Jeremy Pernell: What We Learned in the First Month of Nebraska's Season

Strengths and weaknesses emerged - some of them not surprising - during the Huskers' first four games. What might be done differently as October and November unfold?

Ceyair Wright and the rest of the defensive secondary have been a bright spot thus far for coach Matt Rhule's Huskers. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Nebraska is coming off its first bye week of the season following a disappointing loss to Michigan, extending the Huskers' losing streak to top-25 teams to 28 — tied for third-longest in Big Ten history.

While players absolutely hate heading into a bye with the taste of a loss lingering in their mouths, I think Husker coaches would agree it came at a good time. No doubt plenty of time was spent self-scouting to determine if some tweaks needed to be made schematically and whether or not to adjust the roles of some players moving forward as they head into a pivotal month of October, starting with a showdown Saturday with Michigan State.

Let's take an in-depth look at how the first month of the season went for the Huskers.

Record/Results: (3-1 overall, 0-1 Big Ten)
   • Aug. 28: Nebraska (20) Cincinnati (17)
   • Sept. 6: Nebraska (68) Akron (0)
   • Sept. 13: Nebraska (59) Houston Christian (7)
   • Sept. 20: #21 Michigan (30) Nebraska (27)

What went right offensively

Unless you're one of the national pundits who inexplicably slept on Dylan Raiola this offseason, it should come as no surprise that Nebraska's passing attack is among the best in the country. Through the first four games of the season, the Huskers rank second nationally, averaging 351.8 yards per game through the air.

Incoming transfers Dane Key (Kentucky) and Nyziah Hunter (Cal) have lived up to expectations, while Jacory Barney has taken a significant jump coming off his standout freshman campaign. Each one of those guys has enjoyed multiple standout performances already: Barney (6 rec. for 120 yards, 2 TD vs. Michigan; 7 rec. for 132 yards vs. Akron), Hunter (6 rec. for 65 yards, TD vs. Cincinnati; 4 rec. for 82 yards vs. Akron), Key (4 rec. for 104 yards, TD vs. Houston Christian; 6 rec. for 51 yards, TD vs. Cincinnati). Those three form one of the best starting trios in the Big Ten.

Dylan Raiola is playing at an all-conference level and became just the second Big Ten QB since 2000 to complete over 75% of his passes and have eight touchdowns and no interceptions through the first three games of the season.

Despite only playing 12½ quarters so far this season, Raiola has thrown for 1,137 yards. His 284.3 ypg average ranks 15th nationally, while his 11 touchdowns are currently tied for ninth in the country. He's completing 75.6% of his passes (102-of-135), which is tied for fourth nationally. Raiola currently ranks 15th in passer rating with a mark of 171.71. For those of you who are more familiar with the NFL passer rating metric, Raiola's numbers would put him at 124.2.

Dylan Raiola's command of the offense has been a major plus for the 2025 Huskers. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Raiola is on pace to break several Husker single-season passing marks. Some records that are likely to be broken include passing TDs (26 - Zac Taylor, 2006) and completion percentage (71.52 - Adrian Martinez, 2020). Others in his sights include passing yards (3,568 - Joe Ganz, 2008), attempts (430 - Zac Taylor, 2005) and completions (285 - Joe Ganz, 2008). Raiola already owns the record for passing yards in a season for a freshman (2,819) and he appears well on his way to surpassing Tommy Armstrong's sophomore record of 2,685 set in 2014.

The grumbling that came from a small subsection of the fan base who were calling for a change at QB following the Michigan loss is so absurdly ridiculous that I don't want to give it any credence.

Nebraska's offensive tackles were a turnstile against the Wolverines and yet Raiola was still able to complete 30-of-41 passes for 308 yards with 3 TDs and an interception that was actually the result of Luke Lindenmeyer running the wrong route. Raiola became the first QB to throw for over 300 yards against Michigan since Aiden O’Connell (Purdue) did it in December of 2022.

Raiola's passer rating against Michigan was 155.54 — which in a vacuum would be the 37th best mark in the country right now. Again, that equates to a 108.6 NFL passer rating.

