18
PREDICTION, WIN TOTAL, WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
As someone of a certain age, it seems insane to say this.
Nebraska -- in football -- could be this year's Indiana, and that's a good thing.
We all have to do a wee bit of slow-rolling here. The talent level has definintely been cranked up in a big way, but a lot of the best guys are still very young and very unproven.
This is still the Nebraska, though, that came WAY too close to a total collapse over the second half of last season. It still has to prove it can land the close game plane on a regular basis without crashing into the terminal, and it's stlil nowhere near the level of the star programs in the Big Ten.
But there's no Ohio State or Oregon to deal with. There's no Indiana or -- this year, this really matters -- Illinois, either. Michigan, Cockeye and USC are home games, and there's a week off before going to Penn State.
So the projected win total being set here comes with a caveat. The schedule is good enough for Nebraska to catch fire and win ten regular season games. There's a real honest no-smoke-blowing chance the Huskers can get to the College Football Playoff as an at-large team.
And there's also a chance that Nebraska still hasn't quite fixed the program-crippling glitch and loses to USC, Cockeye, Michigan State, Minnesota and UCLA in painfully close thrillers.
The 50/50 games here mean more than they do for most teams, because, really, they are coin-flip, toss-ups. But if you want to sell the idea that this is about 1.5 games too low, we're buying.
Set the Nebraska Cornhuskers Win Total At: 7
Likely Wins: Akron, Houston Christian
50/50 Games: Cincinnati (at Kansas City), Cockeye, at Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, at UCLA, USC
LIkely Losses: Michigan, at Penn State
