Ohio State closes its home schedule for Nebraska with a visit to Lincoln, where a Cornhuskers team still finding itself under Matt Rhule gets a look at the Big Ten's most loaded roster.
Bush’s Picks
OSUNEB
OSUNEB
OverUnder
Best BetOhio State
Ohio State enters this season as the betting favorite to win the Big Ten outright, and the roster gap here is real — a stacked receiver room and a running back who topped 1,000 yards against a Nebraska defense still installing a new coordinator's scheme. Back the Buckeyes to win this one straight up.
Ohio State
+Returns Sayin, Jeremiah Smith, 1,000-yard rusher Bo Jackson
+Top-5 recruiting class plus No. 7 transfer class
+Favored to win the Big Ten in 2026
−Defense replacing 8 starters for 2nd straight year
−Lost 2 straight to end 2025 (B1G title, CFP)
−Brutal 2026 slate includes Texas, Indiana, Oregon
Nebraska
+Closes home slate in Lincoln with crowd behind them
+Colandrea was reigning Mountain West Offensive Player of Year
+New coordinator hires could spark a defensive turnaround
−Back-to-back 7-6 seasons under Rhule
−Closed 2025 on 1-4 skid, outscored 121-48 in final 3
−New QB, 5 new assistant coaches installing schemes at once
This one closes out Nebraska's home slate, and the timing says a lot about where each program sits. Julian Sayin heads into his second year as Ohio State's starter with Jeremiah Smith and Bo Jackson still around him, while Nebraska counters with a brand-new QB1 in transfer Anthony Colandrea after Dylan Raiola left the program entirely. One offense is doubling down on continuity, the other is starting over.
Nebraska's staff got a facelift too. Rhule fired defensive coordinator John Butler and offensive line coach Donovan Raiola after a 2025 that came apart down the stretch, and now Rob Aurich runs the defense with new voices coaching the D-line, safeties, O-line and special teams. That's a lot of new faces syncing up at once against a team that isn't rebuilding anything.
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OSU Ohio State
NEB Nebraska
Ohio State, for its part, isn't gliding in unbothered. Matt Patricia has to replace eight starters on defense for the second straight offseason, including three players drafted in the first 11 picks of the 2026 NFL Draft. The talent restock via the transfer portal and recruiting trail is real, but there's a version of this game where Nebraska's defense causes some early-game problems before the Buckeyes' skill talent takes over.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Nov 13?vs Northwestern—
Nov 6?vs Oregon—
Oct 30?@ USC—
Oct 16?@ Indiana—
Oct 9?vs Maryland—
Oct 2?@ Iowa—
Sep 25?vs Illinois—
Sep 19?vs Kent State—
Sep 12?@ Texas—
Sep 5?vs Ball State—
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Nov 13?@ Rutgers—
Nov 6?@ Illinois—
Oct 30?vs Washington—
Oct 16?@ Oregon—
Oct 9?vs Indiana—
Oct 2?vs Maryland—
Sep 25?@ Michigan State—
Sep 19?vs North Dakota—
Sep 12?vs Bowling Green—
Sep 5?vs Ohio—
Recent form.
The bigger backdrop here is how each team's 2025 ended. Ohio State ripped off 12 straight wins before back-to-back losses in the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff, a finish that's fueled an offseason built entirely around finishing the job. Nebraska did the opposite, closing 1-4 with three straight losses by a combined 121-48 — the kind of stretch that gets a coach's name attached to phrases like "most to prove."
Ohio State Buckeyes
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Nebraska Cornhuskers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
None of that guarantees anything by late November. Nebraska gets Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon on this year's slate, about as brutal a gauntlet as exists in the conference, and a home crowd in Lincoln has swung games before. But on paper, this still reads as a talent mismatch — the kind Ohio State is built to expect on the way to a Big Ten title push.
