Know Your Foe, Nebraska vs. Ohio: The Quarterbacks

Nebraska opens the season Saturday against the Ohio Bobcats at Memorial Stadium, and with no games played yet, it's time to bring back the "Know Your Foe" series and compare the two teams position by position.

Let's start with the most important position on the field: quarterback.

Both Nebraska and Ohio will have new starting quarterbacks compared to last season, but the similarities mostly end there.

Nebraska will turn to Anthony Colandrea, who comes to Lincoln after putting together the best season of his college career at UNLV. Ohio will hand the offense to Nick Poulos, a veteran quarterback who has spent the past two seasons behind Parker Navarro.

With neither quarterback having played a game in 2026, we'll compare their most recent seasons and what they've done throughout their college careers.

Let's Start With Nebraska: Anthony Colandrea

Quarterback Anthony Colandrea — Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska entered the offseason needing to replace Dylan Raiola after he transferred to Oregon, and Matt Rhule went into the transfer portal to find one of the most productive quarterbacks available.

Anthony Colandrea arrives in Lincoln after spending the 2025 season at UNLV, where he was named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year.

Colandrea started all 14 games for the Rebels and completed 275 of 417 passes for 3,459 yards, 23 touchdowns and nine interceptions. His 65.9% completion percentage set a UNLV single-season record.

CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	CMP%
275/417	3,459	23	9	65.9%

But what makes Colandrea different from some of the quarterbacks Nebraska has had in recent years is what he can do with his legs.

Colandrea rushed 127 times for 649 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. That gave him more than 4,100 yards of total offense and 33 total touchdowns during his lone season at UNLV.

CAR	YDS	AVG	TD
127	649	5.1	10

Those numbers weren't produced by an inexperienced quarterback having one breakout season, either.

Before UNLV, Colandrea spent two seasons at Virginia, where he started 17 games. He threw for 4,083 yards and 26 touchdowns during his time with the Cavaliers. Between Virginia and UNLV, Colandrea enters Nebraska with 31 career starts and 7,542 passing yards.

His progression from Virginia to UNLV is probably the most encouraging part.

In 2024 at Virginia, Colandrea completed 61.9% of his passes for 2,125 yards, 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. One year later at UNLV, his completion percentage climbed to 65.9%, his passing yards jumped to 3,459 and he nearly doubled his passing touchdowns while throwing fewer interceptions.

That's the quarterback Nebraska hopes it's getting in 2026.

Colandrea doesn't need to become something he hasn't already shown he can be. If Nebraska gets the player who won Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year last season, the Huskers should have one of the more dynamic quarterbacks they've had in quite some time.

Now Let's Look at Ohio: Nick Poulos

Ohio enters Saturday with considerably more uncertainty at quarterback.

The Bobcats lost Parker Navarro after last season and announced in August that veteran Nick Poulos would take over as the team's starter.

Poulos is certainly not new to the program, but he is new to being the guy.

He has appeared in 12 games over the past two seasons for Ohio but has made just one career start. His FBS career numbers include 26 completions on 57 attempts for 290 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

Last season, Poulos saw extremely limited action behind Navarro.

CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	CMP%
4/8	19	0	0	50.0%

All four of those completions and 19 passing yards came against Ohio State.

His most significant FBS action came a year earlier.

Poulos appeared in eight games during the 2024 season and completed 22 of 49 passes for 271 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown.

His lone career start came against Kentucky after Navarro suffered an injury. Poulos completed eight passes for 110 yards and added another 25 yards on the ground in a 41-6 loss.

The numbers at Ohio aren't necessarily going to scare Nebraska fans, but Poulos does have more experience than his FBS statistics might suggest.

Before arriving at Ohio, Poulos spent time at Chaffey College and El Camino College.

CAR (Career)	YDS (Career)	AVG (Career)	TD (Career)
36	183	5.1	1

He is also a quarterback can can use his leg, and that mobility is something Nebraska can't ignore.

The Blackshirts struggled against mobile quarterbacks throughout the 2025 season. Cincinnati's Brendan Sorsby rushed for 96 yards in the opener, while several other quarterbacks found success on the ground against Nebraska throughout the year.

With Rob Aurich installing his new 4-2-5 defense, containing Poulos could provide an immediate test for a Nebraska defense looking to improve dramatically against the run.

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