Maryland Football Opponent Overview: Nebraska Cornhuskers

John Gugs
3 minutes ago
4 min read

After losing in heartbreaking fashion last season to the Cornhuskers in College Park, Maryland football will look to get their second win in school history over Nebraska in week five of the 2026 season when they travel to Lincoln on Oct. 3.

Nebraska is coming off a season where they started solid but got crippled with injuries down the stretch of the season to just finish 7-6. The Cornhuskers are led by Matt Rhule who is now in his fourth year as the head coach at Nebraska. Since taking over in Lincoln, Rhule is 19-19 including going 1-1 against the Terps. Nebraska will be the first opponent for the Terps in 2026 to not have a new head coach.

Offense

Key Players: QB Anthony Colandrea, WR Nyziah Harper, WR Jacory Barney Jr

Scoring: 28.7 ppg

Passing: 224.6 ypg

Rushing: 145.9 ypg

Turnovers: .8 turnovers per game

Nebraska's offense loses arguably their two biggest players from last season in quarterback Dylan Raiola and All-American running back Emmett Johnson. Colandrea, a name that should sound familiar to Terps fans after he started out his college career at Virginia, will look to take over as the number one guy to take over for Raiola under center this season. Colandrea went 0-2 against Maryland while at Virginia. Last season while at UNLV, Colandrea threw for 3,459 yards, 23 touchdowns, and nine interceptions with a completion percentage of 65.9%. He also rushed for 649 yards and ten touchdowns last season as his dual threat ability has been something that has helped him be tough to gameplan for his entire college career.

The Huskers decided to not look to the portal for a big name running back to replace Johnson and will look to have more of a running back by committee approach in 2026. The Huskers will look towards returners Mekhi Nelson, and Isaiah Mozee along with incoming transfer Tikey Hayes and incoming freshman Jamal Rule to help the Huskers have yet another lethal rushing attack this season.

In the receiver room, the Huskers will look towards Harper who led the team in receiving yards last season with 617 while adding five touchdowns to his name. Harper will lead the room with another key returner in Barney Jr as well. The Huskers also added a productive piece out of the portal in UCLA transfer Kwazi Gilmer, who led the Bruins in catches (50), receiving yards (535) and touchdowns (4) as the 6-foot-2 receiver poses an early challenge for the Terps' secondary.

Defense

Key Players: DL Williams Nwaneri, LB Owen Chambliss, DB Donovan Jones

Scoring: 24.6 ppg

Passing: 154.1 ypg

Rushing: 175.4 ypg

Turnovers: 1 turnover per game

Nebraska's 2025 defense was one of the best defenses in the entire country against the pass, ranking third in yards per game allowed. However, they also had a very brutal flaw and that was their run defense where they ranked 100th in rushing yards per game allowed. Their struggles against the run led to Matt Rhule hiring a new defensive coordinator in Rob Aurich who helped lead San Diego State to the 11th total defense last season. The Huskers, like on offense, will heavily rely on returning players to lead them in 2026.

And that will start with Nwaneri. Nwaneri was second on the team in sacks and tied for fourth on the team in tackles for loss last season. However, with the change in defensive scheme, Nwaneri will look to be more of an outside rusher than narrow defensive end that he was last season and the Huskers will be hoping that will lead to more pressure for their defense.

Chambliss will be one of the few key transfers for the Husker defender in 2026. Chambliss followed Aurich from SDSU where he will look to lead a linebacker room that lost several key players last season including their leading tackler in Javin Wright. In the new 4-2-5 defense the Huskers will be running, expect Chambliss to get the green dot as he is the most familiar with the system. Chambliss finished 2025 with 109 total tackles, four sacks, and an interception to his name earning him first team All-MWC honors.

The secondary is another spot where the Huskers lost a lot of production from last season. However, luckily for them they return Jones who was tied for the team lead with five pass deflections while adding 59 total tackles and an interception to his name. Jones will look to lead a secondary that has a lot of familiar faces with him and Andrew Marshall being the only two main starters returning in 2026.

What to watch for

Nebraska has a lot of returners on defense but only a select few were starters last season. With the addition of a new defensive coordinator and a lot of fresh faces on the defense, the Huskers will look to see if they can keep up their dominance in passing defense while also improving on their rushing defense. Last season against Nebraska, Malik Washington went 27-of-37 while throwing for 249 yards, which was the fourth most Nebraska allowed in 2025, to go with one touchdown while only being sacked one time. With the additions of Chris Durr Jr, Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding and Preston Howard along with returners Dorian Fleming and Kaleb Webb, how does Maryland's passing attack fare against a developing secondary? And more importantly, how does it hold up in the first hostile atmosphere of the season?

Related Links