Are They Better Than Last Year’s 7-6 Team?
Last year’s Nebraska team won seven games and went to a bowl. That used to be the whole argument. It is not anymore. Matt Rhule said it out loud in Chicago: they did not come here to go 7-6.
Saturday against Ohio will not answer the question. October might. November will.
Here is the honest version before the first snap.
What actually changed
The staff is different where it had to be. Rob Aurich is the defensive coordinator. Last year’s group could cover. It could not stop the run when the season got heavy. Aurich brought the 4-2-5, a simpler call sheet before the snap, and the “Take 3” thing he will not stop saying. That is a real change. It is also unproven. Ohio is the first live look, not Indiana.
Dana Holgorsen is still calling the offense. Geep Wade is still trying to make the line a strength instead of a weekly concern. The portal work up front — Elijah Pritchett, Paul Mubenga, Brendan Black, Tree Babalade around Justin Evans — is the biggest offseason swing on that side of the ball. If those five hold up, a lot of other arguments get quieter. If they do not, Colandrea will look like every other quarterback who has stood behind a leaky line in Lincoln.
Colandrea is not Raiola. That is the idea.
Dylan Raiola could make the pretty throw. He also ended up in Oregon, and the last chapter here was an injury and a four-game handoff to TJ Lateef. Anthony Colandrea got the job because he fits what Rhule wants: move, check, throw it over the top when it is there, do not turn it into a sculpture project.
He threw for 3,459 yards and ran for 649 at UNLV. Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year. He also lost the Frisco Bowl to this same Ohio staff, 17-10. So the first start is a rematch and a referendum at the same time.
Better than last year at quarterback does not mean more talented on a whiteboard. It means fewer stalled drives and fewer games that die in the fourth quarter because the offense cannot stay on schedule. That is a lower bar than fans want. It is also the right bar.
The roster is older. The schedule is meaner.
This team has more snaps in the building than the 2025 team did in August. Bonner is back. Evans is back. The receiver room — Nyziah Hunter, Jacory Barney, Kwazi Gilmer — is deeper than it was a year ago. The running backs are a committee because Emmett Johnson is gone and nobody has claimed the job yet. That can be a strength in September. It can be a problem when Illinois and Iowa start loading the box.
Then look at the other side of the card. Indiana. At Oregon. Washington. At Illinois. Ohio State at home. At Iowa on Friday. Rhule told the room not to talk about the schedule. Fine. The schedule is still the schedule. Last year’s 7-6 came against a slate that did not look like this. Being “better” and winning more games are not automatically the same thing.
November is still the scar
This is the part that does not care about portal rankings. Under Rhule, November has been the month the wheels come off. Road games. Short weeks. Ranked teams. A program that has not beaten a ranked opponent in years. You can rewrite the coordinator and the quarterback. You cannot rewrite that until you do it.
A better team than 2025 would look like this after Thanksgiving:
The run defense does not collapse for a month
The line is still standing in Week 12
Colandrea is still the same quarterback in Iowa City that he was in September
They steal one of the games they are not supposed to win
If they go 3-0 in September and then look like last November, they were not better. They were just early.
So… are they?
On paper, yes. Better quarterback fit. Better chance to stop the run. Better line if the five they paid for play like it. Healthier skill group.
On the calendar, it is a harder ask. The win total is 6.5 for a reason. The market is not convinced the extra talent covers Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State and Iowa.
The honest answer before Saturday: they should be better than 7-6 in the ways that show up on film. Whether they are better than 7-6 in the win column depends on a month this program has not solved yet.
Ohio will not tell you. It will only tell you if they bothered to show up improved. That is the floor. The rest of the season is the test they keep saying they came here for.