Husker Dan Answers His Emails

Dear Husker Dan:

I know the Husker football season is about six months away, but I was wondering how you would define success for Nebraska this fall.
Lon Norder
Torrance, CA

Lon: Great question. As you know, NU has a “Murderers’ Row” schedule that includes a home game October 10th with defending national champ Indiana and an away matchup with playoff contender Oregon on October 17th.

The Huskers close out the season with a home game with Ohio State (another 2025 contender) on November 21st and a Black Friday contest November 27th @Iowa. The combined record of those four teams last year was 50-8. And they’re all on NU’s 2026 schedule. Gulp!

The remainder of the season includes Ohio, Bowling Green, North Dakota, Michigan State, Maryland, Washington, Illinois and Rutgers.

My definition of a successful ’26 season consists of three objectives:
1.) Have a winning regular season.
2.) Go to a reasonably good late December bowl game.
3.) Beat at least one of the Big Four: Indiana (!), Oregon, Ohio State or Iowa.

To accomplish all that, Nebraska is going to have to find a way to get at least six or seven wins out of the remaining eight games. That’s a very tall task indeed, but do-able.

Dear Husker Dan:

What do you think about what Bill Moos wrote about Nebraska in his new book?
Rose Pahrade
Plano, TX

Rose: If what he says in his book Crab Creek Chronicles: From the Wheat Fields to the Ball Fields is true, the UNL administration was in disarray when Moos was hired as the Nebraska AD in 2017. We know Moos was picked specifically to hire Scott Frost as Mike Riley’s successor as the Husker head coach. But privately, Moos thought Frost was too immature. Moos instead wanted to look at other candidates including Brian Kelly who in 2017, was in the middle of a twelve year stint as the head coach at Notre Dame.

According to Moos, he (Moos) was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he didn’t hire Scott Frost, he probably would have lost his job, and if he had hired Frost against his better judgement, Moos would likely have suffered the same fate.

In my view, a much bigger mistake than hiring Scott Frost, would have been if Moos would have acted on his idea of Nebraska leaving the Big Ten and returning to the Big 12.

Leaving the Big Ten would have been more harmful for Nebraska athletics than enduring the four and a half years under Frost’s tenure.

Dear Husker Dan:

What are the chances Sam Hoiberg gets All Conference honors?
Phillip Widgas
Reno, NV

Phillip: If I were starting a college basketball team and I could pick any player in the country, I’d begin with Sam. He’s the Energizer Bunny on steroids. I’ve seen most of the top teams in the country perform, but I’ve yet to see anyone play as hard every game as Sam Hoiberg.

Although Sam leads the Big Ten in steals, his other stats aren’t as impressive.

As far as Big Ten honors, I would hope he would make at least second or third team.

Dear Husker Dan:

Once again, the Husker QB room is the revolving door mode. My question is, who do you think will be the starter for Nebraska in September?
Jim Baggs
Chicago, IL

Jim: As you know, former two year starter Dylan Raiola, transferred to Oregon. With him, he took his little brother (and former Husker QB recruit Dayton.) Dylan’s “replacement” was going to be Kenny Minchey a transfer from Notre Dame. But he “committed” to NU for all of one day before fleeing to Kentucky. So what’s a coach to do?

Scramble.

Husker head coach Matt Rhule had to shift into road gear. As luck would have it, he found a great QB (Anthony Colandrea from UNLV) who was available in the portal. An added benefit for Nebraska is that Colandrea started 31 games in his career (Virginia and UNLV) with 14 of them coming last season with the Rebels.

With the seven figures NU is paying Colandrea, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than AC as the starter this fall. Barring injuries, this is my pecking order: #1.) Anthony Colandrea, #2.) TJ Lateef and #3.) Daniel Kaelin.