I'm as high on TJ Lateef's potential as anyone, but he's nowhere near Raiola yet. There are only a handful of QBs in the entire country who process the game as quickly as Raiola, let alone possess his arm talent. Nebraska struggles to score double digits against Michigan without Raiola under center. That's a fact. Now, if you wanna see Lateef in some sub-packages in specific situations like we saw last year with Heinrich Haarberg, okay, I can get behind that.

Carson Beck has a chance to be one of the first five or six QBs taken in the 2026 NFL Draft, but he wasn't No. 3 Miami's top portal target last offseason. The Hurricanes tampered with — errrrr — gauged Raiola's interest first. Given a chance, they'd do it again. Why? Because Dylan Raiola has a chance to be one of the first five or six players taken in either the 2027 or 2028 NFL Draft.

Biggest concern offensively

Some might point to a running game currently ranked 87th nationally, averaging 144.75 ypg and only 4.2 per carry (t-84th). With eight Big Ten games remaining, I expect those numbers — particularly yards per game — to continue to decline.

I'm not one of those people, however. Not because I don't think it's a big problem moving forward. Rather, it's because I voiced my concerns over the RB position during my August write-up. I'm not surprised.

Despite the fact Matt Rhule spent much of last season publicly lamenting the lack of explosive plays and overall production from the RB spot, Nebraska decided to not upset the apple cart and bypassed signing former Creighton Prep star CharMar Brown this spring. The former North Dakota State standout was second-team All-MVFC and won the Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman in the FCS in 2024.

Emmett Johnson has shouldered a workload against Power Four teams that might not be sustainable. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Nebraska bowed out of the sweepstakes because Brown's price tag exceeded that of incumbent starter Emmett Johnson and they wanted to avoid that discrepancy. It's the same reason they chose not to match the deal Dante Dowdell received last offseason from Kentucky.

I wonder if Rhule would make the same decision on Brown if he had it to do all over again. Brown has looked very good for Miami. I'd argue he could have unseated Johnson as RB1. Meanwhile, Nebraska's in the bottom four in the conference in rush attempts. The run game simply isn't good enough — again — and they don't have a viable RB2 at this point.

Some teams — including Nebraska — may not need a consistent running game to put up points, but good teams need it to close out games and control the pace. If the Huskers don't have that in their arsenal, it's going to bite them and it might cost them a game this season they have no business losing.

Coaches have a predicament on their hands. In Nebraska's two games against Power Four teams, Emmett Johnson averaged 22 carries and 28 overall touches. That's not sustainable. Coaches know October is an important stretch, but if they have any hopes of beating teams like Penn State, USC and Iowa at the end of the season, they'll need Johnson as healthy as possible. If he maintains that usage rate — which he may need to do in order for Nebraska to win — he's going to be running on fumes come November.

I'm actually more disappointed in an offensive line that was touted as the Huskers' best since joining the Big Ten fifteen years ago. While interior players Henry Lutovsky (LG), Justin Evans (C) and Rocco Spindler (RG) have generally played well all season — including against Michigan — Gunnar Gottula (LT) and Teddy Prochazka (RT) have struggled against both of the Power Four teams Nebraska has faced.

Before I take those two behind the woodshed for their performances against the Wolverines, it's only fair to preface my rant by pointing out Jaishawn Barham, Derrick Moore, Rayshaun Berry and TJ Guy currently have first- and second-round draft grades.

Even so, Gottula and Prochazka were four-star prospects and they've been in the program for multiple seasons under Donovan Raiola's tutelage. There's no shame in losing reps to players of that caliber, but to look so completely inept and outclassed is sobering. Moore and Barham, in particular, had Nebraska's tackles on skates all game long. They just completely ate their lunch.

Michigan brought pressure on 24 of Raiola's dropbacks, but they were also getting pressure a lot of the time with just three- and four-man rushes, and that's concerning.

