It's not fair for Nebraska football fans to expect everyone to have the utmost love and respect for the Huskers. Even if they're coming off a 7-6 season and a bowl win. But Phil Steele ranking the Cornhuskers in his "all 136 team" preseason rankings all the way down at No. 35 seems a bit harsh.
His rankings are also bizarre, considering one of the Big Ten teams has somehow earned a higher ranking. Steele, for some reason, believes the Wisconsin Badgers should be ranked higher than the Huskers.
Nebraska football ranked 35th in Phil Steele’s all-136 preseason list, 10th in the Big Ten
Steele's entire rankings are interesting on their face because they have Penn State at No. 1 and Notre Dame at No. 2, and no one can really find a reason why they shouldn't be that high. It's lower in the rankings, with the Nebraska football team at No. 35 and the Wisconsin Badgers at No. 32 in the country.
Phil Steele's Preseason Poll of all 136 FBS Schools pic.twitter.com/L1i751SiPr
— The Big Ten Huddle 🎙️ (@TheBigTenHuddle) July 9, 2025
The Iowa Hawkeyes are currently ranked No. 31. While that's not out of the realm of possibility, most Husker fans would likely argue their team is clearly superior to the Hawkeyes.
In all, the Big Ten got plenty of love with 11 teams in the Top 40:
- No. 1 Penn State
- No. 5 Ohio State
- No. 12 Michigan
- No. 13 Oregon
- No. 16 Indiana
- No. 17 Illinois
- No. 21 USC
- No. 31 Iowa
- No. 32 Wisconsin
- No. 35 Nebraska
- No. 39 Washington
- No. 44 Rutgers
- No. 45 Minnesota
- No. 52 UCLA
- No. 54 Michigan State
- No. 63 Northwestern
- No. 72 Maryland
- No. 106 Purdue
This means that Steele's rankings have the Nebraska football team at 10th in the Big Ten. That's quite a bit lower than most national analysts have had them. For Husker fans, it's not the kind of thing that they want to hear from one of the biggest college football nerds out there. But the Cornhuskers could win Phil Steele over with a good showing early in the season.