Nebraska Checks Off Bowl Box, Turns Focus to Ending Ranked-Win Drought

It’s fitting that Nebraska became bowl eligible in just their eighth game of the season in 2025.

It not only shows continued progress for the Huskers under third-year coach Matt Rhule, but it will allow every sports analyst and pundit, both locally and regionally, to ask if this year’s Nebraska football team is a “Trick” or a “Treat.”

The Halloween-themed game will likely run its course across all of your favorite shows and podcasts this week, but the Huskers don’t need to run out and ring any doorbells to let everybody know that this isn’t the 2024 edition.

Nebraska's win over Wisconsin felt like the team earned a trip to the College Football Playoff in 2024 considering it clinched a bowl game. In 2025, Nebraska's already bowl eligible and looking for more. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Last year, the exhale heard at Memorial Stadium when the Huskers beat Wisconsin to become bowl eligible could have equated to a minor sonic boom. Nebraska is still trying to forget the worst quarter-century of football in Lincoln in the modern era.

Saturday’s 28-21 win over Northwestern may be a step in the right direction, because the team just clinched a second-straight year of bowl eligibility, and they didn’t even talk about it in the locker room.

“Last year, we hugged after we beat Wisconsin and people were going nuts,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said. “We didn’t even mention it in there. I said it to my daughter walking out because that’s all they really care about is a vacation. We’re just going to try and go play our best game next week and just do that. We’ve got four more chances.”

While earning a bowl-clinching sixth win in 2024 was cause for celebration, both players and coaches say that's the last time they plan to celebrate the milestone. Now, they're thinking about the bigger picture. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

“It’s awesome for the program,” Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola reiterated in his postgame press conference. “I remember vividly last year after the Wisconsin game, coach Rhule stood in front of the team and said ‘we won’t celebrate a sixth win around here ever again.’ That just popped back in my head after the game because just our message to the team was great win. We can have fun tonight, and we’re back at it tomorrow and getting ready for a great team.”

That great team is No. 23 USC, which will be the second nationally-ranked team to come into Lincoln this season. The last one was No. 21 Michigan, who we all know escaped with a 30-27 win in a game Nebraska still laments that it could have and should have won.

You might remember, though, that the Huskers finished the 2024 season 6-6, so any win from here on out is an improvement on that mark. Their matter-of-fact, ho-hum attitude toward their sixth win this year not only shows the improvement you hope to see year over year, but it’s also showing that the culture shift is starting to become more and more visible.

Nebraska's 2024 loss to USC is still fresh in their mind as they prepare to welcome the Trojans to Lincoln Saturday night. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

“It’s just a testament to our continued growth as a team,” Nebraska senior defensive back Ceyair Wright said. “I think last year, it was just about becoming bowl eligible, and once we did it, it was a huge moment, and I mean, it still is. At the end of the day, we’re focused on next week now – taking every week one game at a time.”

“I told you guys last year, six was awesome last year,” Rhule said. “We would never talk about it again. We’re a work in progress, we’re trying to get better and better. I’ll start brooding about USC next week. Credit to these guys and all the guys who came before from where we were to being 6-2 with NBC coming here next Saturday night with a game that matters.”

The important next step for Nebraska will be to not get complacent again, which is what led to their second loss of the season in Minneapolis just a few weekends ago. That shouldn’t be an issue with yet another chance to snap its years-long streak of being unable to beat a nationally-ranked team.

The last time Nebraska beat a nationally-ranked team was September 17, 2016 against #22 Oregon. | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

To refresh your memory, the last time NU beat a nationally-ranked team was September 17, 2016, when they knocked off No. 22 Oregon in Lincoln – so it’s been a minute. However, this year’s team has already righted a lot of wrongs. If they’re unable to upend the No. 23 Trojans Saturday night, it would be understandably the final major domino to fall to get this team to close the book on a quarter-century of struggles.

“Coach Rhule has built this program for the past three years and has taught us how to win,” linebacker Javin Wright said. “There’s stuff that needs to happen for us to win, and I think he manufactured all of that. Our older guys know what to do, how to do it in a certain standard, how to do the process.”

“We’re still working,” Rhule said. “We’re a work in progress. We’re trying to get better and better. I love the group, I love the team. This is one of the most favorite teams I’ve ever coached. At the end, all they want to do is get the ball and take it to Teddy (Prochaska). It’s just an amazing group. That might not mean everything to everybody. I think people in Nebraska probably appreciate that. That’s what’s so great about this state.”

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