Off to a 4-0 start and heading into a Week 5 game against Maryland as a huge favorite, Nebraska faces the big question of how they’ll wrap up Year 4 of the Matt Rhule era.
On3’s Brett McMurphy took a pass on predicting how he thinks things will play out regarding the College Football Playoff and bowl bids for teams that don’t make it. He doesn’t predict final records, so it’s hard to know exactly how much faith the analyst has in the Huskers, but it looks like he believes they’ll do better than finishing the regular season at 6-6.
McMurphy predicts Nebraska is bound for Tampa, Florida, and the Reliaquest Bowl. The analyst believes the Huskers will face off against up-and-coming SEC school Mississippi State. If he's right, that could be good news for Rhule and his gang as they try to fight off the nattering naybobs about how well he’s managed his program after two straight 7-6 campaigns.
The Reliquest Bowl is obviously not the most impressive or highest-profile bowl game in the Big Ten. But it’s also a step up from the Pinstripe Bowl, the game Nebraska went to in New York during its triumphant return to the postseason in 2024.
Nebraska football projected to take postseason step forward with ReliaQuest Bowl berth
To figure out where the Huskers would have to finish to make that bowl, keep in mind that last year, Iowa faced off against No. 13 Vanderbilt. The Commodores just missed the College Football Playoff, so the Reliquest was a poor consolation prize for them, but it’s clearly not the lowest-level bowl featuring the Big Ten vs. the SEC.
The Hawkeyes finished sixth in the B1G last year and were 8-4 going into the bowl. If Nebraska mirrors that, they would finish the year 4-4 down the stretch. With expectations that they’ll beat Maryland this Saturday, that means a 3-4 slide in the final seven games.
Granted, the Huskers have long known that their final two months will easily be the most difficult of the 2026 campaign. With a final run that sees NU face off against Indiana, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Rutgers, Ohio State, and Iowa, winning three of those games would actually be pretty impressive.
Even if Nebraska’s wins come against three “worst” teams on the rest of the schedule (Illinois, Washington, and Rutgers), that would be a better finish than most people thought entering the 2026 season.
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