Nebraska Week 1 Opponent Reveals It's New Starter

On September 5th, Nebraska opens the 2026 season hosting Ohio. Ohio has named their starting QB, a QB that will test Nebraska's defense immediately.

Ohio Bobcats QB Poulos makes a pass in the first half at the Ohio Stadium in 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

In college football, you never know how a team comes out to play in the first few weeks. Nebraska will host the Ohio Bobcats in Week 1.

On Saturday, Ohio named its quarterback for the season. A QB who might test Nebraska's defense immediately...

Ohio Names Nick Poulos as the Starting QB

One of the best things Matt Rhule has done in Nebraska is keeping teams from pulling off upsets. As Huskers fans might recall, Nebraska lost to NIU, Troy, and Georgia Southern between 2017 and 2022, with the loss to Georgia Southern coming in the last game of the Scott Frost era.

Rhule hasn't suffered an upset yet, which is nice. In 2025, Nebraska defeated Akron 68-0 and Houston Christian 59-7. Finally, the Huskers didn't play with their food - something they've done in the past. Nebraska hopes to ensure that Ohio falls in the same category as Akron and HCU.

Ohio went 9-4 in 2025, led by QB Peter Navarro and star WR Chase Hendricks. The Bobcats faced three Power Four opponents: Rutgers, West Virginia, and Ohio State. They lost to Rutgers 34-31 and beat WVU 17-10, showing they can compete against Power Four opponents. The Bobcats even stayed in the game against the Buckeyes for a while, trailing 13-9 in the 3rd quarter before OSU pulled away for a 37-9 win.

With Navarro gone, Ohio turns to Nick Poulos. Poulos, a transfer from El Camino CC, has only one start in his career, which came in 2024 against Kentucky after Navarro was injured. Poulos passed for 110 yards and one interception while adding 25 yards on five rushes in a 41-6 loss. Last season, Poulos's only notable experience came against Ohio State, where he passed for just 19 yards and had six carries for 13 yards. Poulos also had a 19-yard rush against Gardner-Webb and a two-yard rush against UMASS.

Sources: Ohio University has named veteran quarterback Nick Poulos the starting quarterback, and he’ll open the season at Ohio’s starter at Nebraska. Poulos is a veteran quarterback who transferred to Ohio from El Camino CC and has one start in his time at Ohio. pic.twitter.com/ngK90WQjgu

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 22, 2026

All in all, Poulos has passed for 290 yards with a 45.6 completion percentage, two touchdowns, and an interception in his career. On the ground, he has added 183 yards on 36 carries, for 5.1 yards per rush. These stats could point to a bug flying into a windshield, but the team's game plan might not be centered on its passing game.

Could Ohio Test Nebraska's Run Defense Immediately?

Poulos's overall passing numbers are ugly in his limited experience. Plus, Nebraska's secondary was one of the nation's best in 2025. In other words, passing a lot against the Huskers could lead to a huge blowout. So it could make sense for Ohio to run the ball against the Huskers, who struggled mightily to stop the run in 2025.

Ohio might find that pretty hard to do that too, but it may be their best option anyway. The starting halfback will be German, Duncan Brune, who ran for 585 yards on 120 carries and eight touchdowns (4.9 YPR). The lack of a good passing game isn't just because of the inexperienced Poulos, though.

The most experienced wideout is Dom Dorwart, who caught 11 passes for 119 yards. The team enters Lincoln without a star offensive player like Hendricks, who led the way last season with over 1,000 receiving yards. This is good news for Nebraska, who could easily overwhelm this offense. The Huskers have a chance to get off to a strong start defensively by shutting down Ohio.

That said, it wouldn't be surprising if Ohio mainly tried to run the ball and avoid passing. Plus, Nebraska struggled to stop mobile QBs last season, giving the Bobcats more reason to design their offense around Poulos and potentially others.

QB Nick Poulos warms up prior to their game against the West Virginia in 2025. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In 2025, Brendan Sorsby in the opening game ran for 96 yards, quickly worrying Husker fans. The trend didn't end there, though, with Bryce Underwood running for 62 yards, Jayden Maiava for 62 yards, Nico Iamaleava for 86 yards, Mark Gronowski for 64 yards, and Devon Dampier for 148 yards.

All of those QBs made life harder for the Huskers. The 4-2-5 defensive scheme with new DC Rob Aurich might help the Huskers contain an opponent's QB and improve upon the 100th-best run defense in 2025. Nebraska ran a 3-3-5 defense under the old DC John Butler. This scheme didn't help the Huskers in 2025, mainly because of an undersized, inexperienced D-line. That means that Ohio might face a much improved run defense, further complicating things for the offense.

With this announcement from Ohio, one must wonder: can Nebraska take advantage and blow them out of the water? Well, the Bobcats can still rely on their defense, but even then, the unit will have to contend with a potentially great offense.

The Bobcats roll into Lincoln with very little reason to believe they can do much offensively. Poulos isn't guaranteed to struggle, but he has few resources to help him. Even the RB room doesn't look good. This game could allow Nebraska to settle into its new scheme and gain valuable experience.

With Ohio, Bowling Green, and North Dakota as the Huskers' first three games, Nebraska has a chance to get the defense in shape for the rest of the season. This first game, though, will test how strong the defensive line can be and how good the secondary still is. As it stands now, Nebraska's defense even has a chance of shutting out an opponent to begin the season.

Will there be growing pains? Maybe. But Aurich and the Huskers have a chance to wow fans immediately. Ohio isn't Ohio State, but these games are always a good indicator of how a team can do. Even when Nebraska dominated HCU, the Huskers allowed 82 rushing yards to their RB Xai'Shaun Edwards, a trend that continued all season.

Nebraska can set the tone for the rest of the season defensively by handling Ohio.

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