by T.J. Birkel The offensive line occupies a unique space in the psyche of Nebraska football fans. In my experience, we feel a certain connection to it that doesn’t apply to every position. We have The Pipeline. We have All Americans galore across every position up front. The Outland Trophy award ceremony takes place in Omaha. The Rimington Trophy, given annually to the nation’s best center, was named for a Cornhusker for crying out loud! Nebraska’s greatest teams–especially in the 1990s–were anchored in outstanding offensive lines.  What does it all mean? As far as Husker fans are concerned, it means ...

As we spent the summer arguing about the greatest players in Nebraska football history on the Common Fan Podcast, one thing started to stick out.  Where were all the recent guys? We built six different “Mount Rushmores” of Nebraska players–guys who were the best at their position, side of the ball, or specialty. The most recent player on any of those lists was Lavonte David, who made the Mount Rushmore for Blackshirts.  David finished his Nebraska career in 2011. Fifteen years ago. That’s a pretty glaring indicator when you think about what has happened to Nebraska football since then. CLICK ...

by T.J. Birkel We spent much of the summer on the Common Fan Podcast attempting perhaps an impossible task: building the definitive Mount Rushmore of Nebraska football. Over the course of seven episodes, we looked at quarterbacks, coaches, offensive players, defensive players, special teams players and walk-ons before finally attempting to narrow the long and glorious history of Nebraska football down to four players (for the final list, we let the coaches episode stand on its own, and only focused on players. That was hard enough). We were joined throughout the series by Brandon Vogel of the Counter Read newsletter, ...

by T.J. Birkel We’ve been talking about Anthony Colandrea all offseason on the Common Fan Podcast. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say he might be the most important player on the roster for Nebraska football this season.  That’s not to suggest Nebraska doesn’t have talent elsewhere. The skill position talent might be as good as we’ve seen in years – certainly for the entire Rhule era. There are plenty of questions heading into 2026, but also legitimate reasons for optimism across the roster. But if Nebraska is going to make a jump from where they’ve been the last ...

In case you hadn’t heard, the Nebraska football team begins fall camp this week. More than seven months after Matt Rhule’s team ended the 2025 season with a whimper in Las Vegas, a new season is finally here. Thank God.  For fans of the Big Red, this season brings promise, intrigue, questions, hope, anxiety, and more. Can the Huskers make a third straight bowl game? Can they get beyond seven wins? Can a Nebraska football team finally look stronger in November than it did in September?  There will be plenty of time for all the questions. For now, as I ...

by T.J. Birkel Things move so fast in college football these days, it’s hard to believe that it’s been less than a week since the news broke that two year starting quarterback Dylan Raiola would be entering the transfer portal. After the decommitment of his younger brother Dayton, and the firing of his uncle (and Nebraska’s previous offensive line coach) Donovan, this probably wasn’t a huge surprise to most Nebraska fans.  The Raiola era coincided with Rhule’s first few years of trying to bring the Nebraska football program back to national prominence. It had a bit of a roller coaster ...