Nonconference play is over for the Huskers. That means Big Ten play is here and Nebraska gets its first test on the road.
Nebraska is also 3-0 after handling Ohio, Bowling Green and North Dakota by a combined 104 points. The offense has been explosive and balanced, while the defense has allowed almost nothing for long stretches. Jamal Rule has become one of the best freshman stories in the country, while Anthony Colandrea has looked increasingly comfortable running Dana Holgorsen’s offense.
Nebraska now opens Big Ten play at Michigan State in its first road game of the season, against a team that has already been tested at No. 3 Notre Dame and a coach Husker fans know plenty about from his Northwestern days.
If history is any guide, Saturday could get interesting. Will it?
Nebraska at Michigan State
When: Saturday, Sept. 26 | 4 p.m. CT
Where: Spartan Stadium | East Lansing, Michigan
TV: Big Ten Network
TV crew: Jeff Levering, Jake Butt, Brooke Fletcher
Radio: Huskers Radio Network
Radio crew: Kyle Crooks, Jay Moore, Jessica Coody
Records: Nebraska 3-0; Michigan State 2-1
Last week: Nebraska defeated North Dakota, 34-7; Michigan State lost at No. 3 Notre Dame, 27-10
Series: Nebraska leads 10-4
In East Lansing: Michigan State leads 3-2
Last meeting: Nebraska defeated Michigan State, 38-27, in 2025
Weather: Partly cloudy during the day with a high near 71 degrees and northeast winds at 5-10 mph. Skies are expected to clear Saturday night, with a low around 42.
Setting the scene
Nebraska could not have asked for much more from its nonconference schedule. The Huskers went undefeated in nonconference play for the third straight season, scoring 49, 56 and 34 points respectively. They rushed and passed for at least 200 yards in all three games, something Nebraska had not done in three consecutive games since 2016.
Defensively, the numbers have been just as encouraging. Nebraska enters Big Ten play allowing 225.7 yards and 11.7 points per game. Opponents are converting only 23.1% of their third downs. After Ohio hit Nebraska for a 68-yard gain on the first snap of the season, the Blackshirts have allowed only three more plays of at least 20 yards over the next 11 quarters.
Michigan State brings a different challenge, of course.
The Spartans are 2-1 under first-year coach Pat Fitzgerald, beating Toledo and Eastern Michigan before losing 27-10 at Notre Dame. Their defense has allowed 295.7 yards and 18 points per game, and Nebraska will see a level of size, physicality and individual defensive talent it simply has not encountered yet.
East Lansing has not been especially friendly either. Nebraska’s last two trips there ended in three-point losses, including an overtime loss in 2021 and another three-point game in 2023.
Five of the past six Nebraska-Michigan State games have been decided by five points or fewer.
Rhule on what changes now
Coach Matt Rhule sounded excited this week about finally taking this team somewhere else.
“We’re obviously excited to get started with Big Ten play and go on the road for the first time,” he said.
The environment will introduce things Nebraska has not had to manage yet: crowd noise, road-game communication, a different routine and an opponent capable of making mistakes hurt more. Rhule doesn’t expect this game to be decided by who invents the cleverer plan though.
“It won’t be a schematic game; this will be an execution game.”
Michigan State’s defense, in particular, is not trying to hide what it wants to be.
“They’re going to press outside all day.”
And the Spartans have individual defenders who demand attention.
“He’s one of those guys who causes his team to win,” Rhule said of edge rusher Kenny Soares Jr.
Storylines to remember
Nebraska gets to find out what is real
Three weeks into the season, Nebraska has a lot of statistics worth liking. Which ones survive against Big Ten competition on the road?
Nebraska ranks among the national leaders in total offense, rushing offense, scoring offense and third-down conversion percentage. The Blackshirts have been similarly strong in total defense, pass defense, scoring defense and third-down defense.
Some of that is Nebraska being better than its opponents. Some of it may simply be Nebraska being good. Saturday should start to separate the two.
The encouraging part is that the Huskers have not needed one formula to win so far this season. Ohio made them adjust, Bowling Green gave them room to explode and North Dakota challenged the run defense differently. Nebraska handled all three.
Michigan State should be the first team capable of stressing multiple areas at once. If the Huskers still look balanced, efficient and difficult to move the ball against by Saturday evening, we will know considerably more than we did after nonconference play/
The first road test belongs to Colandrea too
Colandrea has looked increasingly settled through three weeks. He has protected the football, taken easier throws when they are available and still made the aggressive plays when needed. That balance becomes a little bit more difficult on the road.
We know that crowd noise can complicate protections and checks. Michigan State’s defense will challenge Nebraska’s receivers physically. Rhule expects press coverage outside, which means Kwazi Gilmer, Jacory Barney Jr., Nyziah Hunter and the rest of the room may not get the same clean releases they saw earlier in the season.
