Utah Undeterred as Underdog Huskers Unimpressive and Underwhelming

On the last day of 2025, the Utah Utes dominated the Nebraska Cornhuskers 44-22 in the Las Vegas Bowl as Utah scored 37 unanswered points in the final three quarters. Nebraska finished the season 7-6 for the second year in a row and Utah moved to 11-2 in what was one of the biggest mismatches of this year’s bowl season. Despite the hammering, Nebraska led 14-7 after one period while out-yarding Utah 157-102. The Huskers then went into their all too familiar swoon, netting just five yards on their next six possessions, while Utah racked up 31 points and 324 yards in their following five times with the ball.

Nebraska actually held Utah to 45 yards under their #2 ranked 270 yards per game rushing average, but the Huskers' paper tiger #2 ranked pass defense surrendered 310 yards (169 yards more than their average per game performance). Utah could have piled up more points and yards had they wished as the Nebraska defense struggled to resemble a Power Four program. Granted, the Huskers played without their best offensive performer in All-America running back Emmett Johnson, and were missing their second leading tackler on defense, DeShon Singleton. But Utah looked like the team the Huskers could only hope to become, and Nebraska resembled a struggling FCS opponent.

It was an ugly performance and a disappointing end to a season that began with a 5-1 record and as a team went 4-2 in one-score games, a bugaboo in recent years. But Nebraska was outscored 121-48 in their last three games, three humiliating defeats, which leads to real questions as to whether improvement took place in 2025, or if they are just maintaining the mediocrity of the past two plus decades. The hope for the year was not only to win at least 7-8 games, but to be competitive in all their contests, demonstrating another step toward college football relevance and on the precipice of competing for conference titles. Four blowout losses and losing five of the last seven games leaves the Husker faithful a mighty grumpy group going into the offseason and many are doubting whether the current leadership is capable of turning the program around.

To be fair, with all the opt-outs and injuries, non-playoff bowl games have become less meaningful and often less competitive. This game was more like a glorified Spring game with the coaches having an opportunity to evaluate the current talent on a roster that is 72% freshman and sophomores. It is also a chance to determine what holes need to be filled with transfer portal replacements.

Matt Rhule seems to have gotten the hint that changes must be made as he has dismissed both offensive and defensive line coaches and the defensive coordinator. By all reports, the new OL coach, Geep Wade, has already had a positive impact on the offensive line personnel, but without adding a couple of portal tackles, Wade faces an uphill battle. New defensive coordinator, Rob Aurich, was on the sideline to observe the carnage and must be wondering if there is enough NIL funds to fill all the gaps.

On offense, Mekhi Nelson (12 carries for 88 yards) had a 38-yard TD scamper, and added 48 yards receiving on just 3 catches, taking the early lead in the running back race for 2026. Isaiah Mozee also contributed 33 yards rushing and 48 receiving but adding a bigger back in the portal wouldn’t hurt either. Quarterback TJ Lateef was 15 for 28 passing for 182 yards and threw his first interception trying to thread the needle into double coverage. His 13 carries netted just 22 yards rushing after subtracting 23 yards on three sacks. His play didn’t instill any great confidence in him earning the starting role next year and will not likely add much to his NIL package either. The need for at least one solid QB in the portal couldn’t have been more apparent. Who knows what will happen in the next week as the portal period opens?

My droppings typically include a summary of the offense, defense, and special teams and any special accomplishments or records set. This part of the article will be quite brief.

The defense sucked although I will offer a kudos to redshirt freshman safety Caleb Benning who led the defense with 13 tackles in the game more than doubling the 11 career tackles he had entering the contest.

The offense had two good series to open the game and then disappeared until they were behind 44-14. Jacory Barney finished the game with two receptions for 21 yards, giving him 100 career receptions and he joins JD Spielman (121) as the only Huskers with 100 or more receptions in their first two seasons.

On special teams, Barney repeatedly attempted to return kickoffs and cost the Huskers 8-10 yards in field position with each over-enthusiastic attempt. Ekeler should know better.

One positive statistic amidst the myriad of turd muffins is that Nebraska finished the 2025 season with a +2-turnover margin, marking the first season the Huskers have had a positive turnover margin since 2016.

One thing that is certain in the brave new world of college football mercenary free agency is that a team can reverse their fortunes quite quickly. Indiana’s success may be more the exception than the rule as they went from 3-9 in 2023 to 11-2 in 2024 and are 13-0 and ranked #1 as of this writing. But, for a more realistic example, take a look at Utah who was 5-7 in 2024 and improved to 11-2 this year as they added 14 portal players including quarterback Devon Dampier from New Mexico. Dampier went 19 for 31 for 310 yards and two touchdowns and averaged 7.8 yards a run as he rushed 19 times for 148 yards and scored three more TDs. What a difference a year can make. I’m not saying that will happen to Nebraska, but with a 30–40-million-dollar NIL budget, the chances a buying a better team have definitely improved. I don’t necessarily like the direction the game is going as the notion of the student athlete seems to now be an afterthought. I hope Congress can get its act together and create some regulations to add more sanity into the process, but this is the wild wacky world in which we are currently competing. Let’s hope we actually start to be competitive soon. It’s going to be a long offseason. Go Big Red!!

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