Defensive PFF Grades and Snap Counts from Nebraska's 40

Against the nation’s 120th-ranked offense, Nebraska still managed to surrender 40 points, pushing the total to 77 allowed over the final two games of the 2025 season.

Iowa finished with 379 yards of total offense, its highest output of the year, despite playing the likes of Albany and Massachusetts. For a defense that had hung its hat on being tough through much of the fall, Friday revealed something far different. Instead of closing strong, the Huskers looked like a paper tiger that Iowa had no trouble running through.

With that in mind, here’s a closer look at the final Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades and snap counts for every Nebraska defender who saw the field in Friday’s loss.

1. Defensive Line Grades

Defensive Line PFF Grades, Snap Counts against Iowa. | Trevor Tarr

Nebraska may have out-rushed Iowa on the stat sheet, but there’s nothing to celebrate in a 24-point loss. On 46 Hawkeye carries, the most Nebraska has faced all year, the Blackshirts surrendered 213 rushing yards at 4.6 yards per attempt. Iowa attacked the soft spots of Nebraska’s front over and over, and the Huskers had no answers.

The defensive line accounted for just nine of Nebraska’s 57 total tackles, with Gabe Moore recording the unit’s lone tackle for loss. And while four of Nebraska’s six credited quarterback pressures came from the front, the Huskers never managed to finish a play with a sack.

In a matchup where Nebraska desperately needed early-down disruption to force Iowa to play behind the sticks, the defensive line never generated it consistently. The final score reflects that reality as much as any number on the stat sheet.

2. Linebacker Grades

Linebacker PFF Grades, Snap Counts against Iowa. | Trevor Tar

Senior linebacker Javin Wright turned in another strong performance, finishing just shy of double-digit tackles and bringing his season total to 83. His 75.5 overall grade tied for the team’s best on the afternoon, and in his seven-year college career, he’s now amassed 177 total tackles while being a steadying presence in an otherwise inconsistent defensive bunch.

Sophomore Vincent Shavers once again led the linebacker group in snaps for the third straight week. He’s now started 12 games and appeared in all 25 contests since arriving in Lincoln, cementing himself as one of the foundational pieces of Nebraska’s defensive future. Assuming Rhule and his staff can keep him through the offseason, Shavers will be a centerpiece of the 2026 defense.

Collectively, Nebraska’s linebackers accounted for 37% of the team’s total tackles and generally held up well in one-on-one situations, even when breakdowns around them created extra stress. With Shavers, Dylan Rogers, and Jacob Bower forming a young, ascending core, the position appears to be in good hands heading into 2026. Nebraska may still look to add a veteran presence this offseason, but there’s real momentum building within this unit for future years.

3. Defensive Back Grades

Defensive Backs PFF Grades, Snap Counts against Iowa. | Trevor Tar

The final regular-season game of Nebraska’s 2025 campaign may not look like a disaster on the stat sheet, but the number of uncovered receivers running free downfield told a different story. Too often, the Huskers’ secondary found itself scrambling to recover after early breakdowns in the play.

Iowa’s ground success consistently put its offense in short-yardage situations, forcing the secondary to trigger downhill faster and commit extra bodies to the run. That aggressiveness opened the door for the Hawkeyes’ play-action game, which repeatedly created one-on-one matchups and exploitable windows in coverage. While Iowa finished with just 166 passing yards, those completions were timely, extending drives and keeping Nebraska’s defense on its heels throughout the afternoon.

The Huskers end the year allowing just 141.1 passing yards per game, a top-tier number nationally, but that steadiness will be tested in 2026. With three veteran starters set to graduate, Nebraska will look to players like Donovan Jones, Rex Guthrie, Caleb Benning, and Andrew Marshall to anchor the next iteration of the group, assuming the staff can retain the core pieces already in the room.

Overall, this unit remained the strength of the team, but shutting down the pass only matters so much when opponents consistently control the game on the ground. The disparity between Nebraska’s elite pass defense and its struggles against the run is a mismatch that would be far more manageable in another conference, not one where Big Ten games are so often decided between the tackles.

Until the Huskers can limit rushing production with consistency, the secondary’s lockdown numbers will serve as a complement rather than a driving force of conference wins. Fixing the front seven is the key. Once that happens, the coverage ability becomes the luxury it’s meant to be, not the statistic masking deeper-rooted problems.

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