While the Nebraska football team doesn’t play this week, a brand-new way the Big Ten handles injuries will certainly provide some interesting updates as teams get closer to their next games. Perhaps the most interesting part is that coaches will decide whether a player is too hurt to start the game but healthy enough to begin the second half.
The Big Ten has long been one of the conferences that has really changed how injuries are reported, especially in college football. Now, the new injury reports will not only be a little more specific, but they’ll also come a little more often.
The Big Ten Conference announced updates to the Football Availability Reporting Process on Friday for the upcoming season. Schools will now submit four availability reports per week, beginning three days before a contest and concluding with a game-day report.
To comply with the new injury report rules, Nebraska and other member schools must submit the first report by 7 pm, three days before the game. In other words, for next week, head coach Matt Rhule will need to submit that first report on Wednesday night. He’ll then need to send another report on Thursday night, then Friday night, and finally a new submission two hours before kickoff.
Big Ten adds Out (1st Half) category to Nebraska football availability reports
That last time has been the standard for the last few seasons as a kind of last-minute “who will play today” report. However, it will certainly be interesting to see how drastically reports change from Wednesday to Saturday.
In addition to the new rules for how many injury reports are issued and when, the Big Ten has also mandated some very specific availability categories. Midweek status designations will identify student-athletes as Probable, Questionable, Doubtful, Out or Out (1st Half). Gameday availability reports will include three categories: Game Time Decision, Out, and Out (1st Half) on gameday. Student-athletes not listed on a report are considered Available, the conference said in a release.
The Out (1st Half) is brand new for the 2026 season. This would only be populated if a Nebraska player was suspended due to a targeting call or a team rules violation. However, it will be interesting to see how often a coach might list a guy as Out (1st Half) and then change his status as the week goes on, to mess with people, including the opposing coaches.
In addition to injuries, Nebraska will also have to indicate the availability status of players who were either part of the travel squad or not, but are (or have been) included in the two-deep on offense, defense, or special teams.
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