Two stats will determine Anthony Colandrea’s success with Nebraska

Nebraska football quarterback Anthony Colandrea isn’t shying away from the high expectations that come with playing for the Huskers.

The UNLV transfer, who won the Mountain West Player of the Year award in 2025, talked about how he came to Nebraska to make the College Football Playoff and win a national championship.

Those are admirable sentiments. That should be the goal for every player and coach in this program. Some fans might not like it, but Nebraska football fans are just sick of hearing the hype train for a decade without much winning to show for it.

The hope is that Colandrea will help change that. He’s a much different quarterback than Dylan Raiola, who led the Huskers to back-to-back bowl berths. He was 13-8 overall as a starter in two seasons.

Colandrea nearly won a conference title last season with UNLV, leading the Rebels to the Mountain West title game. The dude is dynamic with the ball in his hands and on the move, unlike Raiola, who was a statue. Colandrea is also turnover-prone, which is one of two stats that will define his success this season.

Turnovers and sack avoidance will be key for Anthony Colandrea

Mike’l Severe pointed out on X that as far as turnover rate, Colandrea is in the same ballpark as a former Nebraska football quarterback — Jeff Sims.

Colandrea has 46 turnovers (fumbles and interceptions) in 33 career games. He’s averaged one fumble every .515 games compared to Simms, who had an interception every 25 attempts and a fumble every .590 games.

So Simms was a more reliable ball-carrier, but a less reliable passer. While he is prone to mistakes, Colandrea is also an electrifying player who generated 38 plays that covered at least 10 yards, only four QBs in college football had more last season. He was also fifth in total yards.

Yet, the key stat that Nebraska fans need to know is sack avoidance. Colandrea was one of the best in college football, using his legs to avoid 17 sacks last season. Colandrea doesn’t take sacks often, a major difference from Raiola, who was sacked over and over and over again. Part of it was the offensive line, part of it was Raiola’s inability to move or make quick decisions.

So if Colandrea can highlight the good — sack avoidance and explosive plays — while limiting the negative plays, the Huskers will have something. It might not be enough to make Nebraska football a national title contender this season, but maybe it could lead to more wins than expected, like maybe eight or nine, which would be a massive step forward.