So, busy week, anyone? It certainly was around Nebraska Athletics.
Football added another Kansas City date to the calendar, women’s basketball picked up some preseason attention, swimming and diving has two names to watch, gymnastics named its captains and women’s golf put together another solid fall tournament.
And because five apparently wasn’t enough this week—and it really wasn’t—we’ve got a few quick hits at the end too.
Let’s get into it.
1. Nebraska is going back to Arrowhead
Nebraska apparently enjoyed Kansas City enough to do it again.
The Huskers will open the 2027 season against Miami (Ohio) at Arrowhead Stadium on Friday, Aug. 27. It will be Nebraska’s second season opener at Arrowhead in three years after the Huskers beat Cincinnati there in 2025.
This one required some schedule shuffling. Nebraska and Miami were originally scheduled to meet in Lincoln on Sept. 11, but changes to the FBS calendar now allow programs to begin a week earlier. That opened the door for the matchup to move to Kansas City.
The state of Memorial Stadium also added a layer to the decision. Nebraska will be playing with reduced capacity in 2027 as work continues on the stadium, so moving one game elsewhere allows the Huskers to keep seven games in Lincoln while also adding another neutral-site event.
“Our fans and team enjoyed the game in Kansas City a year ago, and shortly after that contest we began having discussions with the Chiefs about returning to Arrowhead,” Nebraska Deputy AD/Chief Operating Officer Haven Fields said. “The 2027 schedule provided an opportunity to play a game in another great venue with Memorial Stadium at a reduced capacity, while maintaining seven games in Lincoln for our fans.”
It will be the first meeting between Nebraska and Miami (Ohio), but not the last. The schools also added a 2031 game in Lincoln.
2. Nebraska women’s basketball has plenty of shooting coming back
We spent some time earlier this week talking about the expectations around Amy Williams’ team, and there is another reason to be intrigued by this roster. A few Huskers are already showing up in preseason conversations.
Britt Prince and Logan Nissley both landed among the top 16 returning 3-point shooters in the country based on last season’s percentage, while Natalie Potts was recently included among 10 national players to watch for 2026-27.
Let’s start with Prince. She shot 45.7% from 3 last season, the best mark among returning Power Four players who averaged at least 2.5 attempts per game. That came while Prince was doing quite a bit more than spotting up from outside. She led Nebraska in scoring at 17.9 points per game, assists at 4.4 and steals at 1.5, while also shooting 53.5% overall and leading the Big Ten at the free-throw line.
Nissley gives Nebraska another proven option from deep. She made a team-high 65 3s last season while shooting 43.3%, making her the No. 2 returning 3-point shooter in the Big Ten by percentage among the players included. She also enters her senior year sixth on Nebraska’s career list with 179 made 3s.
Potts’ preseason recognition is a little different and probably a little more intriguing because we have not seen her in a game for quite some time. She missed all of last season while continuing her recovery from the leg injury she suffered early in 2024-25. Before that injury, Potts was averaging team highs of 17.5 points and eight rebounds through four games. She was also the 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Now she is one of 10 players nationally highlighted by BustingBrackets.com as someone to watch this season, joining a list that includes USC’s JuJu Watkins and Kentucky’s Clara Strack.
3. Two Huskers to watch in the pool and on the boards
The Big Ten released its swimming and diving athletes to watch this week, and Nebraska had a couple of names to know on the list.
Beatrix Tanko enters her senior season after setting Nebraska records in both the 50 and 100 freestyle last year. She swam 22.17 in the 50 and 48.75 in the 100 at the Hawkeye Invite, made the NCAA Championships and finished the season with 12 event victories. She was pretty good in the butterfly, too. Tanko won the 100 fly six times during the season and turned in a 51.75 at the Big Ten Championships.
On the diving side, Abby Baxter is back after earning honorable-mention All-America honors on the three-meter board. She finished 11th at the NCAA Championships with a 312.15 in the B final and also took 18th on one-meter.
Baxter had 16 top-five finishes last season, including a career-best winning score of 346.10 against Iowa State.
The season is also here. Tanko competes in the Good Life Relays on Friday, while both will be part of Saturday’s Scarlet and Cream Intrasquad at the Devaney Center.
4. Nebraska gymnastics has its captains
Nicole Jones is getting ready for her first season leading Nebraska women’s gymnastics and now we know who will help set the tone inside the locker room. Isabel Sikon, Olivia Burns and Grace Drexler have been named Nebraska’s captains for 2026-27.
Sikon is the most established competitively of the three at Nebraska. She competed all-around in every meet last season and set career highs on vault, bars, floor and in the all-around. She already owns seven event titles during her Husker career.
Burns competed in every meet on bars and beam last season and hit career highs in both events. She also brings multiple years in the program, which matters for a team entering a new coaching era.
Drexler is the interesting addition because she has not competed for Nebraska yet. The junior transferred from Arkansas after two seasons with the Razorbacks. She competed on vault as a freshman, including a 9.875 in her collegiate debut, but did not compete last season.
Jones described the three as very different kinds of leaders, which is not a bad thing for a roster going through transition. Sikon brings experience, Burns has longstanding relationships inside the program and Drexler arrives with an outside perspective. Not a bad combination.
5. Hannah Kono closes strong in Colorado
Nebraska women’s golf finished sixth at the Ben Connell Ram Classic but Hannah Kono gave the Huskers a nice finish to the week. Kono fired a 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s final round to move into a tie for 10th individually at 2-under for the tournament.
She was one of three Huskers inside the top 25.
Lauren Thiele tied for 19th at 1-over, while Ailis Tribolet finished one stroke behind her in a tie for 24th. Kaleigh Babineaux was another shot back in 27th.
Nebraska finished even par as a team after rounds of 294, 282 and 288. The Huskers were only one stroke behind Washington State and UC Davis, who tied for fourth.
That second-round 282 was especially good, and Nebraska continues to get contributions from several places in the lineup.
Next up is the OU Intercollegiate in Kansas on Oct. 5-6.
A few extras
>> Rifle starts Saturday. Nebraska opens the season at home against Akron at 8 a.m. The Huskers begin the year ranked No. 4 nationally after finishing last season No. 2 in the final coaches poll and fifth at the NCAA Championships. Richard Clark’s team went 18-1 last season.
>> Luke Lindenmeyer added another honor. The Nebraska tight end was named a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy, which recognizes college football’s top scholar-athlete. Lindenmeyer has appeared in 42 games with 23 starts, is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and is set to graduate with a finance degree in December.
>> Aniss Rafiq started his fall 4-0. The Nebraska junior upset No. 17 Cezar Gabriel Papoe of Cornell in three sets at the ITA All-American Championships to reach the East Draw round of 32. Rafiq dropped only two sets across his first four matches of the fall.
I'd like to go on the record right now in saying that I'm glad the Huskers did not play Northwestern this year.