This was not art. This was not polished. But damn it, Nebraska fans will take it.
In a game that swung between chaotic, cathartic, and borderline cursed, Nebraska opened the 2025 season by doing something it hasn’t done in over two decades — beat a Power Five team in Week 1. The Huskers ground out a gritty 20-17 win over Cincinnati in a pseudo-home opener at Arrowhead Stadium, with 60,000-plus red-clad fans turning Kansas City into Lincoln South for one night.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t clean. But for Matt Rhule’s Year 3 squad, it was a step. And for a program starving for signs of forward momentum, that’s worth celebrating — even if your offensive line draws more flags than a NATO summit and your backup running backs are putting up Madden glitch numbers in the wrong direction.
Oh, and the game ended with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce watching from a suite as safety Malcolm Hartzog picked off Cincinnati in the end zone to seal it.
Tell us college football isn’t cinema.
If you didn’t know how Nebraska fans roll, you learned Thursday night. They turned an NFL venue into Memorial Stadium on tour. Arrowhead bled Husker red from tailgate to upper deck, louder than any Swiftie scream when Mahomes strolled the sideline pregame.
And let’s be clear: this fanbase hasn’t had much to scream about in recent years. But Rhule promised Year 3 would be different — just like it was at Temple and Baylor. And judging by the turnout (and the travel budgets), Husker Nation is ready to believe again.
They showed up. And their team did just enough to justify the hype.
This was one of those games where both teams seemed desperate to lose before someone accidentally won.
Nebraska struck first with a drive capped by Cal transfer Nyziah Hunter on a 5-yard fade, set up by a forced fumble from Vincent Shavers and recovered by newcomer Williams Nwaneri. That sequence? Peak complementary football. The rest? Not so much.
The Huskers opened up a 13-3 lead by halftime but constantly tripped over themselves. Penalties, blown routes, and drive-killing mental errors had Rhule pulling his hoodie strings tighter by the quarter.
Cincinnati, for its part, looked allergic to forward passing (69 yards total through the air), but ran the ball with relentless tempo and surprising success — particularly through QB Brendan Sorsby, who led the Bearcats with 96 rushing yards and both of their touchdowns.
A fourth-quarter Nebraska touchdown — a gutsy 3-yard strike from Dylan Raiola to Dane Key on 4th-and-2 — put the Huskers up 20-10 and should have closed the book. But of course, it didn’t. Because Nebraska.
The Bearcats responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive, capped by a Sorsby scramble that looked more Tecmo Bowl than Big 12. Suddenly, it was a three-point game again.
With just over two minutes left, Nebraska’s offense stalled one final time, punting the ball back to Cincinnati and giving the Bearcats a chance to tie or win. Cue the cinematic ending: Hartzog leaping in the end zone with 34 seconds left to pick off Sorsby and put the Huskers on ice.
Game. Set. Big Red.
Dylan Raiola looked like a grown-up quarterback. The sophomore was sharp with his reads, completing 33 of 42 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. No turnovers. Just enough playmaking to cover up the penalties, misfires, and general disarray around him. He even ran a bit — something he didn’t do much of last year — extending plays and keeping drives alive with improved mobility.
Nyziah Hunter, the Cal transfer, made his presence felt with a TD grab and several chain-moving receptions. Dane Key, the Kentucky import, was clutch late, hauling in the game-sealing 4th-down touchdown.
On the ground, Emmett Johnson was the lone bright spot behind a sometimes-messy offensive line. He carried the ball 25 times for 108 yards and added seven catches. With the backups rushing for a combined -2 yards, Johnson should probably start stretching now for next week.
And then, of course, Malcolm Hartzog — the guy with the ice-in-his-veins pick to close it out. Rhule said it best: “That’s what Malcolm Hartzog does. He just makes plays.”
The interception was poetic. Cincinnati, having somehow dragged itself back into the game despite sub-70 passing yards and a minus-two turnover differential, had one final shot.
Sorsby dropped back from the Nebraska 33, launched a prayer into the end zone…and Hartzog read it like he’d seen the script. The safety drifted, timed the leap, and snatched the ball like a guy who knew he was ending the game right there. No drama. No OT. Just vibes and victory formation.
It was the kind of play Nebraska hasn’t made in a big moment in years. That might be the biggest win of all.
Let’s not overreact. Cincinnati went 5-7 last year and lost their final five games. Their offense Thursday looked like a dial-up connection trying to stream RedZone. This wasn’t a statement win on paper.
But for Nebraska? It was massive.
They ended a brutal streak of opening-game losses to Power Five opponents dating back to 2003. They made clutch plays late. They didn’t turn the ball over. They looked organized — not perfect, but organized.
Rhule’s Year 3 blueprint is about culture and belief. Thursday night, in front of 60,000 traveling lunatics and a couple of pop-culture megastars, Nebraska finally looked like a team capable of building something real.
The schedule gets tougher. Michigan looms in a few weeks like a wrecking ball. But for now, Husker Nation gets to celebrate something rare:
A meaningful win. In Week 1. On national TV.
And in a sport where vibes often outweigh box scores, that’s a hell of a way to start the season.
Final Take
If Nebraska’s season was a movie, this was the gritty prologue — new heroes, familiar scars, a dash of stardust (shoutout Travis and Taylor), and one game-changing play that flipped the narrative.
It’s not a masterpiece yet. But the script? It’s finally interesting again.
A better brand, built by Vaughn & Co. ©