When It Comes to Roster Spending in the Big Ten, Nebraska Has Some Catching Up to Do

A ninth-place estimate has the Huskers lagging far behind several of their conference rivals.

Quarterback Anthony Colandrea is believed to be one of two seven-figure earners on the Nebraska football roster. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

When you check the list of the estimated money spent on Big Ten football players, you figure Nebraska probably wouldn’t be in the top three.

But how about top eight?

Keep going down the list and there are the Huskers, at No. 9, the last school in the top half of estimated spending on players in the 18-member Big Ten, according to the NIL Standard.

The website says Nebraska is estimated to have spent $23.7 million in 2026, a paltry sum compared with the top-spending team in the conference, Oregon. The Ducks are estimated to have spent $42.2 million. Oregon spent the second-most in the nation behind Texas, which coughed up $49.3 million.

Each team’s spending is said to be based on “priced roster value.”

The disparity in estimated spending would seem to put pressure on the Nebraska coaching staff, which already feels heat from a demanding — yet loving — fan base that expects better than consecutive 7-6 seasons.

If you can’t outspend them, you'd better outcoach them.

The seven-figure club

Two Huskers are estimated to earn more than $1 million — quarterback Anthony Colandrea and left tackle Elijah Pritchett. That's an estimate, but it makes sense: You can’t win without a quality quarterback, the most important player on the field, and you'd better protect his blind side.

Pritchett spent three seasons at Alabama before transferring to Nebraska ahead of last season. He played all 13 games for the Huskers in 2025. Colandrea played two seasons at Virginia before transferring to UNLV last season, then to Nebraska for 2026.

Nebraska left tackle Elijah Pritchett is tasked with protecting the quarterback's blind side. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

The website estimated that Nebraska spent $15.5 million on retained players, $7.8 million in the portal, and $465,000 on recruited players.

Sounds like a lot of money, and it is, until you look at some of the other Big Ten teams.

Big Ten spending

Seven teams that are believed to have spent more than Nebraska are recent powerhouses. The surprise is UCLA, which is seventh in the B1G and is undergoing a major renovation of its program led by new coach Bob Chesney, who arrived from James Madison.

The Big Ten’s estimated spending:

1. Oregon: $42.2 million
2. Ohio State: $38.5 million
3. USC: $35.2 million
4. Indiana: $33.1 million
5. Michigan: $31.3 million
6. Penn State: $26.6 million
7. UCLA: $24 million
8. Washington: $23.8 million
9. Nebraska: $23.7 million
10. Michigan State: $21.8 million
11. Wisconsin: $21.8 million
12. Rutgers: $21.4 million
13. Maryland: $20.6 million
14. Minnesota: $20.4 million
15. Illinois: $19.3 million
16. Iowa: $18.8 million
17. Purdue: $18.6 million
18. Northwestern: $18.1 million

Nebraska will play four of the teams that spent more this season: Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana and Washington. The Huskers likely will be underdogs against Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana. Washington could be a tossup — apropos of their nearly identical spending estimates.

Where Nebraska ranks nationally

Checking out the other conferences on the website, Nebraska ranks 30th nationally in estimated money spent. With NIL likely here to stay and the amount of money spent likely to keep rising, Nebraska will have to increase its spending to remain competitive. College football has undergone dramatic changes in the past few years and money, as always, is a factor in securing players.

The NIL Standard says it uses a “proprietary multi-factor model to estimate every player’s annualized NIL market value."

"These are independent estimates, not official financial disclosures," it explains. "No model is perfect. NIL is a young, rapidly evolving market with limited public data."

If that disclaimer gives you pause, how about a second opinion? On Monday, CBS Sports released its own estimate of the nation's top dozen spenders. In the seven-member "More than $40 million" penthouse are Oregon and Ohio State, while Michigan and USC come up just shy of that threshold.

Yes, more than a little guesswork is involved, but there's little reason to doubt this: As the Huskers strive to become a power in their own conference, they face a daunting disadvantage on the spending front.

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