Nebraska travels to Kansas City on Thursday to open the season under the lights in Arrowhead Stadium against Big XII foe Cincinnati. As always, optimism around the team is high, especially with the confidence exuded by coaches and players throughout training camp. For those high hopes to be realized, the Huskers would do themselves a huge favor by starting the season with a win against a talented Bearcats squad in front of what will surely be an overwhelmingly pro-Husker crowd.
Nebraska Offense vs Cincinnati Defense
After a frustratingly modest improvement in offense in 2024, a priority of the offseason has been the enhancement of the unit into a group that can consistently score points in the rugged Big Ten. That started with retaining offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen who had an entire spring and summer to fully craft the offense he parachuted in to save last November. Despite having shiny new weapons on the outside in transfer receivers Dane Key (Kentucky) and Nyziah Hunter (Cal), Holgorsen will need to find consistency in the running game with a beefed up Emmett Johnson and an offensive line that looks as deep and imposing as any Husker line in recent memory.
Doing so in game one will require overcoming a front seven that is the strength of Cincinnati’s defense. Preseason all-conference defensive lineman Donte Corleone returns and is backed by a group of fast and physical linebackers. While its defensive statistics were not overly impressive in 2024, Cincinnati did hold Big 12 Champion Arizona State to just 14 points in one of the Sun Devils two regular season losses.
The unit will be breaking in almost all new faces in the secondary, where the departure of last seasons to stars to the NFL and the portal forced the Bearcats to hit the transfer market heavily. If they have yet to gel as a group, Thursday night might provide Dylan Raiola an opportunity to reintroduce his arm talent to the nation in what will be a prime time spotlight.
Nebraska Defense vs Cincinnati Offense
Despite being the strength of Nebraska’s team the past two seasons, the Husker defense may actually have more to prove than the offense. It will be led by a new coordinator, John Butler, who is entering his first season heading a defense since 2013 at Penn State. The defensive line, the strength of last year’s team, will be full of players whose talent is only exceeded by their inexperience. The linebacking crew is full of new starters as well. And the secondary, though more experienced than almost any other team in the nation, are coming off of a year where its play seemed to regress. Unquestionably, there will be talent all over the field on this side of the ball, but how quickly can it reach its potential?
The answer to that question better be fast because Cincinnati brings a highly capable offense to Arrowhead. Signal Caller Brendan Sorsby is the best runner at the quarterback position Nebraska has seen in years. He’s joined in the backfield by a group of running backs that include a sturdy tackle-breaker in Wisconsin transfer Tawee Walker and a home-run hitter in Ohio State transfer Evan Pryor. The Bearcats want to run the ball early and often with this dynamic trio.
The main receiving target for Sorsby is another Buckeye transfer, Joe Royer, who proved to be the best tight end in the Big 12 by breaking Travis Kelce’s school record for receptions last season. Outside, Cincinnati will rely on a wide receiver room that was completely overhauled through the transfer portal during the offseason. While the group has shown very little production at the FBS level, they are considered one of the fastest units in all of college football. The Husker secondary can’t afford to get caught looking into the backfield.
Where the Blackshirts should have an edge is in the trenches. Cincinnati will be breaking four new offensive lineman. While the Huskers have their own group of replacements, it usually takes longer for an offensive line to click than their defensive counterparts. Still the Bearcat group is full of big bodies with strong pedigrees from their former schools. This battle will be the key matchup of the game.
The Bearcats may possess the best offense the Big Red will face until USC travels to Lincoln in November. And clearly, when it comes to proven star-power among marquee positions, Cincinnati holds a pretty clear edge over Nebraska. The Huskers, however, should have advantages along both trenches, through the overall depth of the team, and—of course—in the stands, where almost 70,000 Husker fans are expected to fill the Arrowhead seats.
It should be a fun night where we learn a lot about the 2025 Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Game Notes
- Nebraska leads the all time series with Cincinnati 1-0.
- The lone meeting between these two programs took place in 1906 in Lincoln and resulted in a 41-0 Cornhusker win.
- Nebraska holds a 15-3 all time record in the month of August.
- The Huskers are 98-32-5 all time season openers.
- This marks the 11th time the Huskers have played in Kansas City and the 3rd time in Arrowhead Stadium.
- The last time Nebraska played in Kansas City they lost the 2006 Big 12 Championship Game to Oklahoma 21-7.
- The Huskers possess a 40-18-3 record in games played on Thursdays.
Broadcast Info
TV: ESPN (Mark Jones, Roddy Jones, Quint Kessenich)
Radio: Husker Sports Network (Kyle Crooks, Damon Benning, Jessica Coody)
Internet Audio: Huskers.com
App Audio: Official Huskers App