For Nebraska Football, If Not Now, When?

Experience and a forgiving schedule present the 2024 Huskers with a rare opportunity

Nov 18, 2023; Madison, Wisconsin; Nebraska tight end Thomas Fidone II is tackled by Wisconsin cornerback Jason Maitre. The Huskers' 24-17 overtime loss was part of a winless November that kept Nebraska one win shy of bowl eligibility. / Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The Huskers have a rare opportunity this season. To miss it would be potentially devastating.

Thanks to a host of players who decided to hold off on trying their luck with the NFL, and the Big Ten’s best retention rate, the Huskers are loaded with experience.

The Huskers return 10 starters on offense, with eight more on the roster who started at least one game last year. They bring with them the majority of the offensive production from 2023.

Their defense returns eight starters from the one that finished 11th nationally in yards allowed. At least two-thirds of their defensive producers in every category still line the depth chart.

What’s more, they’re set – in all probability – to start a five-star quarterback in Dylan Raiola, a rare talent who’s drawing comparisons to Patrick Mahomes. He’ll throw to a receiving corps that’s drawing rave reviews so far this offseason, particularly for senior transfers Jahmal Banks and Isaiah Neyor, but also for rapidly improving returners like Jaylen Lloyd and Janiran Bonner, acclimating nicely after a season at fullback.

Four running backs with game experience will line up beside Raiola in the backfield. Bryce Benhart, with a record-tying 41 starts to his name, will protect him from the right side. Fifth-year senior Ben Scott will be hiking to him. Everywhere you look, experience surrounds Raiola.

Their schedule, for once, is also forgiving. Many prognosticators have already penciled in wins for their first seven games as only one bowl team (Rutgers) from 2023 is among them. The Huskers miss Big Ten heavyweights Michigan, Penn State, and newly arrived Oregon and chalk up just one game, Ohio State on Oct. 26, as a potential loss at first glance. Double-digit wins aren’t out of the question if things go right.

Those three positives portend a bright season ahead. Most pundits agree this will be the year Nebraska breaks its ignominious bowl drought. Many more have the Huskers slated to do even bigger things.

But what if they don’t?

Don’t roll your eyes just yet. Yes, the odds are squarely in Big Red’s favor to do big things this year. But there are still concerns to be factored in. Depth is suspect in certain positions – left tackle, for instance. It remains to be seen if the Blackshirts can replace the tackling production of Luke Reimer and Nick Henrich. A second cornerback across from Tommi Hill has yet to emerge. And Raiola is likely the most gifted quarterback NU has ever given the quarterback keys to, but he’s still just a true freshman.

Plus, the Huskers are still fragile mentally, as evidenced by their continued swoon in one-score contests. And historically speaking, fragility has been their M.O. since the '90s ended. You could see it when NU kicked the ball out of bounds after taking a fourth-quarter lead in the 2009 Big XII title game. It happened the following year too, when the Huskers relinquished a 17-0 lead to Oklahoma on their way out of the conference. They similarly gave away a 17-0 lead to the Buffaloes in 2019. It happened when Terrence Nunn fumbled away the winning first down against Texas in 2006, robbing coach Bill Callahan of a signature win, and when LeKevin Smith fumbled away the win against Texas Tech in 2005, failing to preserve the streak of Homecoming wins. It happened when Niles Paul and Rex Burkhead dropped sure touchdown passes versus a bad Texas team in 2010 after an off-season marketing campaign geared around beating the Longhorns.

Just last year, the team squandered a golden chance at making a bowl, going winless in November after an undefeated October put them just one win away from bowl eligibility. A trio of three-point losses and an overtime defeat befell them in what was fate’s most cruel test yet for the Big Red faithful. Are there still deeper depths to plumb?

Hopes and expectations are a terrible weight to bear, especially for college kids who want to do well for a fanbase and university that treat them like royalty. They breed fear of failure. Tightness. Self-fulfilling prophecies of doom.

