Exciting. Thrilling. Ecstatic. Worried. Sick. Heartbroken.
Those six words sum up what most Husker fans felt during the Indiana game. In a few hours, we went from the highest highs to the darkest pits of hell, a ride only Nebraska fans have known for the last two decades. For a while, it looked like we were finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Then the light turned out to be a freight train. Nebraska started strong and looked like a top-ten offense. Dana Holgorsen’s creative play-calling had the ball moving with ease, and Colandrea looked like he was ready to stamp his name into the Heisman conversation. The defense matched that intensity, forcing Indiana into field goals instead of touchdowns and stringing together 3-and-out after 3-and-out.
For a stretch, Memorial Stadium felt alive in a way it hasn’t in years. Then the dream collapsed into the same recurring nightmare. Before we knew it, Indiana was up 20-17. The stadium went dead. The press box felt like a funeral wake. What would have been the biggest win I’ve been alive and coherent enough to remember in my 29 years as a Husker fan quickly became another familiar gut punch.
What this game showed is that Nebraska is close, right on the edge of mattering again in the college football landscape. The only thing standing in the way is Nebraska itself. Stupid, costly penalties once again swung the game. A missed easy field goal. Explosive plays allowed. Eliminate any one of those three and Nebraska likely wins.
This is a veteran team with a fourth-year head coach. There are no excuses left for the penalties. That comes down to coaching and discipline, or the lack of both. The same problems show up on special teams. It’s as clear as it can be that Kyle Cunanan is not the answer. I don’t care how well he does in practice or warm-ups. Once the lights come on and the game starts, he gets blinded. Nebraska has to make a change.
The explosive plays have mostly come down to poor secondary play, specifically from the safeties. McDougle has been the only one who has consistently held up. Caleb Benning and Rex Gutherie, by contrast, have let the defense get embarrassed more than once this season. Nebraska simply doesn’t have the secondary right now to hang with the better teams in the country, and that problem almost certainly won’t be fixed before the year is over. The Huskers will have to go into the portal and find real difference-makers.
So here we are again. Close enough to taste it, still a few self-inflicted wounds away from actually winning the games that matter. The talent is closer than it has been. The scheme flashes. The hope is real for stretches. But hope without discipline is just another Nebraska autumn; loud for a while, then quiet, then familiar. If this staff and this roster want to turn the corner for real, the next step isn’t more belief. It’s fewer penalties, a reliable kicker, and a secondary that can actually cover. Until those things change, we’ll keep living the same story: one half of belief, one half of heartbreak, and another long offseason wondering how much longer “close” has to last.
