Dave Feit's 2025 Nebraska Football Outlook: How Optimistic Should We Be?

Can the Charlie Brown Huskers finally kick the football, or will Lucy yank it away as usual? The Huskers have the talent and coaching; now it's a matter of proving they can do it.

A lot of factors point to the Huskers having much celebrate in 2025, but expectations have had a way of falling short in recent Nebraska football seasons. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

In the 21st century, being a Nebraska fan is a lot like being Charlie Brown.

Charlie - the eternal cartoon optimist - wants so badly to succeed at sports. He manages and pitches for his baseball team. He plays hockey. And every fall, he attempts to kick a football held by neighborhood sociopath Lucy Van Pelt… only to fail in spectacular fashion.

Husker fans can relate to Charlie's plight. How many times in the last decade have we felt that this was the year a nine-win bounce-back season and a return to national spotlight would happen?

We always approach the coming season with Charlie Brown's relatable mix of blind optimism and unearned trust. This time - finally! - will be different than every time before. Lucy won’t pull the ball away again! We can picture the kick soaring high through the autumn air, perfectly splitting the uprights.

But we all know how it ends.

The ball gets pulled away at the last moment. Charlie Brown goes sailing through the air with a shocked and betrayed "AAUGH!" before - WHAM! - landing squarely on his back. The gag was an annual tradition in the Peanuts cartoon strip for nearly 50 years.*

*Raise your hand if it feels like it has been 50 years since Nebraska last met your preseason expectations.

To keep the bit fresh, Peanuts creator Charles Schultz kept changing the logic Lucy used to convince Charlie Brown to try the kick: Lucy convinces Charlie Brown that she's changed. Lucy says Charlie should be more trusting. Lucy says that after so many misses, the odds are now in his favor. Again and again and again.

The evil geniuses who script out the Husker seasons take a similar approach. Here are a few recent variations:

• 2022: Scott Frost convinces Husker fans that he's changed.
• 2023: We should trust that Jeff Sims is an NFL quarterback.
• 2024: In a fun twist, instead of the ball being pulled away, the snap never makes it to the holder. Hilarious!

After being repeatedly burned, this loveable Charlie Brown of a fan base lines up once again at the start of the 2025 season. Dylan Raiola and Dana Holgorsen! Better wide receivers! Phil Snow helping with the defense! Mike Ekeler has coached up the long snappers and holders. The offensive line is back!

John Hohl kicks a field goal against during the Huskers' win last season over Wisconsin. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

All you have to do is kick the ball.

With the words "Year Three Bump!" repeating in your head, you have more confidence than you've had in years. You start running toward the ball.

Your left foot plants firmly in the ground as you swing your right leg, momentum and adrenaline coursing through you. In your heart you feel - nay, BELIEVE - that it is finally going to happen.

What happens next?

Does the ball go sailing? Or do you? 

* * *

Much like Charlie Brown, Matt Rhule's Huskers are trying to accomplish something that has never been done before:

Improve their win total for four straight seasons.

In 1968, Nebraska won six games. In 1969, they won nine. 1970 and 1971 were national championship seasons with 10 and 11 wins, respectively. Three straight years of improvement!

In 2021, the Huskers won only three games. In 2022, they won four. Rhule's first season (2023) had five wins, and his Pinstripe Bowl team of 2024 won seven games. Three straight years of improvement!

Nebraska has never, ever had four straight seasons that ended with more wins than the year before.

The 1972 team - with all-time greats Johnny Rodgers and Rich Glover - played 12 games, but went 9-2-1. Improving on the 11-0 season put up by one of the greatest teams in the history of sport was a tall task.

The 2025 Huskers have the ability to be the first team to increase their win total four straight seasons. Eight wins - especially with a bowl game included - feels doable.

Now, it is just a matter of doing it.

* * *

"Past performance is not a guarantee of future results."

