I picked Nebraska to lose this game before the season started. I did not change my mind leading up to the matchup yesterday against Michigan even though my heart told me that the Huskers would find a way to win.
I say that merely because I don’t believe we should come to some grand conclusions regarding the dire state of Nebraska football.
At halftime of the Houston Christian game, FS1 went to their studio for the halftime show and Chris Petersen made a comment that I noted. He said, paraphrased, that he isn’t
sure how much good this game is doing Nebraska. They likely aren’t going to get much better and that they would likely have benefited from a tougher opponent.
He then said the cliche, “iron sharpens iron.”
Well watching the Nebraska offensive line attempt to block the Michigan pass rush my mind raced back to what Chris Petersen said a week earlier. That also happened when I watched the Nebraska defense miss key tackles on two of Michigan’s long touchdown runs as well as those key third and longs in the fourth quarter.
Nebraska might have had it a little TOO easy the previous two weeks to prepare them for Michigan. While Nebraska did play a good Cincinnati team, it was Michigan who played a much better team in Oklahoma two weeks ago.
That kind of is what it looked like out there yesterday. Michigan looked more physical and were much better at tackling than Nebraska. I don’t see it as an indictment of Matt Rhule and the coaching staff. I see it as one team had already “gone through it” while the other had not.
Well that is my hope.
This was a missed opportunity by Nebraska to take that next step. They could have done it today. They had multiple possessions where they came away with zero points. They could have stopped Michigan multiple third and longs in the fourth quarter.
Could have. Should have. What ifs. All of that crap.
Now Nebraska has a week to swim in the disappointment before Michigan State comes to town. Michigan State likely will not provide the same opportunity that beating a ranked Michigan team would have provided. That next opportunity looks like it will be when USC comes to town on November 1st.
However, there is a great opportunity sitting right in front of Nebraska. The next four games are against Michigan State, Maryland, Minnesota and Northwestern. Those are four games Nebraska should win.
However, over the past decade plus, a Nebraska team would lose at least one of those games. If Nebraska can win the next four games then that would show a tremendous amount of progress.
If they get that done, then when USC comes to town on November 1st, that could be the game (hopefully at night) in which Nebraska takes that step on the national stage to announce itself.
They missed this opportunity. Time to take advantage of the next.
The Morning After
Post Game Reaction: Michigan Edges Nebraska 30-27
Nebraska loses another one-score game to a ranked Michigan team.
Another incredibly disappointing loss, but I think we all saw that Nebraska still has a ways to go to compete with the upper echelon in the Big Ten.
That’s the bad news.
HUSKERS FOOTBALL Recap: Michigan 30 NEBRASKA 27
“Once the sadness dissipates, we’ll realize there’s a lot of things to build on.”
And with that quote, Matt Rhule put my recap into words. I don’t generally cheat by going to the bullet points on a recap, but a game like this with so many factors involved and the stories of two very different teams playing a 3-point game, it just seems like an easier way to break everything down. So here we go – Huskers first, just Good and Bad style.
What we learned from Nebraska’s loss to Michigan
In its most significant test of the season, Nebraska could never get over the hump in a 30-27 defeat to No. 21 Michigan on Saturday.
Here are five of our biggest takeaways from the Huskers’ first loss of 2025 and what it means for NU going forward…
Steven Sipple: Hard to blame Nebraska fans who expected more from Huskers on this day
Nebraska put forth an admirable effort right until the end Saturday — for what it’s worth.
For its trouble, it retains its rightful spot in the middle of the Big Ten pack.
I didn’t see a ton of progress from Matt Rhule’s program. I expected more.
Fast Takes: Michigan 30, Nebraska 27
It won’t break them. That was the message from the Huskers after a 30-27 loss to Michigan on Saturday.
But no doubt this one sucks, as Dylan Raiola put it, with Nebraska missing out on an opportunity to beat a ranked team at home. And now a bye week to have to work through it with that taste in your mouth.
Michigan, without Sherrone Moore, runs wild on Nebraska, extending Husker pain in Top 25 games
LINCOLN, Neb. — Michigan didn’t have its head coach, but an overpowering pass rush and an explosive running game provided all the support freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood needed.
The No. 21 Wolverines sacked Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola seven times and won 30-27 Saturday in the Big Ten opener for both teams. A 75-yard touchdown run from Justice Haynes and a 54-yard TD from Jordan Marshall took the pressure off of Underwood, who completed 12 of 22 passes for 105 yards and ran for a 37-yard touchdown.
