Taking a Look at How Nebraska’s Big Ten Opponents Have Played

Some B1G teams haven’t been dominant, perhaps opening the door for the Huskers.

Nebraska quarterback Daniel Kaelin catches a high snap against North Dakota in the Huskers' 34-7 win Saturday night. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

We are Nebraska-centric around here, which is perfectly normal and prudent. But with the non-league portion of the Huskers schedule over, let’s look at how the Big Ten teams they will play have done.

Nebraska has five home games among the nine conference games. With a difficult conference slate, the Huskers having the extra home game is what you want. The competition still is to be intense, but having 85,000 fans on your side has to help.

What looks like the Huskers’ two most difficult games— Indiana and Ohio State — are in Lincoln. Another of the Big Ten’s Big Three, Oregon, has been puzzling at best, with a shocking defeat at Oklahoma State.

Nebraska will travel to Eugene, but the Huskers have to feel better about that matchup now than they did when the schedule came out and nearly everyone was touting the Ducks as a national championship contender. Oregon still might make that happen, but that isn’t based on anything we’ve yet seen on the field, their 84-0 win over Portland State on Friday night notwithstanding.

An early trend among Big Ten schools is their lack of dominance. Ohio State and Oregon have lost. So have Illinois and Michigan State. Washington has struggled. Minnesota got crushed at home by Mississippi State, which was 5-8 last season. Rutgers got crushed by UMass, which had lost 16 consecutive games.

USC needed some serious good fortune — and bad decisions by the Scarlet Knights — to escape Rutgers in Central Jersey, 42-35.

The Huskers haven’t yet played the level of competition they will encounter in their conference games, so there is a huge unknown about their 3-0 record. Should the Huskers fall behind, say, 10-0 to Michigan State on Saturday, we'll learn more about their team than the first three games showed us.

Michigan State
Sept. 26, at East Lansing

The Spartans were 2-0 (home wins over Toledo and Eastern Michigan) before losing at Notre Dame on Saturday night, 27-10. The result was not unexpected, given the Fighting Irish are a likely national championship contender.

Nebraska will be Sparty’s first Big Ten game under new coach Pat Fitzgerald. With that first conference game looming, motivation should be easy — despite the Notre Dame loss. Defeating Nebraska would get Sparty’s season right.

Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald will lead his team in their first conference game Saturday against the Huskers. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

When Fitzgerald was at Northwestern, he specialized in getting his perpetually less talented team to play over its head. It’s the same situation he has right now with MSU.

Nebraska is 10-4 against Michigan State, including a 38-27 win in Lincoln in 2025.

Maryland
Oct. 3, Memorial Stadium

The Terrapins, possibly playing to save coach Mike Locksley’s job, are off to a 2-1 start. The Terrapins lost to James Franklin’s Virginia Tech team on Saturday night, 35-26. The Terps’ first two games were blowout wins over Hampton (62-0) and UConn (38-14).

Nebraska struggled at Maryland last year, scoring the winning touchdown with 1:03 to play to pull out a 34-31 victory. Maryland quarterback Malik Washington, now with another year of seasoning under his belt, was 27-of-37 for 249 yards against the Huskers last season.

Maryland quarterback Malik Washington was effective against Nebraska in a loss last season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With Indiana a week away for the Huskers, this looks like a game where they need 100 percent focus in every aspect of the game. Maryland won’t be easy. Nebraska is 3-1 against Maryland, with a 126-58 scoring advantage.

Indiana
Oct. 10, Memorial Stadium

The defending national champions are rolling with a high-powered offense that has defeated North Texas (52-16), Howard (55-0) and Western Kentucky (38-0). The competition wasn’t much. The Hoosiers’ two games before coming to Lincoln are against 2-0 Northwestern and at Rutgers.

Nebraska might benefit from being the most talented team Indiana will have played thus far.

Nebraska is 9-11-3 against Indiana, 2-2 as Big Ten opponents.

Oregon
Oct. 17, Autzen Stadium

What’s up with the Ducks? They struggled against Boise State (34-27 win) and the loss at Oklahoma State was inexplicable, the Cowboys’ first win against an FBS opponent in 21 games.

Oregon is loaded with talent — especially quarterback Dante Moore — and maybe coach Dan Lanning will figure out everything. Maybe beating Portland State, 84-0, on Saturday will help, but this isn’t the Ducks team anyone expected … and that might be a huge advantage for Nebraska.

