Does Nebraska’s Season Hinge on…Rutgers and Indiana?

These next two games could define the season for Nebraska football.

Sep 14, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Dylan Raiola (15) runs against the Northern Iowa Panthers during the second quarter at Memorial Stadium. / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Before the 2024 season began, I wrote an article about the Three Games That Will Define the Season for Nebraska Football in 2024. The three games I chose? Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa. I even included two more as honorable mentions: USC and Wisconsin. 

You can see my reasoning in the article linked above, but notice who was not on my list: neither Rutgers nor Indiana. And yet, as the Huskers prepare to play the Scarlet Knights in Lincoln on Saturday, followed by the Hoosiers in Bloomington (after a bye week), it’s hard not to think these are two of the most critical games of the entire season for the Big Red. 

Bear with me for a moment.

Nebraska heads into Saturday’s game with a record of 4-1. I know we shouldn’t take any win for granted, nor do I ever like to concede that the boys in red are likely to lose a particular matchup. But just for the sake of this exercise, let’s assume Nebraska beats a very bad UCLA team (Nov. 2), and loses to a very good Ohio State team (Oct. 26).

That would be five in the win column and two in the loss column. 

Nebraska’s last three games of the season go like this: at USC (Nov. 16), Wisconsin at home (Nov. 23), at Iowa (Nov. 29). I believe in my heart the Huskers can win any or all of those games. At the same time, Husker fans know all too well that we can’t take wins over Wisconsin or Iowa as a given, and USC is really good this year. For purposes of this exercise, let’s call all three of these games coin flips (no, I’m not writing off USC as a loss).

So that still leaves us at…five sure wins and two sure losses. Which brings us back to Rutgers and Indiana.

Who would have guessed at the beginning of the season that these two games would carry such weight? Rutgers is off to its best start since 2012, and Indiana–currently #23 in the AP poll and #24 in the coaches poll–is off to its first 5-0 start since 1967! If I had to guess, I would say most Husker fans discussing the upcoming schedule at the summer neighborhood potluck were chalking both of these games up as victories (guilty). 

Win the next two, and Nebraska is at 6-1, already bowl eligible, almost certainly ranked again, and feeling GREAT about where they stand heading into the Ohio State game. Win one of the two, and you still like their chances to be bowl eligible by early November, and still playing meaningful games against USC, Iowa, and Wisconsin to end the season.

Lose them both and we’re probably reassessing how likely bowl eligibility really is for this team. What’s more, losing both would have Husker fans feeling that familiar, uncomfortable feeling of wondering how much progress this team has really made, how far off we are from being relevant, and when we’re going to be good again. 

Coach Rhule likes to get his players to focus on the moment. Stay focused on the process, do your job, tackle the challenge in front of you. “Let’s go 1-0 this week” is a popular mantra he repeats often. 

As the host of a fan podcast, I should probably do the same. But I just can’t help looking ahead a little bit. I genuinely believe that whenever Nebraska gets that 6th win to achieve bowl eligibility, there will be a giant, collective, sigh-of-relief/celebration combo the likes of which we may have never seen in Husker Nation. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can shed that monkey off our backs, and start looking forward to greater things. 

That’s why these next two games are so important. 

As always, GBR for LIFE. 

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