Honestly?
A 7-6 2025 season seemed to leave Huskers fans in a fouler mood than Head Coach Matt Rhule’s 5-7 bowl-free 2023 inaugural slate. The ‘25 group even found success in one-score contests (more on that in Part 2), games which had plagued the squads since Scott Frost arrived. Compare it to ‘23 when Rhule’s first group was 1-5 in those contests, losing four in a row to end things. Heck, they even managed to lose three separate games by the score of 13-10, each on a field goal as the gun sounded.
However, therein likely lies the rub.
Four straight one-loss games by a total of 16 points is frustrating.
A 1-4 finish, the last three in a row by a combined score of 121-48 is downright embarrassing.
Things basically took a tumble at the same time Dylan Raiola did the same courtesy of a hip-drag sack by Southern Cal which resulted in a broken right fibula requiring surgery. The Huskers’ Andrew Marshall had just picked off a Jayden Maiava pass and the 6-2 Huskers took over with a 14-6 lead prior to the injury.
From there, the Huskers would manage only 3 points with T.J. Lateef under center and they would finish out 1-4 with Lateef mostly ineffective and injured for most of the final two, save a limited package against UCLA.
Following a 28-21 win over a Bruins team which was basically murdered in the other four of their five final games, they faced a Penn State team which had been pre-season top five, but then had cratered to the point of getting Coach James Franklin fired. The Huskers were manhandled 37-10 by a Nittany Lions squad beat on a Nebraska team like they were once again highly ranked. The came a 40-16 bludgeoning by Iowa in a second straight game in which no one but Emmett Johnson could do anything on offense and the defense checked out at times.
Finally, came a 44-22 whipping by Utah in the Vegas Bowl. Some questioned why a .500 team was playing a squad who just missed the CFP, but this team may have had the same result had they just returned to Yankee Stadium for a rematch with Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl. Personally, I still would take a few days in a balmy Vegas winter than the Big Apple’s mid-40’s drizzle which was numbingly constant.
So anyway, I thought I might do a little 4-part look back/look forward series much like I’ve done for Husker softball the last two years. Part 1 is a straight look back at the games with a couple of sentences about each. To jump back and see the recaps of each, just click on the score.
Following that is a listing of the individual and team stats for a glance at what went right and what did not. Spoiler Alert: the numbers pretty much back up everything you think went wrong.
Finally, a few closing remarks as I close the book on the scores and numbers before moving on to Part 2.
A QUICK LOOK BACK GAME-BY-GAME
On its surface, back-to-back bowl games should have been okay, since it was the first time since 2015 & 2016 – or 2014 & 2015 if we’re honest (Nebraska made one in ‘15 after going 5-7 but getting in on academics). Had they beaten USC, it would’ve been their first win over a ranked team since 2016 – wait, Oregon ended up 4-8 – ok, 2015 against Michigan St – um, the Brandon Reilly “pushed” out of bounds game – okay, fine, the 24-19 win over Georgia in the 2014 Cap One Bowl!!!
Anyway, there was no glossing over that finish with any coulda/woulda stuff.
But until Raiola went down, we were feeling pretty good, weren’t we?
Nebraska 20 Cincinnati 17 – A mere four days ago, a final poll revealed that Malcolm Hartzog’s end zone pick of future Cactus Brendan Sorsby which sealed up the tight win over a Bearcat team which would remain ranked most of the season was the biggest play of the 2025 season as voted on by Nebraska fans. But in a performance which would prove to be red flag, Sorsby ran for 92 yards while being held to 69 passing.
Nebraska 68 Akron 0 – The Huskers took care of business with 700+ yards of total offense including 364 passing yards by Raiola and 141 rushing yards by Emmett in shortened action for both. It seemed a good they were putting up numbers on bad teams like good teams should instead of the dicking about as in previous years.
