In Getting Pushed Around by Michigan, Nebraska Football Once Again Misses the Moment

Nebraska lost to Michigan 30-27 in another missed opportunity: playing a ranked, conference opponent at home on national TV. The sense of momentum in the program was palpable going into the game; the loss, and the disappointing way the Huskers got beat on both lines of scrimmage, have blunted that to some extent. The season is not lost by any stretch, but the Big Red will need to bounce back strong against Michigan State after the bye week. 

We cover this and much more in the Topline Takeaways. 

CHEERS TO THAT

Not Giving Up. Nebraska was down by 10 points at two different times in this game. After the Huskers didn’t get any points on their first two drives–failing to convert a 4th and short inside the 10 yard line on the first one, and missing a field goal on the second one–it felt like “here we go again” for the Big Red. That feeling was exacerbated when Michigan seized the momentum to take a 10-0 lead by the end of the 1st quarter. Nebraska battled back to tie it at 10-10 late in the 1st half, and then connected on a Hail Mary to tie it again right before halftime. 

I’m pretty salty about the loss (as will become obvious if you continue reading), but there is a lot of value in playing a game like this for Nebraska’ young team. My sense is that Michigan will be a 9 or 10 win team by the time the season is over; the Huskers went toe-to-toe with a very good team. Yes, the moral victories are getting very old, but the lessons from this game can translate into good things yet this season. 

Pass Defense. Nebraska’s pass defense was stellar again, holding 5 star quarterback Bryce Underwood to just 105 yards passing. Yes, Underwood helped the Blackshirts’ cause with a few misfires, but the overall effort against the pass was very good (the secondary’s play against the run was a different story). 

As the ever-reliable Arbitrary Analytics pointed out, Nebraska is the first team in the last 30 years to hold their first four opponents each under 110 yards passing, and they remain the #1 passing defense in the country for the second week in a row. The Huskers have now done it against two Power 4 teams in Michigan and Cincinnati. That’s almost unheard of in the pass-happy reality of 2025 college football. Perhaps having confidence in a lockdown passing D moving forward will allow the Huskers to devote more manpower to stopping the run. 

Hail Mary. I legitimately jumped up from my couch and screamed when Dylan Raiola connected with Jacory Barney for a 52 yard touchdown pass with no time left on the clock in the 2nd quarter. It’s just not often you see your team successfully execute such a play, and it was a huge momentum boost for the Big Red heading into halftime. Credit to Coach Rhule for managing the end of the half well, and for having the intestinal fortitude to take the shot downfield. And credit to Barney for the incredible catch and score. He led all receivers with six catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns. He’s an electric, special playmaker, and the Huskers are lucky to have him. 

Dylan. Dylan Raiola completed 30 of 41 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns and one interception (his first of the year). That was in the face of constant pressure, as Michigan’s athletic playmakers completely owned Nebraska’s offensive line. Yes, I yelled at the TV a few times that he needed to take off or get rid of the ball sooner. But overall, he has taken his game to a new level this season, and the game against the Wolverines likely wouldn’t have been as close but for Raiola. 

Through four games, the sophomore quarterback has completed over 75% of his passes and thrown for 1,137 yards and 11 touchdowns with just one interception. He still doesn’t get the respect he deserves from the national media, and Husker fans should be thankful he is leading this team. He wasn’t remotely close to the problem on Saturday. 

REASONS FOR CONCERN

Run Defense. Nebraska’s rushing defense currently sits at 107th in the country, having given up 694 yards on the ground through four games. It looked like it might be a concern in the opener against Cincinnati, and after Michigan I think it’s fair to say this is the top concern for the Blackshirts moving forward. You have to imagine other Big Ten teams are going to be licking their chops watching the tape of how Michigan ran the ball. 

The one bit of hope I have on this front is that Nebraksa’s front seven is very young, and does have a lot of talent. Dasan McCullough, Vincent Shavers, and Javin Wright all made their presence felt against the Wolverines. Is the run defense something that can be turned around in the midst of a season? We’ll see. 

Tackling. Nebraska’s tackling was inexcusably bad on Saturday. There is perhaps no better example of this than Michigan’s game-sealing drive, when they went 77 yards in 16 plays, taking almost nine minutes off the clock before kicking a field goal to go up 10 points with around four minutes left in the game. The Huskers forced multiple third downs but could not come up with the key stop when they needed it. Several of Michigan’s 1st downs in this stretch were aided by poor tackling by the Blackshirts. Beyond that drive, the Wolverines had numerous explosive plays on the ground that could have been short gains but, due to missed tackles, went for more. 

Offensive Line. Nebraska’s running backs rushed for a grand total of 84 yards. Dylan Raiola was sacked seven times, losing 49 yards in the process. Nebraska’s offensive line frankly got owned by Michigan’s defense. The O line is supposed to be one of the strengths of this team. I don’t really care that it was Michigan–yes, there are good teams in the Big Ten. I would expect guys who have played as much football as most of Nebraska’s offensive linemen to fare better than what we saw on Saturday. 

Here We Go Again on Special Teams. Nebraska’s special teams units are inarguably better this year than they were last season. But this was a really bad time to have special teams mistakes rear their ugly head again. A missed field goal really hurt. Jacory Barney (who otherwise played fantastic) fielding a punt that likely would have gone out of the end zone–and then taking a two steps backward!–really didn’t help things either. Punter Archie Wilson was a massive bright spot, averaging around 50 yards a punt. But we need to see the other units perform more consistently as we move through conference play. 

BOTTOM LINE

I’ll be honest, I’m pretty angry about this loss to Michigan. It’s not so much the fact that Nebraska lost, but how they lost. The game was a chance for the Huskers to beat a ranked opponent for the first time since 2016, to capitalize on the momentum they’ve generated up to this point, and to make a statement that Nebraska is back. They were unprepared to meet the moment. How many times have we seen this exact scenario play out over the last ten years? Too many. The inability to get any points on the first two drives, the mistakes on special teams, the missed tackles, a wide receiver stepping out of bounds to negate what would have been a touchdown, the offense’s disappearing act for most of the 2nd half…it all adds up to a team not being prepared for its biggest game of the season to date. And let’s be honest: as awesome as the Hail Mary was, there’s a certain amount of luck involved with a play like that. In my opinion, Michigan looked more than three points better than Nebraska. 

It should be better in year three of any coach’s tenure. I’m fully on board with Coach Rhule and believe he’s done a lot of good things for the program; I’m not in any way suggesting anyone involved in the program should be fired. There are plenty of signs of progress with this program. But Husker fans can be excused for being sick of moral victories. When you see what a team like Indiana is doing, you wonder when it’s going to be Nebraska’s turn. The Huskers need to start winning games like the one on Saturday; they need to start capitalizing on their opportunities instead of folding at the most important moments. One of the things that makes Nebraska football great is that we as fans never stop demanding that the program do everything it can to get back to greatness. We can’t apologize for that, and we can never lose that. Through that lens, Nebraska football needs to be much better than what we saw on Saturday against Michigan.

As always, GBR for LIFE. 

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