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Nebraska

Cornhuskers · Big Ten

Head coach Matt Rhule Year 4 with Nebraska

Year-4 HCs (2015-2024) averaged -0.65 W vs. preseason expectation

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
5.5
Expected wins
5-7
Proj record
3 to 8
Win range (90%)
#54 (29–78)
Final rank (90%)
0%
Make playoff
0%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

0%

Baseline projection.

  • at Illinois
    Away · Nov 7
  • vs Washington
    Home · Oct 31
  • at Rutgers
    Away · Nov 14
  • at Michigan State
    Away · Sep 26
  • vs North Dakota
    Home · Sep 19

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

51 score
  • Quarterback 35% (2/6 )
  • Offensive line 62% (13/21 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 51% (23/30 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 50% (27/36 )
  • Secondary 57% (16/25 )
  • Special teams 98% (4/7 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

+0.6 rating

16 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • Owen Chambliss LB ← San Diego State 173 impact
  • Anthony Colandrea QB ← UNLV 170 impact
  • Dwayne McDougle III S ← San Diego State 130 impact
  • Kwazi Gilmer WR ← UCLA 98 impact
  • Victor Evans III CB ← Florida International 81 impact
  • Anthony Jones Jr. EDGE ← UCLA 61 impact

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

If QB1 is out (Dylan Raiola)

GIE projects a -20.6 rating drop and a -82.3pp shift in playoff probability if Nebraska loses its QB1 for an extended stretch. (n=4 historical samples; pooled across recent seasons.)

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 41.5% 78th — strong
  • Red-zone TD rate 15.9% 64th — average
  • 4th-down aggression 42.9% 78th — strong
  • Late & close 5.1 yds/play 53th — average

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    Nebraska: 2025 Week 16 recap

    Nebraska sits at 46th overall with a 7–6 record and a GIE rating of 6.2. Last week's 40–16 home loss to Iowa was a decisive setback that underscored the Cornhuskers' defensive vulnerabilities late in the season. The margin—24…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.