The Nebraska football season is almost here. Now that Week 0 has come and gone, it’s time to really wake up and get ready. The Huskers will face off against UTEP on Saturday afternoon.
That game will be the beginning of what everyone in the state hopes is a march to a bowl game, if not the playoffs. Before that march begins, we need to look at the Huskers opponents. Specifically, we need to look at the quarterbacks the Nebraska football team will likely face off against, starting with the best and working our way down to the worst.
Nebraska football power ranking every quarterback the Huskers will face in 2024
1. Shedeur Sanders - Colorado
As much as I hate to admit it (and I do hate to admit it) the Buffs quarterback will almost certainly be the best signal-caller the Cornhuskers face this season.
He’s a Heisman contender. He threw 27 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions last season and his dad tried to upgrade Shedeur’s supporting cast for 2024. The good news is, Nebraska faces off with him in Lincoln in Week 2.
2. Tyler Van Dyke - Wisconsin
The new era of college football means that quarterbacks move all over the place. That’s represented at Wisconsin as they’re starting their second straight transfer quarterback in Tyler Van Dyke.
The former Hurricanes quarterback threw for 7,469 yards and 54 touchdowns over 32 career games. He also threw 23 interceptions with the Hurricanes, including 12 last season. Nebraska football will see him in the second to last game of the season.
3. Miller Moss - USC
Moss gets the third spot in this power ranking in no small part because of the history of Lincoln Riley and his quarterbacks. He's one of the least experienced on this list, but when he has played, he's shown flashes. That includes 6 touchdowns in the Trojans' bowl game last year.
Moss was named the starter for USC just this week, so perhaps he struggled a bit in camp. The Huskers face off against them on November 16. Just ahead of the game against Wisconsin.
4. Will Howard - Ohio State
After spending the last four seasons at Kansas State spending a decent amount of time backing up former Nebraska football star Adrian Martinez, Will Howard is now the starting quarterback at Ohio State.
Howard has been very good the last two seasons with the Wildcats, throwing for 4,276 yards and 39 touchdowns in 19 games. If there’s a weakness and why he’s relatively low on this list, it’s his penchant for turning the ball over. He had 10 TOs last season and 25 career interceptions.
5. Kurtis Rourke - Indiana
Kurtis Rourke comes over to the Big Ten after five years with the Ohio Bobcats. Due to the COVID pandemic, he’s got one more year of college football and he’s going to lead new head coach Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers this season.
Throughout his career, Rourke has thrown for almost 8,000 yards, 50 touchdowns and just 16 interceptions. His 2022 was better (25 TDs and 4 Ints) than his 2023, but he could be dangerous if he can channel that season.
6. Hudson Card - Purdue
Former Texas quarterback Hudson Card is now in his second year with the Boilermakers after a 2023 campaign where he completed nearly 60 percent of his passes for 2,387 yards and 15 touchdowns to just 8 interceptions.
He is one of the only quarterbacks on the list that the Nebraska football team has seen before and the Huskers handled him well, holding him to 16-of-32 passing for just 100 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs in Purdue’s 31-14 loss. Here’s hoping they can handle him again.
7. Athan Kaliakmanis - Rutgers
If you’re like me, you did a double-take when you saw where Athan Kaliakmanis is playing this season. The very rare inter-conference transfer, Kaliakmanis started his career with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
His numbers last year were far from eye-popping but they were solid (1,838 yards, 14 TDs, 9 Ints) in a quarterback wasteland that is Minnesota. This year, he’s hoping to help the Rutgers Scarlet Knights be a spoiler. He’s also 2-0 vs the Huskers in his career.
8. Ethan Garbers - UCLA
If there’s one guy who could shoot up the rankings should I do this again later this season, it seems like it would be the Bruins’ quarterback. Last season, started a handful of games and came into relief in several others.
He enters his first Big Ten season as the official starter. He’s posted 155 career completions on 234 attempts, a 66.2 percent completion percentage with 1,735 career passing yards and 15 touchdowns to seven interceptions. He had 11 TDs and just 3 INTs in 2023.
9. Luke Altmeyer - Illinois
Luke Altmyer didn’t have anything resembling a great 2023 season. But he did get stronger as the season went on. He started with 7 interceptions in his first three gamesbut he did manage to throw 10 touchdowns to just three interceptions over his last six games.
Altmyer did have one of the bigger yards games against Nebraska football, throwing for 289 yards and 1 touchdown with 1 interception, but his Illini lost 20-7.
10. Cade McNamara - Iowa
I cannot, put Cade McNamara lower on this power ranking, despite the overwhelming desire to do so. There is even some question as to whether the Iowa Hawkeyes will start him or Northwestern transfer Brendon Sullivan.
For now, it looks like McNamara, and he stays out of last place only because of UTEP and Northern Iowa being the last two teams with QB’s not mentioned yet. He’s struggled with injuries since coming to Iowa, but even before he got hurt last year, he only completed 51.1 percent of his passes, for 4 TDs and 3 INTs.
11. Cade McConnell or Skyler Locklear - UTEP
UTEP has not named a starting quarterback yet, despite the game against Nebraska football being less than a week away. Cade McConnell and Autin Peay transfer Skyler Locklear are battling for the job but it’s safe to say that if you can’t win the starting spot at UTEP before August 26, you’re going to be low on the power rankings list.
Locklear has 7 total college pass attempts. McConnell has seen more action, throwing for 1,437, 6 TDs and 4 INTs last year. Either way, the Huskers defenders have to be licking their chops.
12. Aidan Dunne - Northern Iowa
Aidan Dunne appears to be the likely starting quarterback for Northern Iowa. He enters this season with seven career games played and has completed 9-of-11 career attempts for 95 yards and one touchdown. He also has 98 career rushing yards.
Northern Iowa has a revamped offense and one has to wonder if that will be better or worse for Dunne, who will be facing off against a Nebraska football team that will be looking to storm to a 3-0 start, or looking for revenge after another loss to Colorado.