In total, Dylan Raiola was sacked seven times and was under pressure on 49% of his dropbacks (24 of 49 drops). Five different edge defenders had at least three pressures. They were in Raiola's lap all game long. Championship-caliber teams in the Big Ten are built on strong play at the line of scrimmage. At this moment in the development of its program, Nebraska is clearly lagging in development on the O-line.

Is it time to give Elijah Pritchett a chance to get into a groove? | Nebraska Athletics

I think coaches should make changes to the starting lineup. They made a seven-figure investment in Elijah Pritchett, and although he has hurt the team with a couple of false starts, there's no arguing he has the highest ceiling in the room. Coaches split reps evenly among Pritchett, Gottula and Turner Corcoran at LT to start the season before giving the job to Gottula. Pritchett has played in 69 snaps through the first four games compared to Gottula's 164. It's time to put him out there full-time and let him work things out and get into a groove.

In my August write-up on the O-line, I wrote "Gottula has been looked at as the long-term answer at LT since before he was forced into action a year early last season. Why not let him plant roots at that spot for the next two or three years? Pritchett focused on LT early in his career at Alabama but ended up making 11 of his 12 starts on the right side for the Crimson Tide last season."

I maintain that would have been the best placement for those two had that been the plan all offseason. Is that even an option? At this point, would the team replace Prochazka with Pritchett on the right side? Would they move Gottula to the right and insert Pritchett at left?

After four games, I believe Gottula has been the better pass blocker while Prochazka has done better in the run game. Neither has shined in either category against Power Four competition, however, so I'd be interested to know who the coaches have graded higher overall. I'd give the slight edge to Prochazka, but I would stick with Gottula because of his upside. Will we see a shakeup Saturday?

What went right defensively

Nebraska's pass defense is outstanding. It's something I anticipated this offseason and talked about in my preview of the secondary. While the Huskers haven't played many prolific passing teams yet, they've absolutely clamped down on everyone they've faced so far. Michigan is the only team to have eclipsed 100 yards, with Bryce Underwood accounting for just 105 yards through the air on 12-of-22 passing.

The Blackshirts held Cincinnati's Brendan Sorsby — who is on NFL radars — to just 69 yards on 13-of-25 passing, including an interception in the season opener. Despite that pedestrian output against Nebraska, Sorsby is currently averaging 260.8 ypg and has thrown for 10 TDs in the last three games for a Bearcats offense that ranks 25th nationally in passing.

Akron (62) and Houston Christian (67) were even more inept through the air. The Huskers will be tested this weekend against Michigan State and later this season by teams like USC and Maryland, but this secondary has looked outstanding in coverage.

Nebraska is currently No. 1 in the country in yards allowed through the air (75.8 avg.) and is the only team that hasn't allowed a pass play of over 20 yards. They're also one of only two teams, along with Arizona, who have yet to allow a touchdown pass.

The Huskers rank fourth in allowed completion percentage (50.6%), first in yards per attempt (3.4) and first in opponents QB rating (76.9). Nebraska is the top-ranked team nationally in passing efficiency defense, which is determined by evaluating opponent statistics for completions, touchdowns, interceptions and attempts. It's particularly impressive considering the defensive front hasn't generated much pressure on the opposing QB this season, having just six sacks a third of the way through the season, which is tied for 112th nationally.

Donovan Jones has been a vital piece of Nebraska's defensive secondary since the injury to Malcolm Hartzog, | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Malcolm Hartzog got dinged up against Akron and hasn't played in the last two games. In his absence, John Butler has moved Ceyair Wright into his vacated nickel spot and inserted Donovan Jones into the starting lineup at cornerback opposite Andrew Marshall. While it's not ideal to move Wright out of his corner spot — opposing QBs had completely avoided him — I believe this is their best lineup because it gets their five best players on the field together.

Youngsters Rex Guthrie (rover), Jamir Conn (nickel) and Caleb Benning (FS) have looked really good during their stints on the field. With those three in line to take over the safety spots next season, I'll be interested to see what their usage rate is as the season moves along. There hasn't been a discernible drop-off when those three have been in the game. It'd be nice to continue their development.

