Ahead Of The Matchup With Penn State, Has Nebraska Fixed Its Issues On Offense?

It's no secret that Nebraska's offensive performance against UCLA was a sight for sore eyes. On this week's bonus episode in the I-80 Club, Jack Mitchell and Josh Peterson looked back at Nebraska's offense in the games leading up to the trip to the Rose Bowl to try to figure out why things have looked the way they have. With TJ Lateef at QB moving forward, could we see a less clunky offense?

Below is a lightly edited transcript of their discussion.

Jack: There was just something wrong with that offense. And then you watch the UCLA game. And I don't necessarily know that it was Lateef, but maybe it was, but like all of sudden it felt like, “Oh geez, they're being used the way they're supposed to be used. This offense was so freaking dysfunctional this year and it didn't need to be, because I will continue to say it did not add up to the sum of its parts. It never did and I don't even know why.

Josh: Receivers are too good and Emmett Johnson is too good for the offense to be as clunky as it was.

Nyziah Hunter dives for the touchdown reception against Northwestern. — Nyziah Hunter has 41 catches, 592 yards, and 5 touchdowns this season. Why does it seem like the numbers could be higher? | Cory Edmondson, KFGE

Jack: The offensive line is good enough. Every offensive position is too good for them to add up to what they were, which was very rarely super consistent and good this year. Against the Power [4] teams.

Josh: Wasn't that the frustrating part about that? Dude, the October stretch – and remove Minnesota; I know that that also is like weighing heavy over all of this discussion – but if you remove that for just a moment, they score 31 on offense against Michigan State because seven of the 38 points were [on] a block punt. So they had 31 on offense. They scored 34 against Maryland. They scored 28 against Northwestern.

Jack, 31, 34, and 28 points are gonna win you a lot of games. That is pretty good. But good Lord! If you weren't watching and you just kind of box-scored it, you'd say, “That's a pretty solid offense!”

Jack: It doesn't feel like they scored that much in those games. Especially Michigan State.

Josh: It was awful. The Michigan State [game] is the best example because that game was painful. We did the Watch Party, and there were two quarters where, as I'm watching and thinking, “wow, not literally nothing has changed.” They got off to a nice start. They had the punt block. Everything's going great. And then for two quarters, they are ground to a complete and utter halt. And then they figure stuff out in the fourth quarter.

And then against Maryland, how many interceptions [for Dylan Raiola]? Three interceptions. He throws four touchdowns, including the game-winning pass. Emmett Johnson has a nice carry that really gets things going late in the game. But they also had three turnovers. They still scored 34 points, though.

And then Northwestern, they moved the ball up and down the field in the first half, but they only get seven. And then, they have the second-half drives.

And so it's like, even when they're getting the points, to go back to your original point about Dirk [Chatelain], it is very difficult to do so. Very difficult.

Jack: There was always something dysfunctional about the offense. You might get some good stuff for a while. The Maryland drive at the end of the game was incredible. It was great. Dylan was great on it. The final drive against Northwestern, Dylan was great on it. You never felt like anyone was scared of this offense. Ever!

Josh: And I don't know why they would be.

Jack: And part of the reason is Emmett Johnson was good for the first half; he's been great for the second half. But it was never complementary with the rest of the offense. Up until maybe the UCLA game. I'm not a Teefie, but we said it at halftime of that UCLA game. Remember? I was like, “Oh my gosh, the offense looks like it's unencumbered by whatever it was,” but I can't even put my finger on what was encumbering it exactly.

According to Jack Mitchell, Nebraska's offense looked "unencumbered" against UCLA; a first for the 2025 season. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Quarterback, play calling, offensive line; I don't know. It was all of it to some degree. It’s not just on the quarterback. I don't think it's just on the quarterback.

Josh: Spinning it forward a little bit, it's gonna be interesting on Saturday to see how dana Holgorsen calls plays again. Because you know, I've had someone in my ear for the last couple of months, Jack theorizing that “Dana enjoys calling plays much more for Lateef,” or before the last game, he had been frustrated in terms of calling plays for Raiola. And now there is a freedom with Lateef that he feels like he is going to have. And then, it was kind of an “I told you so” after the UCLA game.

Now, all the usual caveats; it was UCLA, they're a bad defense, terrible at getting to the quarterback. But I am just endlessly interested to see what's gonna happen on Saturday against Penn State and then, of course, Black Friday versus Iowa. And will that continue to show itself?

As many people in the chat have pointed out tonight, it looked fun. It looked fun. And Jack, you and I did the halftime show, and what was your reaction immediately? “I wish the defense could get off the field more because I want to watch the offense.” It wasn't just, “I want the offense to have the ball because they can score and help Nebraska win.” You were enjoying the actual process of watching the offense. When's the last time that you were having fun? Not, “I hope that they score,” but “wow, I can't wait to see what they cook up on this drive.” And that's what the UCLA game was for the first two and a half quarters.

Jack: It's because it felt like when the offense did do well, Raiola had to make an insane escape from being sacked, right? And then make a ridiculous throw to Jacory Barney against Michigan State. Or make falling down against Maryland and make a ridiculous throw to Nyziah Hunter. And again, credit to Dylan Raiola because he was a part of a ton of it when it actually worked.

But it wasn't like it was planned ever. It was improvising when it went well. It was Emmett Johnson improvising all over the damn field. And the individual talent of these players.

Josh: Again, it's too high.

Jack: You want to talk about Dylan or you want to talk about Emmett or you want to talk about some of the receivers; they did things that ended up winning the games for them but it looked too freaking hard all year.

Watch the entire clip below!

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