“At first, we started slow. We started real slow. That’s all right because sometimes in life you’re gonna start slow. That’s okay.”
That quote – as well as the others used in this section – comes from a viral clip of a Texas high school player discussing a comeback win. If you don’t recognize it yet, I suspect you will shortly.
Aside from being the reaction GIF I would choose to summarize Nebraska’s 48-23 win over Maryland, the young man’s words perfectly describe the vibe I get from this Cornhusker team through five games.
“We told ourselves, ‘We’re gonna start slow, but we’re always gonna finish fast. No matter what the score was, we’re gonna finish hard, we’re gonna finish fast.'”
Much like the Ohio game, Nebraska got off to a clunky start. Defensive busts and an offense that couldn’t get out of their own way. However, the Huskers have outscored their opponents 107-32 in the second half, including 83-19 in the fourth quarter. They have won the first five games of the season by at least 18 points – the first time that has happened since 1983.
“Yeah, they had us in the first half, I’m not gonna lie. They had us. We weren’t defeated, but they had us.”
There’s the line from the well-known meme / GIF. And to the 85,033 fans in the stadium and the FS1 audience, it certainly looked like the Terrapins had Nebraska’s number. The stands – and especially social media – were filled with doom, gloom, and scorching hot takes about numerous players and coaches.
But here’s the thing – that sense of “here we go again!” panic was not present on the home sideline. Yes, NU played 26 and a half minutes of ugly football. But there was no quit, no defeatist behaviors.
“But it took guts, it took an attitude – that’s all it takes! That’s all it takes to be successful is an attitude.”
This Husker team might have the most attitude I’ve seen in a long time. It starts with quarterback Anthony Colandrea. When the run game struggled, he kept the ball and made plays. Hurdling over a defender! Cutting back into the middle of the field enroute to a 51-yard gain.
Defensively, the attitude is more of a collective vibe that you can see it at all three levels. The Blackshirts are developing a swagger.
“Our coach told us, ‘Hey, it’s gonna be tough. It’s gonna be hard. You’re gonna go out there, you’re gonna battle, you’re gonna fight. You’re gonna do it for one another. Do it for each other. You’re gonna do it for yourself. You’re gonna do it for us. And you’re gonna come out with this win.'”
There’s a lot to critique about Matt Rhule. The timeout usage. Whether or not his constant working of the refs is helping or hurting the Huskers. His timeout usage (yes, it deserves to be mentioned twice, and we’ll touch on it again in a bit).
And yet, you can see the culture of Rhule’s program on display. Nebraska may never play a perfect game. If you’re looking for style points, the Huskers are not the team for you. But if you appreciate gritty gamers who keep getting up, keep trying to win the next rep, and don’t quit, there’s a lot to like in Lincoln.
“And we believed that. We truly did. And it’s an awesome feeling. It’s an awesome feeling when you truly believe that you’re going to be successful.”
Throughout that disaster class of a first half, I was frustrated. But I felt that if Nebraska could get out of their own way and settle in, they’d be just fine. Just like Ohio. Or Michigan State.
I’ve adopted the mindset of this team. Let the fans and pundits panic. The Huskers will stay the course.
Yeah, Maryland had us in the first half. I’m not gonna lie.
But more often than not, success is in how you respond to adversity and finish the job.
Things I believe
We have reached a fork-in-the-road moment in the 2026 season.
We can debate how good (or bad) Nebraska’s first five opponents have been. After Saturday, they have a combined record of 13-13, with North Dakota accounting for five of the wins. But one thing is indisputable: the degree of difficulty is going to increase dramatically when the defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers come to town.
Nebraska’s journey through the 2026 season is nearly half over. And so far, it has largely been a smooth ride. A few bumps here and there, but 5-0 is 5-0, regardless of who is on the other side of the field.
But Nebraska has reached a fork in the road.
Four of Nebraska’s final seven opponents were ranked in the Top 15 last week. Only two future opponents (Illinois and Rutgers) have losing records.
In one direction is success. The Huskers have shown the ability to play at a high level, with talented playmakers in all three phases. NU is unlikely to win out, but the opportunity is there for one of the best regular seasons in a long time.
Unfortunately, failure is always an option. As we saw in the first half of the Maryland game, Nebraska is more than capable of shooting themselves in the foot with mistakes, penalties, turnovers, poor tackling, and more. We haven’t seen what happens when Nebraska faces a truly good team, or faces adversity in the fourth quarter.
Which direction will Nebraska’s season take? Honestly, I have no clue.
But it should be a fun ride.
It was nice of Mike Locksley to fire up the crowd.
During his weekly radio program, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley was asked about playing at Memorial Stadium. He said, in part: “Really, it’s a great venue to go play in, but it’s not one of those intimidating ones that gets super loud.”*
*For the record, I agree with Locksley. Memorial Stadium IS a great venue. But with the exception of a handful of games over the last 5-10 seasons (2025 USC, 2024 Colorado, 2021 Michigan, etc.) it has not been an overly intimidating place to play in a long, long time. Husker fans can bring it as well as anybody for a big game, but there have been just as many – if not more – sleepers.
