Husker Big Red Daily: Injury updates for Nebraska vs. Washington, Huskers adding Power-4 opponent, and more

Welcome to Husker Big Red Daily, your daily stop for the latest Nebraska football news, recruiting buzz, transfer portal updates, and Huskers headlines. Here’s a quick look at the latest storylines surrounding Nebraska athletics.

The Nebraska football program faces a critical game on Saturday against the Washington Huskies. In terms of keeping the Huskers’ playoff hopes alive, it’s a must-win.

Nebraska football has three very winnable games before hosting Ohio State on Senior Day. If the Huskers win out, a huge if, they would easily make the College Football Playoff.

First things first, though, is going 1-0 this week. Washington is 4-3 on the season with losses to Minnesota, Iowa, and USC. All those teams are 5-2. Both squads are battle-tested and banged up.

Nebraska football got some good news on Wednesday’s initial injury report as running back Isaiah Mozee is listed as probable along with starting defensive tackle Riley Van Poppel, who has missed the last two games.

As good as the Blackshirts have been, imagine if they had one of their top two defensive tackles. Van Poppel has four tackles for loss and two sacks through five games, which is more than he had in either category during the entire 2025 season.

The one negative for the Huskers is that Jamir Conn has been ruled out along with Anthony Jones, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. From a Washington perspective, quarterback Demond Williams is questionable.

Elijah Brown started the last game for Washington, throwing for over 300 yards and three touchdowns to go along with three interceptions. Jedd Fisch, the Washington head coach, said it would be a game-time decision between the two quarterbacks. Williams has eight touchdown passes this season. Brown has seven.

The Huskies average 282 passing yards per game, so regardless of the quarterback, they are going to air it out early and often.

Nebraska football to add a Power-4 opponent in 2027

Husker fans who didn’t approve of not playing a Power-4 opponent this season will be happy to hear that Nebraska is expected to add a Power-4 team to the schedule for 2027.

AD Troy Dannen said the Huskers have already told their three non-conference opponents that a schedule change is coming. The first game of the season at Arrowhead was supposed to be against Miami (OH).

Now, it feels like that could be against a former Big 12 team. Someone like Missouri or Kansas State would make a ton of sense. Even someone like Oklahoma State. Any old Big 8 rival.

Either way, the season is more fun when you have a challenging early game, and with the 24-team playoff, it only makes sense to schedule tough.

It’s better for fans, better for players, better for resumes.

Nebraska wrestling ranked No. 3

From Huskers.com: The Nebraska wrestling team was ranked No. 3 on the NWCA Division I Men’s Wrestling Coaches Poll on Wednesday afternoon.

NU amassed 362 points ahead of No. 4 Iowa (344), No. 5 Virginia Tech (338) and No. 6 Ohio State (322).

Four Big Ten teams were ranked inside the top ten, while seven Big Ten programs were within the top 25.

The Big Red will face nine top-25 teams this season, beginning with the home opener against No. 18 Wyoming. Other top-25 home duals will feature No. 8 Minnesota (Feb. 6), No. 13 Arizona State (Feb. 21), No. 19 Illinois (Jan. 24), and No. 20 Rutgers (Jan. 15).

For more Nebraska content, follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook Page, and subscribe to the Big Red Banter YouTube Channel.