What would another disappointing season mean for the Big Red roster, the fans, and the Husker brand nationally? Will players still stick around after eight straight losing seasons? Will the fanbase still wait with bated breath for a turnaround? Will recruits still buy into Matt Rhule’s message of a bright future? If there is no momentum this year, as Scott Frost failed to capture in his first seasons, will they claim it in subsequent years with a more difficult schedule and a lineup that won’t include this many seasoned veterans again?

2025 is not a guaranteed slam dunk. The Huskers will lose a group of seniors with a ton of starts under their belts, including the bulk of the offensive and defensive lines. Coaches will no doubt scrounge for an extra year for some, including senior safety DeShon Singleton, who lost most of 2023 to an injury. But if not, the Huskers stand to lose up to 16 senior starters from this 2024 squad.

The 2025 schedule also adds Penn State and Michigan, along with a Cincinnati team not far removed from making the College Football Playoff. It will likely be the Huskers’ toughest schedule since 2021, when they squared off against eight teams that won at least nine games. Remember the Huskers’ record that year?

Matt Rhule has punched above his weight class on the recruiting trail, pulling in surprising talent despite coaching a program that’s had seven straight losing seasons. The 2025 class’s potential crop has several blue chippers hanging in the balance. If the pundits can be believed, recruits like Omaha-bred Christian Jones are waiting to see if Nebraska can turn a corner before making a decision. Can the Huskers capitalize and shore up talent for years to come?

Aside from just the positive indicators already listed, there’s also the leap Rhule has typically made in year two with his prior collegiate programs to hang hope on, the records for which have been repeated ad nauseum. Not long ago, it was paramount to show Herculean success in your first two to three years because, if you didn’t, it scarcely happened at all.

Bob Stoops won it all in just his second season (2000) as head coach of Oklahoma. Ditto Jim Tressel (2002) at Ohio State and Urban Meyer (2006) at Florida. It took only three years for Pete Carroll (2003), Les Miles (2007) and Nick Saban (2009) at their respective schools. Just one for Larry Coker (2001). The Aughts were dominated by wunderkinds who won early and then often.

The need to prove your mettle in years two and three is not as necessary as it once was. Coaches Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart, and Jim Harbaugh all won their first title no earlier than their sixth year in charge.  But they also had an AP Top 25 finish in their second year. Will Rhule be able to mirror their sophomore success? Athletic directors still hold so tightly to the first-three-years tenet that rising third-year coaches like Billy Napier enter 2024 squarely on the hot seat.

Still, it would be ridiculous to assert that a team with a first-year quarterback and 80 more accompanying freshmen on its roster has to win now or it never will. The Huskers have talent for years to come, led by a gaggle of promising newcomers from the 2024 class. It’s not hard to see a bright future where Gibson Pyle and Grant Brix protect Dylan Raiola and Danny Kaelin so that Jacory Barney and Carter Nelson can make big plays over the middle. Vincent Shavers and Keona Davis will look good in black someday.

The Huskers’ roster, usually more talented than the majority of their Big Ten countrymen, at least on paper, would be better served ignoring any hype or doubt and instead strive to reach their own respective ceilings. If they do, great things await.

Nothing miraculous is required for the Huskers to satisfactorily seize the opportunity before them. While dreams of a double-digit-win season occupy the hearts of fans, a winning season will do. Something to show they’re on an upward trajectory, that more wins are on the horizon with just more time and more able bodies. But most importantly, Nebraska needs positive buzz. For sportscasters to heap praise and feature them prominently in broadcasts for the right reasons.

That should be enough to cultivate belief among the roster. That might be enough to entice recruits sitting on the fence.

And if the Huskers don’t capitalize, they’ll still take the field again next fall to a packed Memorial Stadium with visions of grandeur in their eyes. Hope for winning springs eternal in Lincoln.

Still, you have to wonder: If not now, then when?

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