NU’s Loss To Michigan Should Not Define Nebraska’s Season

Husker fans had high hopes when the Cornhuskers hosted perennial powerhouse Michigan last Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln..

As everyone knows, MU edged the Huskers 30-27. MU was a 2½-point favorite going into the game. The loss might be a moral victory of sorts for Nebraska considering just two years ago, MU embarrassed the Huskers 45-7.

Fortunately for Nebraska, thd Huskers cut the loss margin by 35 points.

Improvement?

Yes.

But a loss is still a loss. To heck with moral victories, most would say.

So what are Husker fans to make of the loss?

This week at the gym, I overheard two men talking about the game. One of them insisted the entire Husker coaching staff be fired.

“Seven sacks? Are you kidding me?” he said. “And what about giving up three chunk plays that went for touchdowns? On top of that, you miss a chip shot field goal and get stopped on fourth and two on the Michigan six yard line?

“This is pathetic.”

So, will Saturday’s loss define the ’25 Husker football season? I don’t think so.

Let’s go back a few years to a game NU lost in 1992,

The date was November 14th at Cyclone Stadium in Ames, Iowa. The ‘Clones upset Nebraska 19-10.

Iowa State finished that season at 4-7. Among their 7 losses was a 27-10 home loss to Northern Iowa. To put the Husker loss into proper perspective, NU hadn’t lost to ISU the previous 14 years.

NU scored only 10 points in the entire game that day in Ames. NU was also shut out the entire second half of that game. NU was also held to 246 yards of total offense.

The loss should have never happened. It was a total embarrassment.

What’s your point, Danny Boy?

The Husker roster that year included players like Tommie Frazier, Trev Alberts, Calvin Jones, Zach Wiegert, Will Shields, Cory Schlesinger, Terry Connealy and Rob Zatechka. A year later, most of those players would be playing for the national championship in the Orange Bowl vs Florida State.

Tommie Frazier went on to lead the Huskers to two NCs (’94 and ’95) and should have won the Heisman in 1995. Trev Alberts would go on win the 1993 Butkus Award — the only one in program history.

My point is that losing to the Cyclones that year was a much bigger upset than Saturday’s three-point loss to Michigan. Unlike 1992 Iowa State, 2025 Michigan is loaded with talent.

The loss to ISU was in Tom Osborne’s 20th season at Nebraska – not by a coach in his third year like Matt Rhule. NU would go on to win nine games in ’92 and meet Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

Good thing Osborne wasn’t fired after that game. The Huskers would go on a 60-3 tear from 1994-1997 and win three national championships in the process.

Am I suggesting Matt Rhule is going to have similar success?

No, but my point is, don’t make too much of NU’s loss to Michigan. And please don’t fire any coaches.

You can email me at HuskerDan@cox.net.

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