3 painful observations from Nebraska’s blowout loss in Las Vegas Bowl

It’s hard to imagine the 2025 Nebraska football season ending in a worse way.

This isn’t just about the 44-22 loss in the Las Vegas Bowl either. Nebraska lost its last three games by an average of 24 points.

Utah, Penn State, and Iowa averaged 40.3 points per game against the Huskers. Hell, Utah’s 44 points outscored Nebraska over the last three games, before TJ Lateef’s garbage-time touchdown, that is, which pushed Nebraska’s three-game total to 48, instead of 40.

What an embarrassment.

That’s the best word to assess what we saw over the final three games. It certainly wasn’t close to good enough, and here are three painful observations from another ugly loss by the Huskers.

TJ Lateef can’t be the starting QB in 2026

If Matt Rhule trots out TJ Lateef as the starting quarterback in 2026, that’s head-coaching malpractice. The kid just isn’t ready. The UCLA game was great, but that was all Emmett Johnson. Lateef threw 15 passes, and that’s just not sustainable.

It’s not the fault of the true freshman, who was never supposed to start or be expected to produce in year one. That’s an indictment of the lack of depth at the most important position. It’s definitely not an excuse. If your backup quarterback isn’t good enough to win games, that’s a roster issue, one of many.

But with six Big Ten teams on the schedule in 2026 that won at least nine games, and three that made the College Football Playoff, Rhule has to find a legitimate quarterback. Aidan Chiles and Kenny Minchey have been mentioned.

Would that really be an upgrade? After watching Devon Dampier, you wonder why Nebraska can’t find a quarterback like that? The former New Mexico transfer owned the Huskers. He made it look easy.

Lateef isn’t there yet, and it’s not likely he will be by next season. So Nebraska better open the pocketbook, or reaching another bowl game in 2026 will be much harder to do.

Nebraska football isn’t void of RB talent

Utah had the 60th-best defense overall coming into the Las Vegas Bowl. The Utes ranked outside the top 100 in rush defense, even worse than Nebraska, and both running backs took advantage.

Mekhi Nelson ran the ball 12 times for 88 yards. He opened the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown run. He also caught three passes for 48 yards, giving him 136 total yards on just 15 touches.

It made you wonder why Nelson didn’t see the ball more. Isaiah Mozee, a true freshman, carried the ball seven times for 32 yards, in addition to four receptions for 48, giving him 80 yards on 11 touches.

Combined, Nelson and Mozee turned 26 touches into 216 yards. If Nebraska fans are looking for a positive to take away from the Las Vegas Bowl, that’s it.

The Matt Rhule contract extension looks terrible

Extending Matt Rhule was a mistake. That doesn’t mean that Rhule should be on the hot seat or fired, but he’s 19-19 in three seasons as the head coach. He’s winless against ranked opponents and still hasn’t beaten a team that finished with a winning record in Big Ten conference play.

His third season just finished. Rhule’s best wins were over mid-Colorado and Cincinnati teams, essentially at home. The game at Arrowhead was a home game for all intents and purposes.

Rhule also lost the program’s most talented player to the portal. That might be a good thing long term, but the Huskers don’t have any star power on their roster. Rhule has two seven-win seasons to recruit to.

Nebraska isn’t winning, or even competing against top-25 caliber teams, at least since Raiola left with his injury.

Nebraska is staring a losing season right in the face in 2026, unless dramatic improvements are made. However, it could take two or three losing seasons before Rhule is on the hot seat, because the buyout is so high. 90 percent of the contract is now guaranteed, and the man doesn’t have a single defining win as head coach.

Progress has been made, but not nearly enough.

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