It’s been a while since Nebraska football was relevant nationally. Seven consecutive losing seasons. No top five finishes this century. No national titles — which the Cornhuskers used to compete for and win with regularity — since 1995.
The changing tides of the sport — and Nebraska’s change to the Big Ten — have left a once powerhouse program drifting in a sea of corn. The sellout streak and epic gameday experience is about all that remains as proof this place once mattered. It’s all floating balloons and faded memories.
That won’t change next season, even if the next week goes even better than the most desperate Cornhusker fan, let alone coach Matt Rhule, could dream.
But at least, for right now, they can dream.
To win games you need to win in recruiting, and almost out of nowhere this week Nebraska has emerged as such a serious player, it could raid no less than Georgia and Ohio State for talent.
First in the transfer portal, where the Huskers have emerged as a frontrunner for quarterback Kyle McCord, who started 12 games for the Buckeyes this season. Ohio State won 11 of them and McCord completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 3,170 yards and 24 touchdowns. He threw just six interceptions.
Two of those picks, however, came in a loss to Michigan, which apparently soured a potentially good situation in Columbus. McCord has two more years of eligibility and most quarterbacks make significant improvement in their second (let alone third) year as a starter (see Heisman winner Jayden Daniels (LSU) and finalists Michael Penix Jr. (Washington) and Bo Nix (Oregon).
Maybe McCord wasn’t enough for Ohio State, who has preferred more mobile quarterbacks in recent history. He’s good though, certainly good enough for a Nebraska program that would get a massive boost if McCord transfers in (and potentially arrives with Buckeye wide receiver Julian Fleming).
Then there was Monday’s stunning news that Nebraska is a threat to flip Dylan Raiola, the No. 1 ranked quarterback in the Class of 2024, from Georgia.
Nebraska was a finalist for Raiola’s commitment last summer, but it was mostly seen as a sentimental choice. His father, Dominic, was a star center on some great Husker teams from 1998-2000. His uncle, Donovan, is Nebraska’s offensive line coach.
Yet the lure of Georgia, and its consecutive national championships, appeared to be too much. After committing to Kirby Smart, Dylan even moved from Arizona to Bufford, Georgia, outside of Atlanta to play his senior season of high school ball.
Yet now the Huskers are back in it, with all of the recruiting buzz and numerous predictions from the experts that follow this stuff calling for a flip from the Bulldogs to the Cornhuskers. To say this would be a recruiting coup for Rhule doesn’t do it justice.
It would be like a defibrillator to the program.
Just landing a player of Raiola’s caliber creates awareness among recruits who don’t know much about Bob Devaney or Tom Osbourne, let alone Tommie Frazier or Turner Gill. Nebraska has always been an incredible place to play football. Its problem is getting kids who hail far from Lincoln to even give it a look, let alone feast on a Runza.
Can Nebraska get McCord? Can it get Raiola? Can it get both, giving their younger QB a season to get seasoned? Can it build around them in the portal and by national signing day on December 20?
The fact these are even questions are music to Nebraska ears.
It’s also a sign of where college football stands in this new era. The establishment bemoaned name, image and likeness dollars influencing recruiting and cursed the freedom of player movement the portal provides. They cried that the sky was falling and just a few select programs would be able to horde all the best players.
They were wrong. The new era actually gives places like Nebraska a chance at returning to its old era because it can leverage its fan passion and resources to overcome its shortcomings — location, weather, etc.
Earlier this month, Rhule flatly said at a press conference that top transfer QBs cost about $2 million per season. Top high school recruits are the same. The Cornhuskers can afford it.
The Huskers are rich with fans, funds and ambition. If it costs a bit more to get someone to Lincoln rather than Los Angeles, so what. At least NIL gives them that chance.
The Alabamas and Georgias of the world aren’t getting every great recruit. They aren’t even getting the number of great recruits they were five years ago. Schools all over the country are prioritizing for the 5-star they have an in with (often in-state) and winning those battles.
If Raiola flips to Nebraska, the top 10 recruits in the country will be committed to 10 different programs — including non-bluebloods Missouri and Texas Tech. From 2017-2021, an average of six schools signed the top 10 players.
Meanwhile, talent such as McCord doesn’t have to stay at Ohio State, where he may be unappreciated or replaced despite a mostly excellent season. He can go find a spot where he is wanted.
All of it allows someone such as Rhule, who went 5-7 in his first year, to retool a program quickly. No one is three recruiting cycles away anymore, certainly not a place such as Nebraska.
It’s December. The talk is about recruiting, not playoff bids. Nebraska hasn’t done anything. Yet.
But for the Cornhusker fan who has been suffering this century, it’s suddenly the most potentially wonderful time of the year.