Act III: The only way outta this is upward
Nebraska is 2-10 in November under Matt Rhule. You already knew that and, of course, know that’s not good. The final act in 2026 adds additional complications
Nebraska is 2-10 in November under Matt Rhule. You already knew that and, of course, know that’s not good. But here’s a new wrinkle for 2026: What if we make the regular season’s final act more complicated?
That doesn’t have to mean worse than the three previous Novembers, it’s just trickier with three road games, the lone home game against maybe the best team in the country and two Friday games just for a dusting of extra chaos.
This being a series focused on schedule sequencing that aims to offer a view of a reasonable baseline for the season, I went through the archives to pull up what we could’ve expected from NU over previous final acts. We know the Huskers went 2-10, what “should” they have gone based on summer projections?1
Probably 4-8. Our house recipe2 for preseason projections shows 1.2 expected November wins in 2023, 1.5 in 2024 and 1.7 in 2025. That comes to 4.4 expected wins, so, depending on how generous you’re feeling, you could argue for a 5-7 expectation over the past three seasons. Either way, Rhule & Co. are a couple of games off pace.
Nothing changes for Nebraska football until it starts doing some things you simply wouldn’t project. That’s true for the whole season, but it could come under intense focus this November.
Let’s take a look at Act III, which in my mind looks a bit like a demolition derby.