Nebraska 59 Houston Christian 7 – See above for basically the same review against a cannon-fodder opponent. The Huskers raised their record in all-red uniform games to 1-1 (alt stuff doesn’t count) and Bud Crawford dispatched Canelo Alvarez in dominant decision that evening. Yes, lack of sleep and strong drink caused me to make a bit of an ass of myself, but I still spilled a tear or two when Bud’s hand was raised. Great day.
Michigan 30 Nebraska 27 – The game was closer than it should have been because the Huskers kept fighting. However, the run defense’s shortcomings were brutally exposed for the world to see. It would never really improve, however that never-say-die attitude would not be there down the stretch.
Nebraska 38 Michigan State 27 – Folks broke this game down in several different ways, but the facts were pretty simple: the wind blowing HARD out of the south and whoever had the wind dominated. The scores by wind? Michigan State in the 2nd and 3rd quarters – 21-7. Nebraska in the 3rd and 4th quarters? 31-6. The winner came down to two things – Nebraska got stops when the Spartans had the wind and drove for a TD into the wind at the end of the 3rd quarter to tie the game before getting the breeze in the 4th.
Nebraska 34 Maryland 31 – The Huskers showed their grit for third straight game as they overcame 3 Raiola picks to escape with a 34-31 win on the road. Emmett Johnson started introducing himself to the nation on an oft-replayed 50-yard Marshawn Lynch-style run on which he sprinted, spun and crashed his way through the Maryland defense.
Minnesota 24 Nebraska 6 – The Huskers could only manage field goals on two long 1st half drives and trailed 7-6 at the break in Minneapolis. Then they went with a strategy of no long drives OR points in the 2nd half while Minnesota made chunk play after chunk play in a thoroughly dominant 17-0 shellacking. Add in a school record 9 sacks by the Gophers and it was time to lick wounds and wonder what the hell just happened.
Nebraska 28 Northwestern 21 – After driving down the field on the opening drive (as it seems they almost always did) for a touchdown, the offense sputtered and the same malaise as the previous week once settled in, even if they were on the right side of a 7-6 halftime lead in this go around. Then Kenneth Williams took the 2nd half kickoff 95 yards to relight the fire. When Emmett scored late from 4 yards out, the Huskers had banged their way back from the previous week’s defeat.
Southern Cal 21 Nebraska 17 – The Blackout appeared to be an evening in which it would all come together. Before Dylan Raiola’s season-ending injury, the Huskers led 14-6 early in the 3rd quarter. They held the potent USC offense to 21 points and Jayden Maiava, averaging over 300 yards/game passing, to a season-low 135. Even more surprising, the Blackshirts sacked the Trojans QB 3 times, while Raiola was only sacked once. But once was enough as the offense could only sputter to 3 more points on the night without their QB1 and a 1-4 spiral would end the season.
Nebraska 28 UCLA 21 – With Raiola sidelined, Emmett Johnson put the Huskers on his back for the last victory of 2025 rushing for 125, adding another 103 receiving and scoring on receptions of 56 and 40 yards for 228 total yards and 2 TD’s. It was all smiles on a beautiful LA evening although 1) the Husker offense scoring its last early in the 3rd quarter, and 2) UCLA getting its doors blown off in all of its final 5 games except this one, were red flags ignored as the Huskers final three games would be, as Clubber Lang so succinctly put it, “pain”.
Penn State 37 Nebraska 10 – The Nittany Lions needed only 51 total plays, 39 by ground, to “ground” up the Huskers with 231 rushing yards, scoring on their first five, and six of their first seven, drives streaking to a 30-3 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing T.J. Lateef some garbage stats after being rendered ineffective. Their control over USC three weeks previous officially felt like part of a different season.
Iowa 40 Nebraska 16 – Back-to-back 13-10 field-goal-at-the-gun losses to the despised Squawks seemed like a nocturnal emission compared to the sound thrashing administered by those champions of discrimination in the regular season Black Friday regular season finale. Along with their QB1 rolling around on a scooter, DC John Butler chose that week to preemptively end his Husker career by sounding off a need to improve defensive line talent through the portal at his weekly presser – the Blackshirts responded by surrendering 40 points and 379 yards to Iowa’s putrid offense a season after doubling the Hawks’ meager 164 yard effort. Embarrassed Husker fans were on full simmer with a bowl game yet remaining.
