The Equation: NU's offense is close, can it get there?
In a lot of ways, Nebraska's 2025 offense was so close to being good. In a couple of ways, it wasn't. Those are the keys for 2026.
Nebraska’s offense made gains last year in its first full season under the direction of OC Dana Holgorsen. They weren’t always easy to see and they weren’t enough to overcome a bigger step back than NU could afford from the defense, but they were there.
If points are how games are determined and yards are the most consistent path to points, it stands to reason that the teams that can most efficiently translate yards to points have the edge. The top three offenses in this regard last year were Notre Dame (10.9), Iowa1 (11.0) and Indiana (11.1).2
Nebraska ranked a respectable 45th here at 13.6 yards per point in 2025. That was 2 yards improved from 15.6 (95th) in 2024. While the record for both seasons was the same, the 2024 offense would’ve needed to gain about 750 more total yards to score the same points the 2025 offense did. That’s progress.
The Equation is an annual offseason series essentially about reverse engineering. I don’t start with the best-reasonable outcome for Nebraska as the goal but rather the record that results in the fewest people thinking “we need to fire everyone.” It’s an attempt to be reasonable, and this year I think that record is 8-4, which, against this schedule, might require the Huskers to be “playoff good.”
