Nebraska and Oregon are both looking to bounce back from heartbreaking home losses to unbeaten opponents when they meet in a Big Ten Conference game on Saturday night in Eugene, Ore.
The Ducks (3-2, 1-1) fell 17-15 to then-No. 21 UCLA when a last-second two-point conversion was stuffed, knocking them out of the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since early in the 2022 season. That was at the start of coach Dan Lanning’s tenure at Oregon, where he is 51-10.
Nebraska (5-1, 2-1) lost 20-17 to defending national champion and then-No. 7 Indiana, squandering an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Cornhuskers have dropped 31 consecutive games against ranked opponents, including 10 in a row under fourth-year coach Matt Rhule.
Oregon ruled out Dante Moore, who has been sidelined since suffering a concussion on Sept. 26 at Southern California. He has completed 69.7% of his passes for 926 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions in four games.
Without him, Lanning said “everything is being evaluated” and pointed to a QB competition sparked by uneven play at the position last week.
Dylan Raiola, who began his career at Nebraska before transferring in the offseason, started against UCLA but was just 6 of 19 for 43 yards with two interceptions before getting replaced by Brock Thomas.
“The question was asked of me, ‘Why not make the change sooner?’ after the game. I think that’s fair,” Lanning said. “On the same note, I think some of the positions we put (Raiola) in weren’t successful opportunities as well,” Lanning said. “I think we made some adjustments in getting the ball out a little quicker, creating some more open pictures that allowed Brock to do that.”
Raiola is getting credit for playing well at USC, while Lanning plans to take “body of work” and practice reps into account before coming to a final decision. Nebraska won’t be waiting for an official signal.
“We’re preparing for all three quarterbacks,” Rhule said. “I think of the next five opponents we’ll face all had a backup quarterback in during the last game.”
Nebraska signal-caller Anthony Colandrea has thrown 13 touchdown passes and run for three scores in six games, while running back Jamal Rule is second in FBS among freshmen with 386 yards. He had 53 against the Hoosiers after missing most of the previous two games due to injury.
“Their quarterback makes it work, he does an unbelievable job of creating plays with his feet,” Lanning said of Colandrea.
This will be the third year in a row Nebraska plays on the West Coast but first time doing so at night. The game will kick off at 10 p.m. Central.
“I’ve never coached a game that late,” Rhule said.
–Field Level Media
