2026 Schedule

[JeopardyHusker]

Breaking Down Nebraska Football's 2026 Schedule

I know I'm a sunshine pumper, but 9-3 or 8-4?

 

[Righteous Red]

Jeopardy, I think you will have better luck pumping sunshine from the far side of the moon.
Like the far side of the moon, next year the season will be Dark.

 

[Chris]

Play like this year - we go 5-0 then find ourselves 5-5 and counting.

 

[Dave]

I dunno, think I'll take the season off for predictions. Just watch, and let it all layout. Hell, ain't nothing I can do about it anyway.

 

[Husker99]

Breaking Down Nebraska Football's 2026 Schedule

I know I'm a sunshine pumper, but 9-3 or 8-4?

We can start 5-0, that's definitely within reach.

There's a 99.9999999999% chance we're losing to Indiana and Oregon in back to back weeks.

Washington, Illinois, and Rutgers will be 50/50 toss-ups.

Ohio State and Iowa are losses.

Best case? 8-4. Losses to Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State, and Iowa (Not that Iowa talent wise is better than us, but they play harder and want it more.)

Worst case? 3-9. Win our first three against nobody competition and then completely embarrass ourselves in the B1G slate.

I'm guessing 6-6. Lose to the 4 aforementioned teams and then lose to a couple others after collapsing in the 4th Q like we normally do.

Now, if *somehow* Nebraska is able to stop the run, we might have a chance at 8-4 or better. Say 9-3 type of better.

But if run defense stays the same and we take a step back in our special teams, yeah, 3-9, 4-8, or 5-7 is not beyond the realm of possibility.

 

[innmc]

https://www.youtube.com/live/jgT9wVbwoiA?si=dRKWqTU3AWJJEOSr

 

[Uenth]

I dunno, think I'll take the season off for predictions. Just watch, and let it all layout. Hell, ain't nothing I can do about it anyway.

I made that same announcement last week. Just going to show up, cheer like hell for the team and see where the chips fall.

GO BIG RED!!!

 

[Nebraska99]

Can't really make a prediction for next year yet. Old coaches gone, new coaches in. Bunch of players gone, bunch of new players in. Old playbook? Same playbook? New playbook?

Not sure of the Cheerleaders status yet.

~ shrug ~

 

[ATX_Husker]

 

[ATX_Husker]

 

[ATX_Husker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2016889867632857408

 

[ATX_Husker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2016880842124001609

 

[ATX_Husker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2017044161195594073

 

[Husker99]

Actually, Nebraska's 2026 W/L record will depend on whether or not our defense can stop the run or not. If we can be stout against the run, we'll be in every game and have a chance to win. If we can't stop the run, or struggle immensely like we did in 2025. then we're probably looking at 6-6 (or worse.)

That is of course assuming (hoping) that our offense can improve and our special teams don't regress.

 

[SUHnami]

Actually, Nebraska's 2026 W/L record will depend on whether or not our defense can stop the run or not. If we can be stout against the run, we'll be in every game and have a chance to win. If we can't stop the run, or struggle immensely like we did in 2025. then we're probably looking at 6-6 (or worse.)

That is of course assuming (hoping) that our offense can improve and our special teams don't regress.

We should be able to be 5-0 to start the season. We'll see what happens but if the defense improves dramatically under the 4-2-5 we should start 5-0. After that at least 1 more win but probably 2.

 

[Husker99]

We should be able to be 5-0 to start the season. We'll see what happens but if the defense improves dramatically under the 4-2-5 we should start 5-0. After that at least 1 more win but probably 2.

I said in another post, maybe earlier in this thread?, that our non-conference, we'll be 3-0 easily.

The rest of the season? We have minimum four guaranteed losses: Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, and Iowa.

The remaining 5 conference games are 50/50 toss-ups that could go either way.

And I 100 get where you're coming from in hoping for drastic improvement with new defensive coaches and the 4-2-5, but (and I admit this may be my extreme pessimism talking) hoping for drastic improvement from our defense is like hoping a screen door can be effective at keeping out sea water from a submarine.

 

[Uenth]

I'm not even going to play that guessing game this year. I have no clue how things are going to play out. Posted somewhere else that I'm just going to take each game as it comes and not get butt hurt about what I cannot control.

 

[valiantsailor]

I'm not even going to play that guessing game this year. I have no clue how things are going to play out. Posted somewhere else that I'm just going to take each game as it comes and not get butt hurt about what I cannot control.

Smart Gurl

 

[Pavlov's Dog]

I've tried to put into words what I feel when I think about the schedule. The closest I can come up with is it feels like when the drug store puts the diarrhea medication on the absolute bottom shelf.

 

[Huusker]

At this point in early February, it's tough to make even an "educated" guess at our season record. So many unknowns!

Will Geep be an upgrade? Can one of the RBs replace at least some of EJ's production on the ground? Will special teams take a tumble following Ekeler's departure? Will there be significant defensive improvement?

Looking past our own backyard, what do we know about teams like Michigan State, Illinois and Rutgers? Will Maryland really be a pushover?

There are a lot of unknowns. What we do know is the '26 schedule is significantly tougher than '25. We could improve by 15% and still finish at about .500.

That's what scares me most. If big improvements don't come, we're looking at a dismal season.