Nebraska missed its opportunity to earn its first ranked win of the Matt Rhule era. Instead, the Michigan Wolverines handed the Cornhuskers a 30-27 loss in Lincoln. But it’s not all doom and gloom. The Huskers have two weeks to improve these position groups before they play Michigan State.<\/p>\n
Nebraska’s interior offensive lineman held up well against Michigan’s defensive line.\u00a0 \u00a0However, offensive line coach Donovan Raiola still needs to figure out who to start at the tackle positions. According to Pro Football Focus, sophomore left tackle Gunnar Gottula allowed two sacks against the Wolverines. This led Raiola to substitute in Elijah Pritchett<\/a>. But this didn’t fix the problem. The former Alabama offensive lineman was benched after he gave up a sack and committed a false start penalty. The Huskers could have found answers at the right tackle position with Teddy Prochazka.<\/a> But it wasn’t to be. The senior gave up one sack and seven quarterback hurries. We should expect Nebraska’s offensive line to protect better against the Spartans. Michigan State’s defensive line failed to get to USC’s Jayden Maiava on multiple occasions. Plus, the Spartans also allowed 289 rushing yards. This sets up Emmett Johnson<\/a> to have major success on the ground. The junior will be back in Memorial Stadium, itching to rebound from his performance against Michigan.<\/p>\n Michigan’s offensive linemen dominated Nebraska’s pass rushers. The Cornhuskers’ defensive linemen were unable to get off blocks, which allowed Justice Haynes to rush for 149 yards on the ground. The junior also showed off his speed on a\u00a0 75-yard touchdown run.\u00a0 Nebraska’s defensive line did a better job of containing Bryce Underwood on the ground. Transfer linebacker Dasan McCullough<\/a> got to the former five-star once.\u00a0 But there were still issues. At the end of the first quarter, Underwood was able to run untouched into the endzone for a 37-yard score. This leaves Terry Bradden’s unit in a tough position.\u00a0 However, we should expect the Huskers’ front four to bounce back against Michigan State.\u00a0 The program has two weeks to prepare for the Spartans. Plus, the Cornhuskers can follow USC’s playbook.\u00a0 The Trojans were able to rack up five tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks against Aidan Chiles.<\/p>\n Dylan Raiola<\/a> put together another good outing in week four. The sophomore quarterback passed for 308 yards and three touchdowns against the Wolverines. A Hail Mary pass to Jacory Barney<\/a> also helped his cause.\u00a0 \u00a0 But outside of those three instances, Raiola was unable to escape the grasp of\u00a0 Michigan’s defensive linemen. The Wolverines sacked Raiola seven times and were a constant presence in the backfield. We can place the blame on his uncle’s offensive line. Giving up seven sacks is unacceptable in Big Ten play. However, Raiola also needs to step up in critical moments. The sophomore had multiple chances to use his legs to extend the pocket and make plays. However, Raiola opted to stand still in the pocket. It might be up to Glenn Thomas to fix these issues. But if Raiola can’t get mobile, would the Huskers feel confident leaving the keys to the car with TJ Lateef? The freshman was able to play well when he was in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n This Hail Mary from @HuskerFootball<\/a> is picture-perfect \ud83d\udcf8 pic.twitter.com\/YXXobVBORl<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mike Ekeler’s unit has been solid to start the season. However, Nebraska’s special teams encountered early adversity against Michigan. This began in the first quarter when Kyle Cunanan<\/a> missed a 41-yard field goal. The Huskers also didn’t capitalize enough on punt returns. However, we should expect Ekeler to get Nebraska’s special teams under control.\u00a0 He has an aggressive approach to coaching his players, which has allowed him to be confident in Lincoln. Plus, the Huskers also have Archie Wilson.<\/a> Before the season started, Ekeler described the punter as a “weapon.” In his first college football game against Cincinnati, Wilson lived up to expectations. He placed three punts inside the Bearcats’ 20-yard line.\u00a0 After his first game in Arrowhead, he didn’t punt again for another three weeks. This left him a little rusty to open Big Ten play. But once he settled in, Wilson was able to\u00a0 consistently flip the field on Chip Lindsay’s offense. Can he find a way to execute against Michigan State? Wilson will have another long break before he goes against the Spartans.<\/p>\n Main Image: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nebraska missed its opportunity to earn its first ranked win of the Matt Rhule era. Instead, the Michigan Wolverines handed the Cornhuskers a 30-27 loss in Lincoln. But it’s not all doom and gloom. The Huskers have two weeks to improve these position groups before they play Michigan State. Offensive Line Nebraska’s interior offensive lineman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4440,"featured_media":77434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,35608,17],"tags":[9778,34850,34794,33572],"class_list":["post-80280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-nebraska-cornhuskers","category-news","tag-donovan-raiola","tag-mike-ekeler","tag-terry-bradden","tag-tj-lateef"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4440"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80280"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80497,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80280\/revisions\/80497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Defensive Line<\/h3>\n
Quarterback Play<\/h3>\n
\n
Special Teams<\/h3>\n