On a lovely summer evening in Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, the Nebraska Cornhuskers held on late to defeat the Cincinnati Bearcats 20-17. In the first meeting between the two schools since 1906, the Huskers nabbed their first victory over a Power 4 (5) opponent in a season opener since 2003 when Malcolm Hartzog intercepted a Brendan Sorsby pass in the end zone with just 34 ticks left on the clock.
Once again, it wasn’t pretty. It was survival. Husker fans have grown so accustomed to losing one score games that they can be forgiven for how these game-ending situations trigger traumatic memories that are not easily purged. But the Huskers have now won two one-score games in a row and learning how to win in these games is an important step, albeit a baby step in the right direction. After the game Coach Matt Rhule said, “We made the winning play in the winning moment when we had to have it. We’d like to make a few more.”
The 2025 version of the Huskers improved their personnel in the off-season, and many of those acquisitions contributed mightily to the victory. I believe the team will be much improved over last season, but they are far from a polished product. Last year the team moved from mediocre to decent. This year the challenge is to improve from decent to good. For those Kool-Aid guzzling fans that expected a leap to greatness, I’d suggest you put down the bottle and adjust your expectations. Instead of spewing negativity, let’s learn to appreciate the process of gradual improvement.
Offensively, the team started slowly and then started to take control in the second quarter outscoring Cincinnati 13-0. The short pass ball control offense led to a 19:32-10:28 differential in first half time of possession. The second quarter was 11:45-3:15 for that statistic. The offensive line started to establish a push up front and the Huskers out-yarded the Bearcats 130-22. If not for Elijah Pritchett’s false start at 1 st and goal from the one, it could have easily been 17-3 at intermission. The Alabama transfer struggled with the snap count in fall camp and has to curtail that tendency. But good teams will score 7 anyway, and we didn’t.
With all the momentum, the offense got the second half kickoff and petered it away. After driving to the Cincinnati 43-yard line, a 4 th and 2 pass was nearly a pick six and the Huskers turned it over on downs. It was probably Dylan Raiola’s only bad pass on the night. Hindsight says we should have let Aussie punter Archie Wilson kick it at that point, especially after the Bearcats drove 57 yards in 10 plays to make it 13-10. The offense’s lone score in the second half was a gritty 13 play 67-yard drive that took 7:02 off the clock culminating with a well-executed slant pass to Dane Key for the score on 4 th and 2 from the three. I’m not sure what happened in the six inches between the ears for most of the second half. But apparently, it’s a struggle to become good.
Signal caller Dylan Raiola is now a sophomore, and we trust that the year of experience will curtail bad decision-making. Raiola completed 33-of-42 passes (a 79% completion rate) for 243 yards and two touchdowns and NO interceptions. He increased his career passing total to 3,062 making him the 13th Husker with 3,000 career passing yards. I thought we might see OC Dana Holgerson call more plays to stretch the field, but in this one he appeared content to play it safe. Raiola also took off for 9 yards on a 3rd and 6 which he will probably need to do a couple times a game.
Emmett Johnson was the running game as he rushed 25 times for 108 yards for his second career 100-yard rushing game. His 25 carries set a career high, bettering the 18 carries at Iowa last season. EJ runs hard and he can make defenders miss in space. Johnson also led all receivers with 7 receptions for 27 yards with 21 of those yards after the catch. One concern is that there does not appear to be a capable backup at this point. Mekhi Nelson and Isaiah Mozee rushed 2 times for -2 yards. I do like Heinrich Haarberg in the short yardage push package that has defensive lineman Cam Lenhardt in at fullback. Another positive is that the offensive line totally neutralized Cincinnati’s stud defensive tackle Dontay Corleone who had just one assisted tackle and a single quarterback hurry.
Newcomers Nyziah Hunter (6 catches for 65 yards) and Dane Key (6 catches for 51 yards) each scored and look to be significant upgrades. Tight end Luke Lindenmeyer’s five catches for 47 yards were both career marks highlighted by a 19-yard reception in the 4 th quarter. Luke is a beast both blocking and running after the catch. Jacory Barney, Jr. also contributed 5 receptions for 27 yards. He got nailed a couple times with awkward tackles and one of those low shots may have sidelined Janiran Bonner for a while with an injury.
On defense, the Blackshirts were gashed with too many runs on the edge and with quarterback scrambles that led to the Bearcats piling up 202 rushing yards. Sorsby averaged 7.4 yards a rush in totaling 96 yards. When the defense did get off the field (with 3 three and outs), the offensive tended to produce. Thankfully, the disparity in time of possession limited the Bearcats’ opportunities, but after surrendering just 3 first half points, the defense gave up two TDs in four second half possessions and were painfully close to another. The secondary held up well, surrendering just 69 pass yards, but the outsized defensive line were repeatedly pushed back and the ends failed to maintain discipline on the edges. Thank goodness for the turnover at the end of the first half that led to a score and the one at the end of the game that sealed it.
Senior safety DeShon Singleton led the defense with seven stops to increase his career total to 100 tackles. Newcomer Dasan McCullough had four tackles in the game to also push his career total to 100. Another addition was Williams Nwaneri who had 6 tackles, a pass breakup and a QB hurry and the all-important fumble recovery late in the second quarter after Vincent Shavers (3 tackles) popped the Bearcat receiver. Shavers (V9) definitely plays the role of a disruptor. Keona Davis (3 tackles) played decently in the middle. The defense had five pass breakups but only one QB hurry and no sacks. John Butler’s crew will have a lot to work on shoring up the run defense before facing Michigan in three weeks. Malcolm Hartzog had a pretty typical game (for him). He got burned repeatedly, got called for defensive holding and then fully redeemed himself with the pick at the end, his 8th career interception.
Special teams also highlighted two newcomers as place-kicker Kyle Cunanan connected on a 52-yard field goal to open Nebraska’s scoring. The 52-yard kick was a career long for the first-year Husker, bettering a 49-yard field against Tulsa in 2023 while he was playing at Charlotte. Cunanan also nailed a 22-yarder later in the 2 nd quarter. They say the kid was booming it from 60 yards out in warmups. The other addition was punter Archie Wilson who averaged 36.8 yards on four kicks, but more importantly placed two of them to go out of bounds inside the 10. The Aussie can kick with either foot and his accuracy could be a real asset in field position. John Hohl may have lost his kickoff duties after a short kickoff allowing a 20-yard return and also and then kicking it out of bounds. Ekeler’s crew seem interested in wanting to return punts and kickoffs but that will require a much-improved blocking scheme.
A shout out to the Husker crowd who helped to contribute to four Cincinnati false starts. It’s not often that you have 98% of the crowd for an away game.
It’s good to get the first game out of the way and the Huskers were fortunate to play just well enough to win. It was a bit surprising to me that the Huskers held a 39:30-20:30 edge in time of possession, were +2 in turnovers, and held the opponent to 69 yards passing, and it still came down to a 50/50 ball at the goal line. Good teams don’t let it get that close and great teams leave no doubt. We’re still working on becoming good. Baby steps. Go Big Red!!!
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