Former Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola completed 11-of-11 passes for 124 yards and three touchdowns for the Ducks after they took a 49-0 lead.

Nebraska is 6-2 against Oregon, outscoring the Ducks, 316-135.

Oregon quarterback Dylan Raiola throws a pass against Portland State on Friday night. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Washington
Oct. 31, Memorial Stadium

The Huskies also have struggled some. They beat rival Washington State, 24-10, but they could have scored another 21 points in that game. Then, Washington barely got past Utah State, 16-14, before pounding Eastern Washington, 48-16, on Saturday.

Before the Huskies arrive on Halloween, they will have played at USC and hosted Iowa, so we’ll know plenty more about Washington. Nebraska will be coming off a bye week.

Nebraska is 5-4-1 against the Huskies, 2-1-1 in Lincoln.

Illinois
Nov. 7, Gies Memorial Stadium

Before the season, experts considered Illinois a possible College Football Playoff team. The 31-27 loss at home to Duke didn’t help, but it didn’t kill their chances, either. The Illini bounced back by defeating Southern Illinois, 48-10, on Saturday.

Illinois quarterback Katin Houser looks downfield against Southern Illinois on Saturday. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Quarterback Katin Houser has been impressive. He has completed 60-of-81 passes for 758 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions. The Illini visit Ohio State on Sept. 26, so we’ll have a better read on what kind of team Nebraska will face.

Nebraska-Illinois is one of those games between second-tier Big Ten teams trying to move above the pack. Games against Illinois, Washington and Iowa could determine the Huskers’ bowl eligibility.

Nebraska is 14-7-1 against Illinois.

Rutgers
Nov. 14, SHI Stadium

If you didn’t watch Rutgers’ stunning, 37-21 loss to UMass to open the season, you certainly have heard about it. The Scarlet Knights then played their hearts out against USC on Saturday before falling, 42-35.

After the UMass loss, there were media calls for head coach Greg Schiano to be fired — immediately. The Scarlet Knights somewhat redeemed themselves against the Trojans.

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano's team battled No. 12 USC on Saturday before losing, 42-35. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It’s uncertain what kind of Rutgers team will take the field against Nebraska. The more likely scenario is a team playing out the string unless a new coach is in place. And that might not make a difference.

With Nebraska finishing the regular season against Ohio State and Iowa, a depleted Rutgers team could be just what the Huskers need. Nebraska is 7-0 against Rutgers, 6-0 in Big Ten games.

Ohio State
Nov. 21, Memorial Stadium

The Buckeyes’ loss at Texas was another example of what national writers have called a decline in the Big Ten. Ohio State led, 23-3, into the fourth quarter before Arch Manning led Texas’ comeback, 24-23. But if Ohio State had made a 45-yard field goal with 2:58 to play, it would have had a two-score lead and a likely victory. And a revised Big Ten narrative.

Texas quarterback Arch Manning rallied the Longhorns in the fourth quarter against Ohio State. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Ohio State oozes big-time talent and the expectation is if the Buckeyes survive back-to-back October road games against Indiana and USC, followed by a home game against Oregon, they will be considered a national title contender — as usual.

Nebraska is 1-10 against Ohio State and have been outscored, 453-205. The lone win was a 21 point come from behind victory led by Taylor Martinez and Rex Burkhead.

Ohio State represents another season-defining moment for Nebraska — along with the Indiana and Oregon games.

Iowa
Nov. 27, Kinnick Stadium

Gotta believe Nebraska has this game targeted, but the Huskers have had this game targeted before. Iowa knocked off rival Iowa State, 16-13 in Week Two, so already its season is high flying. The Hawkeyes crushed Northern Iowa, 55-0, on Saturday.

So much can and will happen through a Big Ten season, but this much is certain: Iowa has won 10-of-11 meetings against the Huskers. That has to eat away at everyone associated with Husker football.

Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski scores a touchdown against Nebraska last season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Winning at what is could be a cold and windy Kinnick Stadium on Black Friday won’t be easy but the one win Nebraska has over Iowa since 2014 was in Iowa City in 2022. Nebraska still leads the series 30-23-3.

After three weeks of mostly cupcakes across the conference, the Big Ten race is about to get serious.

---

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.