There are many reasons for this. To name a few: Nebraska’s struggles over the last 10-20 years, few marquee games, and “Nebraska Nice” crowds that tend to wait for the “STAND UP AND SHOUT!” sound effect before they stand up and/or shout.
The day before the game, the main Huskers account called this out, tweeting the clip with the caption “See you tomorrow.“ Locksley’s words played over the HuskerVision screens as the Terps offense took the field. A second clip about the Husker student section was played in the fourth quarter as Maryland started a possession in front of the Boneyard section.
I loved it.
For far too long, Nebraska Nice has needlessly gotten in the way of the locker room material than can get fans riled up. It is possible to be the “greatest fans in college football” and still make a ton of noise when the defense is on the field. While I truly believe that Locksley meant no disrespect, it was fair game for Nebraska to use it the way they did. I guarantee the crowd was louder on Saturday than it would have been had he said nothing.
We can agree or disagree with what Locksley said, but anything that brings extra juice is definitely worth the squeeze.
Matt Rhule’s timeout usage is going to bite him in the ass.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Nebraska used all three of their first half timeouts before the middle of the second quarter.
The first timeout was used in the middle of the first quarter. NU had third-and-19 and called timeout to avoid a delay of game. Normally, I’m okay with a timeout to save the yardage, but the odds of converting third-and-19 can’t be that much higher than third-and-24. Save the timeout and get the punt team ready to go.
The Huskers used two timeouts early in the second quarter. Rhule called one after a completion to Kwazi Gilmer, hoping to convince the officiating crew to instigate a targeting review. The refs declined. NU called their final timeout before a fourth-and-four from the Maryland 41. The play they called wasn’t great – Colandrea’s pass wasn’t particularly close to any Husker receiver.
Once again, this nearly came home to roost on Nebraska’s final drive before halftime. Colandrea led an excellent 80-yard drive, and the Huskers scored with five seconds remaining. But without a timeout in their pocket, the entire drive was walking on a tight rope, where any mistake costs NU points.
If NU had a timeout to work with, I guarantee Nebraska runs their version of the Maryland I with defensive tackle lead blockers on first-and-goal from the one. Instead, NU had to throw it. Thankfully, Luke Lindenmeyer was there for the touchdown grab.
But at some point, NU is going to get burned their free-wheeling timeout usage.
Things I don’t know
Is this a repeat of 2016?
Nebraska’s current run of success has inspired a lot of “first time since ___” stats. Most of those seem to date back to 2016, Nebraska’s most recent 9-win season. There are a lot of similarities between the 2016 campaign and the 2026 season to date.
The 2016 Huskers got off to a great start, blowing out Fresno State and Wyoming. Nebraska upset No. 22 Oregon at home (NU’s last win over a ranked team). On October 29, Nebraska was 7-0 and ranked No. 7. That’s when the wheels started to fall off.
The Huskers proceeded to lose four of their final six games. One in overtime. Two by blowout. The season ended with a two-touchdown loss in the bowl game. It was a disappointing end to a promising season. As you may recall, the following season was a disaster that resulted in Mike Riley being fired.
So, are the 2026 Huskers reliving the spirit of ’16?
There is definitely an argument to be made. The 7-0 start in 2016 was built on a relatively weak schedule (the Oregon team that NU upset finished 4-8). This led to a lot of skepticism on if the Tommy Armstrong / Jordan Westerkamp Huskers were legit or a paper tiger. You don’t have to look very hard to find those opinions being shared about the 2026 squad.
The 2016 team was ultimately undone with a porous defense and injuries to their quarterback. If either of those things happen this year, it could be a rough end to the season.
A question to ponder: In the moment, the 2016 season was viewed as a disappointment. Based on what you predicted in August, would you be disappointed with a 9-4 record?
Are the struggles in the running game due to Jamal Rule being out, or is it something else?
Talented freshman Jamal Rule was injured early in the Michigan State game and did not return. He dressed for the Maryland game, but did not play. His status for Indiana is unknown.
Without Rule, Nebraska’s primary running backs (Mekhi Nelson and Isaiah Mozee) have combined for 169 yards in Big Ten play, on 44 carries (3.8 yards per carry).
The running game looked especially stale against Maryland. Running backs had very little success between the tackles – especially in the first three quarters. Both backs seemed to want to bounce everything to the outside, with varying degrees of success.
While the offense definitely misses Rule, I think it is oversimplistic to chalk everything up to his absence. As you may recall, before injuring his ankle, Rule had four carries for four yards against the Spartans.
If not Rule, then what? Why are the Huskers struggling to run the ball? Was the optimism about Nebraska’s revamped offensive line misguided? Are teams making a concerted effort to stop the run and make Colandrea beat them with his arm? Or is a simply that Big Ten defenses – even from Michigan State and Maryland – are notably better than the MAC foes Nebraska faced in the non-conference?
I think all of those factor into it. The Big Ten tends to be a league where stopping the run is a key to success, so I’m not shocked that NU’s first two opponents have made that a focal point. To Nebraska’s credit, they found other ways to move the ball and score points.
