Dillon Gabriel is coming to the Big Ten as one of Nebraska football’s newest conference rivals has landed the transfer quarterback. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that the Huskers won’t have to face off against Gabriel, unless the two teams meet up in the Big Ten Conference Championship game. News broke that the former Oklahoma quarterback is coming to the Big Ten on Saturday morning as he’ll be an Oregon Duck in 2024.
Gabriel was one of the surprise transfer portal announcements earlier this month. He along with Kyle McCord put quite a few fans on their ears as it seemed almost certain they’d finish their careers with Oklahoma and Ohio State, respectively.
Gabriel coming to the Big Ten is also something that Husker fans need to get used to. There was a time when transferring to Oregon wouldn’t affect the those in Lincoln all that much.
Now that four Pac-12 teams are going to be Nebraska football rivals, it’s still something some need to be reminded of from time to time. That news gets even bigger considering that there are no more divisions in the Big 10.
Nebraska football worries about Dillon Gabriel
The Cornhuskers won’t face off against Oregon in the regular season. However because all 16 B1G schools will be vying for the top two spots in the conference, its safe to say what happens in Oregon will still affect the outcome in Lincoln.
That’s especially true with the FBS playoffs expanding to 12 teams in 2024.
Nebraska football fans don’t exactly have good memories of Dillon Gabriel. In the first game of the Mickey Joseph era last year, the Sooners’ quarterback completed 16-of-27 passes for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also had a 61-yard touchdown run in OU’s 49-14 win.
In 2023, Gabriel threw for 3,660 yards and 30 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions as he led the Sooners to a 10-2 regular season record.
There is one bright side for Nebraska football fans regarding Gabriel coming to Oregon. Since they don’t play the Ducks in the regular season, they can root for him to shake things up in the standings and among their other rivals.