In a season where almost nothing came easy, Nebraska can expect tough sledding over the final two regular-season games.
That’s based on Saturday’s stunning — and almost shocking — results from the Huskers’ remaining two opponents. Penn State and Iowa nearly upset top-six teams, and in the process they told the college football world they have plenty of game left.
Hello, Nebraska.
Nebraska is 7-3, after Saturday night’s 28-21 win at UCLA. Of course, the Huskers finished 6-6 in the regular season in 2024. Improvement was expected from within and outside the program.
That has happened, in terms of final record. But if Husker fans expected at least one more easy win, well, it isn’t the 1990s anymore.
Nebraska will becoming off a bye week before playing at Penn State on Nov. 22. That’s a Penn State team that suddenly has come to life.
If anyone thought the Nittany Lions were packing in the season after coach James Franklin got fired on Oct. 12, and starting quarterback Drew Allar was lost for the season with injury, well, PSU (3-6, 0-6 Big Ten) proved otherwise.
The Nittany Lions, playing at home Saturday afternoon, miraculously lost to No. 2-ranked Indiana, 27-24. The Hoosiers (10-0) had to complete two remarkable passes to survive. The second completion, with 36 seconds to play, was a toe-tap along the back edge of the end zone by Omar Cooper Jr. He was in-bounds by a sliver — make it a half-sliver — for the winning points.
The Athletic called Cooper’s touchdown “the play of the year.”
Indiana did was second-ranked teams tend to do. The Hoosiers took a massive punch, regrouped, and went on a 10-play, 73-yard drive in the final two minutes. The massive punch was Penn State rallying from 13 points down in the third quarter. The Nittany Lions had the ball with two minutes to play and another first down would have all but iced the victory.
Penn State sent a strong message to its remaining opponents — Michigan State, Nebraska and Rutgers — that its bowl eligibility is a possibility.
Nebraska might be running into a buzzsaw in two weeks, especially if Penn State defeats Michigan State next Saturday.
Iowa is troublesome enough anyway for Nebraska, having won 10 of the last 12 meetings and six consecutive games at Memorial Stadium. The last seven games have been one-score margins, with Iowa winning six of them. Four of those seven victories were on walk-off field goals, including last year when a 53-yard field goal doomed the Huskers.
The teams meet on Black Friday in Lincoln, the regular-season finale.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz nearly pulled off an upset of No. 6 Oregon. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
On Saturday, the Hawkeyes (6-3, 4-2) slugged it out with sixth-ranked Oregon (8-1, 5-1) before losing, 18-16, on a field goal with three seconds to play. Iowa nearly converted a two-point conversion with 1:51 to play — that would have given the Hawkeyes a three-point lead — but the receiver was just out of bounds after making the catch.
Husker fans know Iowa is a problem and has been one for more than a decade. Last year’s Nebraska loss was a heartbreaker. The Huskers led at Iowa City, 10-3, going into the fourth quarter before losing, 13-10.
Back in the summer, The Athletic selected the Nebraska-Iowa rivalry as the 44th-best in the nation. The Athletic wrote: “Of all the series forged in realignment over the last 15 years, this one has emerged as the fiercest. It pits two passionate fan bases from border states that didn’t know they disliked one another until they started playing every year.”
When you think about Nebraska’s season, not much came easy — the overmatched Akron and Houston Christian wins notwithstanding. Four of the Huskers’ other wins were by one score — Cincinnati, Maryland, Northwestern and UCLA. They beat Michigan State by 11 points.
Two of the three losses were by one score, to Michigan and USC, both of which were ranked when they played the Huskers. Nebraska’s other loss was by 24-6 at Minnesota.
Major college football in general, and Big Ten football in particular, is a rough business. Blowouts in conference games are the exception not the rule. Teams go into conference games expecting a battle. And battles are what Nebraska should expect in its final two regular-season games. No gimmes.
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