The reality of the situation is that Colandrea doesn’t need to produce a highlight every series. Nebraska just needs the same version it has gotten from him so far: decisive, patient enough and willing to take what is there.
The Huskers have turned the ball over only once. Keeping that number low matters against Michigan State.
Jamal Rule gets his first real Big Ten test
Three games into his college career, Rule already feels like more than a fun freshman story. He is averaging 109.7 rushing yards per game and he has two 100-yard performances. He has six total touchdowns, five rushing and one receiving, the most by a Husker through three games since Taylor Martinez also had six in 2011.
Rule is not doing this alone either.
Mekhi Nelson has 166 rushing yards and 106 receiving yards, making him one of only three players nationally with at least 100 of each. Isaiah Mozee has added another 126 yards on the ground.
That room has given Holgorsen options. Will the explosive runs keep showing up once the fronts get bigger and the windows get smaller though?
Michigan State allowed 161 rushing yards at Notre Dame last week. Nebraska has already produced 10 runs of at least 20 yards this season. One or two of those in East Lansing could change the entire feel of the game.
More importantly, a functioning run game takes pressure off Colandrea, slows down the pass rush and keeps Nebraska from living in obvious passing situations in its first road environment.
We’ll see what the running backs can do on a September Saturday in the Big Ten.
The Nebraska defensive front has reached the next level of the test
Nebraska’s defensive line has looked good, but Michigan State will be a different kind of evaluation. (Are you sensing a theme here yet?)
The Spartans have not been especially efficient on the ground at 3.7 yards per carry, but they are committed to it. Their 121 rushing attempts through three games are tied with Nebraska for third-most in the Big Ten. It’s worth noting that Fitzgerald teams generally do not get bored with trying to establish the run.
Cam Edwards gives Michigan State a capable back and the Spartans have a veteran offensive line. Nebraska is no longer lining up against a front it should simply overwhelm physically. That means the details matter more.
Can Nebraska win first down? Can the tackles keep Michigan State from creating easy interior movement? Can the defensive front create pressure when the Spartans have to throw without creating escape lanes?
The Blackshirts had five sacks against North Dakota. They have also been excellent at getting off the field, with North Dakota converting only one of 12 third downs.
That is the formula Nebraska wants. Force second-and-long. Force third-and-long. Let the rush go to work.
Michigan State will make the Huskers have to earn those situations.
Hidden yards can’t add up
Special teams have been sitting in the background through Nebraska’s first three games.
The Huskers have shown genuine upside. Nebraska blocked a punt against Bowling Green. Hunter has flashed as a kick returner. Rhule believes Barney can become one of the country’s best punt returners.
There have also been too many penalties and some moments where the operation has not been as clean as Nebraska wants. That is manageable when the score gets away from an opponent. It’s less manageable in a series where five of the last six meetings were decided by five points or fewer.
Saturday may be the first game this season where hidden yards stop feeling hidden, so special teams can’t allow those to add up.
The hidden risk in Nebraska’s 3-0 start
“I think this is as good a Nebraska teams as I’ve seen in a long time,” Pat Fitzgerald said Monday. The new Michigan State head coach faced the Huskers every year from 2011 to 2022 as Northwestern’s coach. When it comes to familiarity with Big Ten era Nebraska, the only coach who trumps Fitzgerald is Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, and he isn’t gassing up NU football to this degree at a Monday press conference because rivalry still means something in this rapidly changing sport.
What the numbers say
1 — Nebraska is the only team in the country ranked in the top 10 in both third-down conversion percentage (57%) and third-down defense (23%).
3 — Nebraska has topped 200 yards rushing and passing in all three games.
6 — Jamal Rule has six touchdowns through three games.
23 — Nebraska has 23 offensive plays of at least 20 yards this season, tied for second nationally entering the week.
104 — Nebraska’s combined scoring margin during nonconference play.
Odds and ends
>> Nebraska is trying to win its Big Ten opener for the first time since beating Illinois in 2019.
>> The Huskers are 6-9 in Big Ten openers since joining the conference.
>> Saturday marks Nebraska’s seventh road Big Ten opener in the past 10 seasons.
>> Nebraska’s only Big Ten-era win at Spartan Stadium came in 2012, a 28-24 comeback.
>> The Huskers won last year’s meeting 38-27 in Lincoln.
>> Pat Fitzgerald went 6-6 against Nebraska during his time at Northwestern.
Welcome to Big Ten play, Nebraska. Now the real test of the season begins.
The opponents are better, the stadiums are louder and the margins should be smaller. For the first time this season, Nebraska has to prove that all of the progress we saw in Lincoln works somewhere else.
Settle in. We’ll see you later today.