Nebraska beat North Dakota 34-7, finished the non-conference schedule 3-0, and hit almost every offensive target we set for the 2026 season. So of course the loudest conversation online is about Nebraska special teams, and specifically about the punter.
We’ll get there, and I have thoughts. First, the numbers.
The offense cleared nearly every bar
The target was 32 points. Nebraska scored 34.
The situational numbers were even better. Nebraska went 7 of 15 on third down, which clears our 44% target. The red zone touchdown rate was 75% against
a target of 67%. Sacks allowed was zero.
That last number says a lot about Anthony Colandrea. He can escape. When the pocket gets muddy, he’s gone, and that is a big reason the sack column stayed empty.
My favorite category is explosive plays, and this game looked different from the week before. Last time, nearly all of our explosives came in the first half, and the offense went quiet after the break. Against North Dakota they came throughout the game and from a lot of different players. That’s what you want.
Dana Holgorsen might be a run guy now
Here’s something that should end a few bar arguments. Over three games, Nebraska’s rush and pass attempts are almost dead even, 50.6% to 49.4%. Against North Dakota, 56% of the yardage came on the ground.
So when the guy sitting next to you says Holgorsen is always going to pass first, he might be wrong. At Nebraska, so far, Holgorsen is leaning slightly toward the run. We’ll see if it holds in Big Ten play.
I like this offense, and you know I like offense more than defense. It runs at a good pace, and plays develop quickly. Colandrea processes fast. When receivers come out of their breaks, he already knows where he’s going. If it isn’t there, he takes off.
The pieces are good. Jacory Barney Jr. could be excellent this year. The receivers are solid. Jamal Rule and Mekhi Nelson give us real options at running back.
The one injury is Carter Nelson. He hurt his knee late in the game and will miss Michigan State. It isn’t an ACL, but there’s no timeline beyond this week.
The defense: good, with one dumb penalty
North Dakota reached the red zone twice and scored a touchdown once. That’s a 50% opponent red zone touchdown rate, under our 55% target. The fourth-down stop inside the 10 was Nebraska’s first red zone scoring stop in over a year. Opponents had scored on 39 straight trips before that.
Run defense was a worry coming in. It wasn’t a problem. North Dakota finished with 99 rushing yards.
Nebraska also had five sacks, double the target.
The misses were takeaways and turnover margin. Nebraska had no takeaways and didn’t turn it over either, so the margin was zero. We did force two turnovers on downs. I’m not sure the missed takeaway target means much in a game like this.
Penalties came down to four. That’s real progress. But one of them mattered more than the rest. Victor Evans picked up an unnecessary roughness call on third-and-long near the sideline. It extended the drive, and North Dakota scored its only touchdown on that possession.
I get playing aggressively. But you have to know the down, the distance, and where you are on the field. Don’t pick up a personal foul on third-and-long and hand the other team a touchdown. Against Big Ten teams, those mistakes cost games.
Nebraska special teams: calm down
The popular theory is that Nebraska special teams fell off a cliff when Mike Ekeler left for USC. I don’t buy it.
Kicking. Nebraska has tried two field goals of 50-plus yards and missed both. I’ll say what I said after the game: we’re probably not kicking 50-yarders this season. NFL kickers make those routinely. We don’t have an NFL kicker. That’s fine.
Holding. I still think officials call holding too much. Either way, it’s hurting us. A holding call wiped out a decent Barney punt return.
Jacory Barney Jr. He’s one of the guys on this team who is going to win games for us or lose them. I hope the coaches are making him watch Johnny Rodgers’ punt returns. Rodgers made one or two jukes and then went north. You run toward the goal line, not sideways.
Barney wants to field every punt. He wants to be a big player. When he’s back there, you’re going to hold your breath. Is he running backward? Is he going to drop it?
Try looking at it this way. Sometimes in life you dread something. Then you reframe it: this isn’t a problem, it’s an adventure. Don’t you like adventures? I don’t get many anymore. I’m probably never riding a roller coaster again, and I kind of liked roller coasters. I liked the screaming.
That’s Jacory Barney Jr. on a punt. It could be horrifying, or it could be exciting. That’s why we watch.
Archie Wilson is doing his job
The big complaint is Archie Wilson’s punting. He’s averaging 39.5 yards, and apparently that means he can’t punt 40 yards.
He has punted six times all season. That’s a tiny data set. Look at the six anyway:
- Zero punts returned. Not one. Opponents have gotten no return yardage and no explosive play off a Wilson punt.
- A 49-yard punt, downed. He can clearly hit it long when field position calls for it.
- A 35-yarder that was fair caught at the 38. That one is fair to question.
- A 33-yarder from the Nebraska 43 that was fair caught at the 10.
That last one is the one that makes me wonder whether the people complaining are watching the games. A 33-yard punt looks short on a stat sheet. But he put it right where Nebraska wanted it, with coverage around it, and pinned North Dakota inside the 10. That’s the entire job of a punter.
Now connect it to the kicking. If we aren’t kicking 50-yard field goals, the plus-territory fourth-and-8 at the opponent’s 45 becomes a punting situation. What Wilson has shown, in a small sample, is that he can drop the ball inside the 20 or inside the 10 from there. Is that not good?
This is a case of needing something to complain about. Nothing is wrong here.
“We haven’t played anybody”
That’s true. Nebraska had one of the weaker non-conference schedules in the country. But Nebraska blew out every team it played, and that’s all you can ask of a non-conference slate.
The bigger question is the defense. Michigan State already played No. 3 Notre Dame and played them tough. The Spartans know who they are, and we don’t fully know yet. We’ll get a lot more data soon.
It’s going to be a fun year. Big Ten play starts at Michigan State, and I get to go to a wedding.
Go Big Red.
