The Nebraska Cornhuskers are bowl eligible for the first time since 2016, ending the longest drought in the Power Four. Nebraska earned its sixth win of the season Saturday with a dominant 44-25 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers.
As soon as the clock hit zero, the Cornhuskers sprinted to the Wisconsin sideline to claim the Freedom Trophy as students poured out of the stands onto the field to celebrate.
The Cornhuskers didn’t just end their bowl-eligible drought, either. They also snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Badgers, a four-game losing streak that began in Week 8, and a nine-game losing streak when entering a matchup with five wins.
Under second-year coach Matt Rhule, Nebraska came into the weekend 0-8 when trying to win a sixth game to become bowl-eligible.
“The cloud that kind of hangs over everything, it’s gone,” said Rhule, who envisions bigger and better things for the Huskers. “This will be the last time we ever celebrate six wins.”
Nebraska started its season on a strong note, jumping out to a 5-1 record, including a marquee win over Colorado. Its only loss in that span came in overtime against a ranked Illinois team. However, the Cornhuskers dropped four in a row in Big Ten play: 56-7 to Indiana, 21-17 to Ohio State, 27-20 to UCLA and 28-20 to USC.
Following the loss to UCLA, Rhule handed the offense over to former Houston and West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. True freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola said last week after the USC loss that he felt the offense had found its rhythm again, while also promising Husker Nation that they’d get that elusive sixth win.
“We’re only going to keep building on it these next two weeks, and we’ll get the win next week and get us to a bowl,” Raiola told reporters in the postgame presser.
Raiola delivered on both promises. Against Wisconsin, he threw for 293 yards and a touchdown and completed 28 of 38 passes, with eight going for at least 15 yards. Nebraska scored a season-high 44 points, marking the first time since 2021 that the Cornhuskers scored 40+ points in multiple games within a season. And after their final regular-season game next week against Iowa, they will be headed to a bowl.