Utah 44 Nebraska 22 – Nebraska blew down the field, almost all on the ground, on not just their first drive, but their first TWO drives for a 14-7 1st quarter lead. Then Utah figured out T.J. Lateef was either still very much hammy-hindered, couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a farking boat, or both, and moved almost the entire Ute defense into the box. From there forward, the result was 37-8 Utah.
And that, as Tide legend Forrest Gump famously and often said, “is all I have to say about that.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Dylan Raiola finished his Huskers career with a 456-650 69.1% passing line with 31 TD’s and 17 INT’s. His TD/INT ratio noticeably improved from his freshman to sophomore season (13/11 to 18/6), but his sophomore year exposed his weakness – running. He wasn’t slow; he had decent speed and a quickness which would often make defenders miss in one-on-one situations.
However, he often spent too much time in pockets and was unable to find seams through which to escape, instead, much like Shedeur Sanders, choosing to try to curl out around the back of pockets, for which he did not have the speed, resulting in sacks which were not the fault of the offensive line – more about them below.
He did have an excellent arm (possibly the best in Lincoln since, well, way back), although as time went on he seemed unwilling to try too many deep balls. And despite having a noticeably improved receiver room in ‘25, his passes per game dropped significantly, although it is unsure if this was due to Dana Holgorsen relying more on the run game due to Raiola’s penchant for sacks or if Raiola himself was checking to runs for whatever reason.
It stands to see down the road how he will fit into an Oregon offense which has been helmed by dual-threat QB’s for many years – yes, he is faster than people think, but dual-threat is a category which will never be listed next to his name. That being said, the offense became much more ineffective following his injury despite the Herculean efforts of Emmett Johnson.
T.J. Lateef took over after Raiola’s injury and the fact that quarterback became the immediate priority in the transfer portal let everyone know where the coaching staff stood in the review of his performance. As far as Jalyn Gramstad, despite glowing words publicly from the staff, they chose to let an injured Lateef play the entirety of the Iowa game, which had become unwinnable early in the 4th quarter.
Before the opener, Holgorsen tried to convince folks he might use Johnson, Mekhi Nelson, Isaiah Mozee and Kwinten Ives in games in ‘25. Then it quickly became obvious there was a clear #1 as Johnson took 25 of the group’s 27 carries in the opener for 108 hard-fought yards, and, as I pointed out afterward, had several carries where he just missed busting big gainers.
But I had no idea what was about to unfold, and on just how many future dashes he would succeed in finding open spaces. His 1451 rushing yards would become the 8th highest single-season total in a Husker history loaded with legendary RB’s. His 2460 career yards would nudge him ahead of Dan Alexander for 18th on the career list despite being a full-time starter for only one season.
It’s also time to give the 2025 offensive line some credit. As discussed above, many of the sacks surrendered in ‘25 should’ve have laid at other feet, whether it was Raiola’s excessive reads for wide-open receivers, the weird issue of the tackles backpedaling madly on passing snaps against Michigan, or the Gopher game in which only 3 or maybe 4 of the 9 sacks surrendered were actually the fault of the line. Check the Iowa game where they kept a hobbled Lateef clean.
And they were among the nation’s best in yards before contact while blocking for the Huskers’ first 1st-Team All-American running back since Mike Rozier.
Yes, that Mike Rozier. As in 1983.
If there was downside to Johnson’s magical 2025, it was that no other running back reached 30 carries on the season leaving a room which is long on potential but extremely light on experience.
Might as well give a little more credit to Emmett before diving into the 2025 receiving performances. Johnson led the team in receptions and finished 4th in yardage. He led the nation’s running backs in receiving even though his 46 grabs fell well short of Marlon Lucky’s 75 in 2007.