It will be interesting to see what the next few weeks look like. The level of competition is going to go up, but Rule should return. And defensive coordinators may shift their focus to containing Colandrea on the run (or pass) which could lead to opportunities for the running backs.
What offered the bigger challenge for the Huskers: Maryland or overcoming their own mistakes?
I knew coming into this game that Maryland was not going to roll over and play dead. They came to Lincoln expecting to win, and gave it their all. And for the majority of the first half, they did just that. Maryland had 300 yards of total offense in the first half and regularly made the Blackshirts look silly. The Terps defense was controlling the line of scrimmage and was content to watch Nebraska step on rakes for much of the opening 30 minutes.
I’d argue that the toughest opponent Nebraska faced on Saturday was themselves.
Nebraska committed 10 penalties in the first half. The offense had eight plays where they needed more than 10 yards for a first down. Colandrea threw an ugly interception and missed some wide-open receivers. He had a pass that was so off target he was called for intentional grounding. The defense had tackling issues, got burnt on some plays, and gifted Maryland a ton of free yardage.
But once Nebraska got out of their own way, things started to settle down. The offense moved the ball fairly efficiently, scoring six touchdowns. After allowing 300 yards and 23 points in the first half, the Blackshirts gave up 95 yards and zero points after halftime.
Huskerigami Update
A “Huskerigami” is a final score combination (win or lose) that has never happened in the 130+ year history of Nebraska football.
Final score: 48-23
Is that a Huskerigami? No. After looking good for most of the second half (35-23, 42-23, and 49-23 all would have been Huskerigami scores), the missed PAT ended the hopes for the season’s first Huskerigami.
A 48-23 score has happened once before in a 1989 win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater. In that game, the quarterback (Gerry Gdowski) was the leading rusher (14 carries for 125 yards). A Husker receiver (Jon Bostick) had two touchdowns (five catches for 99 yards). And I-back Ken Clark (father of current Husker Quinn) ran for 85 yards.
5 Things I loved
- Dwayne McDougle III. He single-handedly saved Husker Nation from a week of doom and gloom, and brought happiness and optimism to the kingdom. His 81-yard interception return for a touchdown brought the stadium to life and started the 34-point avalanche. He continues to make instinctive, ball hawk plays.
- Anthony Colandrea’s legs. Colandrea ran for a career high 108 yards on 10 carries. He hurdled a defender! He refused to run out of bounds and turned in a 51-yard statement. His athleticism helped him avoid sacks and provided the spark the offense needed.
- Kwazi Gilmer. Against Kansas State in 1967, end Dennis Richnafsky caught a school-record 14 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Richnafsky’s has stood for nearly 60 years, but Kwazi Gilmer made a serious run at it on Saturday. Gilmer caught 11 passes for 147 yards and two TDs. Gilmer was the target on 18 of Colandrea’s 40 attempts, and I can think of at least three or four where a better throw from his quarterback results in a completion.
- Punt teams. Jeremiah Charles blocked one punt and I have zero clue how he didn’t end up with a second one. Jacory Barney, Jr. continues to look like a big play waiting to happen. Archie Wilson averaged 43.6 yards on five punts (with a long of 53). Two of his kicks were inside the 20.
- Husker Vincents. Linebacker Vincent Shavers, Jr. had an excellent game. Five total tackles, including Nebraska’s lone sack. Shavers also forced a fumble. Short yardage back – and pride of North Platte – Vincent Genatone had an efficient stat line: one carry for one yard and one touchdown. His plunge at the start of the fourth quarter put Nebraska comfortably ahead.
Honorable mention: Kade Pietrzak, Luke Lindenmeyer, Isaiah Mozee, Donovan Jones, Owen Chambliss, Mason Goldman, Jasin Shiggs, Jamir Conn, Danny Odem III, Jahsear Whittington, Husker fans who answered the call for noise.
5 Areas for improvement
- Penalties. Sixteen penalties for 132 yards. Need I say more? Even if the refs made some bad calls – as Rhule not so subtly suggested after the game – 16 is WAY too many.
- Timeout usage. For the second straight week, Nebraska scored a touchdown with seconds remaining in the first half. For the second straight week, the scoring drive was more stressful than it needed to be – with zero margin for error – because Rhule had already used all three of his timeouts. Eventually, Nebraska is going to get seriously burned by this.
- Place kicking. Do we need to start worrying about Nebraska’s kicking operation? Another miss from 50+, plus a missed PAT.
- Kickoff teams. The Huskers returned four kickoffs. None of them went past the 25 yard line… which is where the ball goes if you fair catch. I have zero idea what the heck Nebraska was trying to do on the kickoff after the pick six. A squib kick that went out of bounds, with an offsides penalty to boot. The Huskers also allowed a 36-yard return. Just kick it deep.
- Game speed. Forget Maryland’s mascot, the real turtle on Saturday was the pace of the game. The first half took nearly two hours. The game clocked in at three hours and 51 minutes. Sure, that is to be expected when the teams combine for 71 points and 28 penalties. Thankfully, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, so the only issue with the lengthy game was missing Nebraska volleyball dismantling the Terps.
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