Many people are hanging their hat on the patented Matt Rhule "Year 3 Jump" - including the head coach. Back in December Rhule said, "we expect to make a jump" in 2025. I love his confidence, and it is well-earned: He's done it twice before.

But college football is notably different than Temple in 2016 or Baylor in 2019.

Revenue sharing, NIL, transfer portal, 18-team conferences and 12-team playoffs. None of these things existed when Rhule was at Baylor.

Rhule has everything he needs to make his Year 3 Jump. He has a young, but talented roster, a great staff, amazing facilities and pretty much anything else he could ask for.

But the reality of college football in 2025 is that numerous programs can claim many of the same things. More teams are actively trying to win than ever before. Schools - and their deep-pocketed boosters - have realized that the difference between a .500 bowl team and the playoff bubble is as close as it has ever been.

Hell, look at Nebraska from a year ago. At 6-6 in the regular season, you might say they were lucky to make a bowl game. I wouldn't spend a lot of time arguing.

This potential touchdown catch somehow turned into an Illinois interception last season. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

And yet, NU had an overtime loss to Illinois (with an overthrown ball that could have put NU ahead in regulation). A four-point road loss to the eventual national champion, two one-score losses to the California schools, including one with a blatant no-call on the final play. A walk-off loss to Iowa where Nebraska dominated the game in two of the three phases.

Flip any three of those five losses into wins and the 2024 Huskers are 9-3 and hanging around the "next four out" category of the rankings (No. 17-20).

Meanwhile, the margins are thinner than ever. If - heaven forbid - Raiola gets hurt in September, is there enough depth at quarterback to get this team to six wins? Similar question marks exist at several key positions. Likewise, a lot of Nebraska's reasons for optimism are rooted in getting big-time production from transfers or youngsters without a lot of proven reps in a Nebraska uniform.

The Year 3 Jump is possible, but Nebraska will be attempting it from a tightrope. 

* * *

This is the time of year when Husker fans (and many media members) set themselves up for disappointment by assuming everything will go according to plan.

Spoiler alert: No Husker season ever - not even the national championship years - has gone according to plan.

Injuries happen. Bad breaks and coaching miscues do too. There is always a team on the schedule that looks like a guaranteed win in July but becomes an absolute juggernaut by the time Nebraska faces them.

What does all of this mean for the 2025 Cornhuskers?

The ceiling for this team is very high. But if a worst-case scenario hits, they could miss a bowl game.

* * *

A big part of why I do my annual preseason preview pieces (Reasons for Optimism, Reality Check, and Questions) is that they help me assess out how I feel about the team. They make it easier to predict how the season will go.

What I've found is that I believe Holgorsen, Raiola and the offense will be good… and could show flashes toward great. The special teams will no longer be a dumpster fire wrapped in the stench of ineptitude and indifference. That will make a noticeable difference.

Defense is a wildcard for me. Until I see them play a few games, I don't have a good read on if the John Butler/Phil Snow tandem will a) work and b) be better than what Tony White was doing. Additionally, there are a ton of new faces on this team. Not all of them will be successful.

* * *

Admittedly, 7-5 is more about what has happened in the decade than what is possible in 2025. Until Rhule's Huskers convince me they can beat the teams they're "supposed" to beat and win half of their coin-flip games, I'll continue to low-ball their record. It worked last year when I predicted a seven-win season.

I have no clue which games Nebraska will lose or win. There is a very real possibility that they could lose in Kansas City. Heck, on any given Saturday (or Thursday or Friday) Nebraska can lose. Frankly, that's the key to this whole thing: Can Rhule and Nebraska finally and consistently find a way to win close games?

Nebraska fans cheer during last season's game at Ohio State. | Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Can the Huskers - for once - kick the football without landing flat on their back?

I hope so.

If they don't, I'll remind myself of the words Lucy Van Pelt said as she stood over Charlie Brown's battered body, "You look forward all year to a special moment, and before you know it, it's over."

Let's enjoy the ride. 

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