Jacory Barney Jr. and Nyziah Hunter led Husker receivers. Barney had 45 grabs for 484 yards, but totaled 348 yards in the first 5 games before being largely ignored the rest of the way. Hunter led the teams in yards with 617 on 43 catches showing both the ability for long runs after catches and to make acrobatic snags.
Dane Key and Luke Lindenmeyer both excelled as possession receivers and Isaiah Mozee made 14 grabs in limited play showing off his WR abilities while growing into a sold running back. Cortez Mills Jr and Quinn Clark both flashed the speed to get open deep which should translate into more opportunities in 2026.
The Huskers inability to stop the run in 2025 was on display and hashed over all season long, but another area in which the defensive front came up light was the ability to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. In 13 games, they only reached the QB’s for 19.5 sacks. Linebacker Javin Wright led the team with 3.
If the Husker run defense was the soft scientist Jekyll, the beast Hyde was their pass defense which ranked 3rd nationally in yards surrendered per game through the air at 154.1. (Fine, the rush defense was 100th at 175.4/gm. I was just trying to spare you pain.)
The air defense held several quarterbacks to some of their worst passing games of the season including Bryce Underwood, Texas Dolly Brendan Sorsby and Jayden Maiava.
However, after it all fell apart in the final three games, many of the staff on that side of the ball found themselves searching for new employment.
Some Final Thoughts
- I know I’ll get some flak for this as things played out the way they did. But Raiola’s injury really did sink the season. I’m not saying the Huskers run the table afterward or anything like that. But I think enough air stays in the balloon for a very different finish to 2025.
- First off, they win the USC game. I feel pretty confident about that. That is followed by a much more convincing win at UCLA who was on their heels against everyone but the Huskers in their last five.
- They then enter the Penn State and Iowa games at 8-2. A win on the road against the Nittanies is a tough ask with their two NFL-level running backs, but it’s much closer in a Happy Valley shoot-out.
- After a closer loss, John Butler probably doesn’t sign his death warrant by passively calling out the defensive line needing more size and talent resulting in a different mood with Iowa coming to town.
- This may be the biggest stretch, but I think we beat Iowa. Yes, yes, 40-16, I know, I know. But we were moving the ball in the first half a few times with Johnson on fire and a hobbled Lateef providing no air threat. Combine that with a defense who doesn’t think their DC doesn’t believe in them and the Huskers are probably thinking about the last two Iowa games which got away. A balanced offensive attack leads the way and the Huskers prevail.
- They then head to a bowl 9-3 which falls into a Matt Rhule 3-year plan a la Temple and Baylor.
- Dylan Raiola’s transfer never comes to pass.
Now here’s the question – is that something we want given where we are now?
- Rumors still persist about the involvement of the Raiola family involvement – the Craig James with Texas Tech type, not unwavering support. Is it a net positive that Rhule and company went with cutting all ties with the family?
- I mean, Dylan was assisting in all the QB meetings, mentoring Lateef, and rolling around on his injury scooter pumping up the crowd before the Iowa game. This was not a kid acting like he had one foot out the door. Asking if pressure from his parents played a part in his departure is a fair suspicion.
- And a QB scholarship was freed up and no longer goes to Oregon walk-on tight end Dayton Raiola.
- There’s probably little movement coach-wise if they win 9 or 10 games. Are we happier with Geep Wade, in for Donovan Raiola, running the O-line and Rob Aurich and company taking over for Butler and Bradden?
- Matt Rhule was much more subdued following the season-end collapse, which is reminiscent of Jim Harbaugh after Michigan’s disastrous 2020 Covid season. Gone were press conferences with Ric Flair, running around with his shirt off during practice and spring practices in Italy.
- No, Rhule never went to Harbaugh’s extremes of look-at-me’isms, but he appears to have geared back on the public appearances.
- On second thought, let’s forget the Harbaugh comparisons and not go the Conor Stalions route.
Thoughts? Fire away – I am not expecting anything close to majority agreement on this one.
(Part 2 and possibly 3 coming next week.)
