LINCOLN, Neb. — Sunday at Nebraska football headquarters kicked off a 13-day mission to change the trajectory of Matt Rhule’s program.
As Nebraska annihilated Akron 68-0 Saturday night, 400 miles to the south in Norman, Okla., Michigan went down 24-13 against Oklahoma.
The Sooners presented a blueprint to slow the Big Ten bully. Freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood was ineffective in his first start away from home for Michigan.
After the loss, coach Sherrone Moore had to grapple with the choice made by Michigan officials — and Moore himself — to suspend the coach for the Wolverines’ next two games. He could have missed the first two instead and been done with it.
The Wolverines visit Nebraska on Sept. 20. Moore will miss it.
The Huskers aren’t going to make much of this heightened opportunity publicly. Not with Houston Christian on the schedule for Saturday. But the next game is a formality. The Huskies of the FCS Southland Conference play in a 5,000-seat stadium. HCU has never experienced a winning season as a Division I program. It lost at Eastern Kentucky last week.
You likely won’t hear the Huskers at any point talk big about Michigan. But there is blood in the water. Nebraska learned a lesson last year about the importance of keeping an even keel after it throttled Colorado while sky high in Week 2.
The Huskers failed to reach that level of play again until late in the season.
Rhule’s third team adopted a more mature approach, evidenced against Akron as Nebraska plowed through an opportunity to lose its intensity while playing with a big lead in the second half.
Make no mistake, the mental preparation for Michigan is underway. It began in the offseason. Now that the stage is effectively set, we can start to see how it’s going to look in Lincoln a week from Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Gary Danielson, the CBS analyst assigned to Michigan at Nebraska, told me in July at Big Ten media days that he could not recall a conference-opening game in which both participants needed so badly to win.
“It’s a bit of a prove-it moment for both teams,” Danielson said. “For an early season game, this is very consequential. It should be great TV. And the setting is everything that we enjoy about college football.”
Moore is allowed to stay with the Wolverines until this Saturday at 12:01 a.m., per the NCAA ruling over his suspension connected to the Michigan sign-stealing scandal. He must sit out of action this week as Michigan hosts Central Michigan, then remain out — banned from practices, game planning and the playing venue on game day — until after the Wolverines visit Memorial Stadium.
Michigan dropped eight spots to No. 23 in the AP rankings Sunday after the loss at Oklahoma. If the Wolverines take care of CMU, they figure to provide Nebraska with a chance to snap its 27-game skid against teams ranked in the AP Top 25.
Forget the streak. Nebraska simply needs a win against an opponent with Michigan’s reputation. Despite five losses in Moore’s first season as head coach a year ago, Michigan finished with wins against Ohio State and Alabama. The Wolverines won a national championship 20 months ago.
Nebraska is 0-11 against Ohio State and Michigan in the past decade. Seven defeats came by 31 points or more.
And this one is there for the taking. Michigan will be vulnerable, without Moore in its first game away from home since the loss at OU. Nebraska will be brimming with confidence. It’s spent two-plus seasons under Rhule building for moments like the one that’s coming next week.
Rhule talks a great game. But he could not talk the Huskers into getting here. He could not talk them into playing 60 minutes without a letdown Saturday night against an overmatched opponent. Rhule couldn’t talk them into taking enough pride in a shutout that Riley Van Poppel blocked a field goal in the second half and defensive backups held the line.
“People ask me about Year 3,” Rhule said after the most lopsided victory for Nebraska since it beat Minnesota 84-13 in 1983. “It has nothing to do with me.”
He said it’s about players like defensive end Cam Lenhardt. Lenhardt on Tuesday underwent hand surgery. He did not miss a practice and played on both sides of the ball against Akron.
It’s about players like wide receiver Dane Key, who ran from the sideline to retrieve the football that redshirt freshman Quinn Clark caught for a 37-yard touchdown from Dylan Raiola in the second quarter. Clark scored on his first catch at Memorial Stadium. In the end zone, he used his hands to flash a “3” and a “2,” the jersey number of his father, the late Ken Clark, who earned All-Big Eight recognition as a running back in 1988 and 1989.
🚨FIRST CAREER TD 🚨
Quinn Clark reels in the Dylan Raiola pass for his first @HuskerFootball score.
📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/Sgkz3mdUVC
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 7, 2025
“That’s a special Husker moment,” Rhule said.
Clark, Maverick Noonan, Keelan Smith and of course, Raiola, who threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns, enjoyed milestones to honor their fathers, all ex-Nebraska greats.
The Huskers packed this 2025 home opener with more feel-good storylines than the old stadium has seen during one game in many years.
Tight end Luke Lindenmeyer saved the most memorable moment for the end, proposing on the turf to his girlfriend, a member of the Scarlets dance squad. She said yes.
All of it gave the vibe that something special is afoot. Under Rhule, Nebraska has won eight consecutive games against non-conference opponents for the first time since a 12-game streak from 1999 to 2001. That streak will reach nine games this week.
Then it’s on to the Big Ten. And to Michigan, an opponent circled — though quietly this time — on the Nebraska schedule for months.
(Photo: Steven Branscombe / Getty Images)