I would also like to see more of Dawson Merritt heading out of the bye week. Merritt has seen action in all four games, playing 62 total snaps, but only seven between the Cincinnati (4) and Michigan (3) games. He's looked athletic and aggressive in his appearances. I'd like to see him get a heavier work load moving forward.

Biggest concern defensively

Nebraska is tied for 110th nationally in rush defense, allowing 173.5 yards per game. That number is even more alarming when you consider their two Power Four opponents rushed for 202 (Cincinnati) and 286 (Michigan). The defense is allowing 5.18 ypc, which currently ranks 122nd out of 136 FBS teams, and they've allowed six runs of 20 yards or more. Heck, Michigan alone had seven runs of over 10 yards that amounted to 221 total yards.

Simply chalking up the struggles against the run to the D-line being outmanned — even against Michigan — would be a bit off the mark, though. The Huskers could certainly use at least one more legit nose guard on the roster, but the blame doesn't fall completely on the D-line's shoulders. There's plenty to go around.

This past weekend, I rewatched the first four games of the season. Even if you don't agree with his approach, John Butler’s system has been relatively sound. I put the majority of the blame on the players' lack of execution at times more than I do the defense being out-schemed.

Nebraska defensive coordinator John Butler. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

With the Husker front being undersized, Butler has been utilizing a lot of twists and stunts with the D-line in an attempt to confuse the opposing O-line and create some havoc plays through creativity. In the run game, the back seven need to either box or spill behind it.

For those of you who don't know what that means, without losing you by getting too technical, boxing will condense the formation and entails trying to contain the runner inside to allow more defenders to swarm the ball-carrier. Spilling involves trying to force the runner to move laterally toward the sidelines, stretching the play so that defenders can then run the ball-carrier down. There's a lot more to it, obviously, but that's the gist.

Nebraska's front seven has struggled with gap discipline, leverage, containment and physicality, while the second and third levels have been indecisive or slow to fit. Defenders aren't sound in their alignment and are struggling to get off blocks. There's been too much leaky yardage allowed due to poor tackling and misfits throughout every level on a defense that doesn't rally to the ball like you'd want.

Will more reps and time on task fix these issues as the season progresses?

In my D-line preview this summer, I wrote, "Nebraska is more athletic on the D-line this year but do they have anyone who can consistently command double-teams the way Nash Hutmacher did? Can second-line players who were asked to play 12-15 snaps a game last year double and triple that output this season and be as productive as Ty Robinson, Jimari Butler and MJ Sherman?"

So far that's a resounding "no."

What's ahead in October

October is a pivotal month for the Huskers. All of their goals are still attainable. Although a playoff run is unrealistic, the eight-win regular-season that would springboard the program like I wrote about during the summer is still very much on the table.

If this team wants to capitalize, they need to go 3-1 — at minimum — this month because going .500 in November might be in the cards.

Nebraska kicks things off Saturday against Michigan State (3-1), who will come to Lincoln with the best QB and WR corps that the Huskers have faced this season. They follow that up with their first true road game of the season against a Maryland team that is currently undefeated. The Terps are allowing just 10.8 points per game (seventh nationally) and have an offense that will test the Husker defense.

The Huskers have lost five straight to Minnesota since their 2018 win against the Gophers. | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

The Huskers then face Minnesota (3-1) on the road on a short week. Nebraska hasn't beaten the Gophers since 2018, having lost five straight. Minnesota plays a style that has traditionally caused Nebraska problems.

The Huskers close out the month with a home game against Northwestern (2-2). Before you use a sharpie to put a check mark in the win column, let me remind you Nebraska was the only team Northwestern beat during the 2022 season. In fact, Nebraska is only 6-5 against the Wildcats since joining the Big Ten and you can argue Nebraska has been the more talented team in every matchup.

Nebraska is likely to be favored in all four of its October games, but even conceding that they should comfortably handle Northwestern, the three other games are essentially coin flips. They need to stay focused and take these games one week at a time. Husker teams under Scott Frost and Mike Riley found ways to lose toss-up games like this and fail to seize momentum. Matt Rhule has talked about the culture of this program. Now's the time to see a different Nebraska.

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