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Times listed in Central. Big Ten assigns remaining windows 6-12 days before kickoff.
Nebraska Football Schedule 2026: Full Huskers Slate, Dates, and Key Games
Games That Will Decide Nebraska’s Season
| Sept 26 at Michigan State | The Big Ten opener on the road against first-year Spartans coach Pat Fitzgerald, who spent years tormenting Nebraska at Northwestern. A winnable game the Huskers cannot afford to drop. |
| Oct 10 vs Indiana | The defending national champions come to Lincoln. Memorial Stadium hasn’t had a bigger home game in years, and it’s immediately followed by the Oregon trip. |
| Nov 21 vs Ohio State | Senior Day against the preseason No. 1, and Nebraska’s only November home game. The high-water mark of the schedule. |
| Nov 27 at Iowa | Black Friday in Iowa City at 11 a.m. on CBS. The rivalry closes the year, and for a bubble team it may be the game that decides bowl positioning. |
Back-to-Back Playoff Teams
Indiana on Oct 10 and Oregon on Oct 17 puts two College Football Playoff teams on consecutive Saturdays — the hardest two-week stretch on Nebraska’s calendar.
A Road-Heavy Finish
Three of the last four games are away from Lincoln: Illinois on a Friday night, Rutgers, and the Black Friday finale at Iowa. Ohio State is the lone November home date.
Who Nebraska Misses
The 18-team rotation leaves Michigan, Penn State, USC, UCLA, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Purdue off the 2026 slate entirely.
How the Schedule Sets Up
Three home non-conference games in September — Ohio, Bowling Green, North Dakota — give Rhule a runway before the Big Ten opener at Michigan State. October is where the season is made or lost: Maryland for Homecoming, then Indiana at home and Oregon on the road on back-to-back Saturdays, with the lone bye immediately after. Washington on Halloween is a genuine trap, and then the schedule tilts on the road for the finish. Six wins is the realistic floor and nine the ceiling; whether that gets Nebraska anywhere near the bracket is a different question, and here’s how the College Football Playoff works under the 12-team format. The nine-game, no-divisions Big Ten format reflects the NCAA FBS shift toward deeper conference scheduling.
The Bottom Line
Seven home games, Indiana and Oregon back-to-back in October, Ohio State on Senior Day, and Black Friday at Iowa to close — Matt Rhule’s fourth Nebraska schedule offers a manageable start and an unforgiving November. Bookmark this page; times, networks, and results are updated throughout the season.