Nebraska
Huskers at Halfway Point of Promising Season
This is Part One of looking back at Nebraska’s first half of the 2025 season. Coming Monday: Five coolest plays of 2025, plus honorable mentions.
Back in the summer, the weather was warm and preseason expectations were running hot for Nebraska football.
This is the year, Husker fans thought. For once in recent times, there was actual evidence to back up the feelings and the faith. Look out Big Ten, here come the Huskers, many thought, back to where they belong.
The roster was experienced with increased talent. Coach Matt Rhule’s system seemed to work. He went 7-6 the year before — the first winning season in seven years — and the Huskers won their first bowl game since 2015.
The all-important quarterback position was in good hands. Sophomore Dylan Raiola was another year experienced and had shown promise and poise the previous year to instill hope of a big 2025 season. The reasonable hope was he would overcome the inconsistencies he showed in 2024.
Even the schedule cooperated. The non-conference schedule was soft with two FCS teams and a challenging game with FBS Cincinnati.
Missing from the schedule: Big Ten monsters Ohio State and Oregon, and late-blooming monster Indiana. Michigan was a home game for the Huskers, and they played Penn State so late in the season that the game either would have little bearing on the season, or it could mean everything. Penn State would be dealt with when the time came, and not something to worry about in the summer.
Recruiting picked up. Nebraska wasn’t a favorite of those internet recruiting sites, but it was attracting football players and athletes with whom Rhule could win over.
Reports from summer camp were positive. There was talk of team unity. In the summer, all was good.
Armed those good vibes and that empirical evidence, all the football team had to do was, you know, win football games.
Nebraska proved something to itself in its 34-31 win at Maryland on Saturday. The Huskers twice had 10-point leads but were down 31-24 in the fourth quarter.
Raiola, who threw three interceptions, including a pick-six, led the Huskers on two fourth-quarter scoring drives to pull out a game they could have lost.
Maryland was an uncertainty because of talented freshman quarterback Malik Washington and a program that seems headed in the right direction. Normally, in Big Ten hierarchy, this wouldn’t be a big sweat for Nebraska. But, as the Husker faithful know, everything these days can be a big sweat.
But Nebraska showed it could win on the road, and that it could win when it didn’t bring its best and brightest game. Teams accustomed to winning tend to do that — they win.
Nebraska’s opening game, against Cincinnati at neutral-site Kansas City, was a contest that could go either way and experts thought so weeks before the game was played.
The Huskers survived, 20-17, on a last-minute interception by Malcolm Hartzog Jr., in the end zone. Husker fans took a deep breath. Hey, the season wasn’t ruined! Onward!
Nebraska’s next two games were against overmatched opponents and that’s what the results revealed — 68-0 over Akron; 59-7 over FCS Houston Christian.
Now, with the Huskers sitting at 3-0, the 2025 season was ready to being in earnest.
Michigan came to town on Sept. 20 as a 2.5-point favorite. But what Michigan represented was more than a potential victory and a continued undefeated season for the Huskers. Michigan was a monster, too. The Wolverines haven’t been great every season but they were a standard for every opponent. Beat Michigan, and your season meant something.
It’s the way lower-tier Big Ten teams look up to Nebraska.
Nebraska had every chance to defeat Michigan on that beautiful Saturday afternoon. That the Huskers didn’t says more about the Huskers than the Wolverines. As in many football games, the Huskers needed to make a play, or a couple of plays, and today they would be undefeated, ranked probably in the high-teens in the AP Top 25.
Nebraska couldn’t allow Michigan, leading 27-20 in the fourth quarter, to keep the ball for 8 minutes, 46 seconds, and drive 77 yards in 16 plays for a killer field goal and a 30-20 lead. Make a play somewhere in those 16 plays.
Three times on that drive, Nebraska had Michigan in third downs and couldn’t make a stop.
The Huskers couldn’t allow Michigan to score on three excruciatingly long touchdown runs — the Wolverines’ only touchdowns of the game. Shed a block, make a tackle, have a better scheme.
Make a play.
On offense, the Huskers made an amazing play — the 52-yard Hail Mary from Raiola to Jacory Barney Jr. at the end of the first half. It wasn’t enough.
Next, Nebraska handled Michigan State — well, the Huskers won, 38-27, in a mistake-filled game. That was like a March Madness game — win and survive. The Huskers won. Aesthetics, step aside.
Nebraska is 5-1. The Huskers were 5-1 in 2024 and lost their next four games.
There are clear strengths on this year’s team (nation’s No. 1 pass defense going into the Maryland game; passing game; running back Emmett Johnson) and weaknesses (rushing defense). There is inconsistent play and some brilliant play. It feels as if Nebraska is trying to find out what kind of football team it is.
The Huskers have six regular-season games to play. Optimists might have thought the Huskers would be undefeated at this point. A measured look in August at Nebraska and its schedule might predict a 5-1 start without being accused of frenzied fandom.
Five-and-one. That’s about right.
Nebraska’s remaining schedule is fascinating — as most future Big Ten schedules will be. Can the Huskers win out? How about 5-1, or 4-2?
There are season-making or season-breaking games ahead. Let’s be optimistic and say Nebraska will defeat Minnesota — that’s going to be a dogfight. Next is Northwestern, which just won at Penn State. UCLA has joined the party with two consecutive victories after starting the season 0-4. Nebraska travels to UCLA in November.
But think about this: Nebraska still has USC, Penn State and Iowa on the schedule. USC looked unstoppable in beating Michigan on Saturday. Penn State’s wheels have fallen off with three consecutive losses and quarterback Drew Allar reportedly out for the season, but it’s still Penn State on the road. Think about what a win over one of those teams will mean to the Huskers. Or more than one win.
Nebraska met expectations in the first half of a season when much was expected. It was rarely pretty, but it didn’t have to be.
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
Nebraska
No. 24 Nebraska wins slugfest over Indiana
A windy day led to a wild slugfest at Hawks Field Saturday, but No. 24 Nebraska baseball knocked off Indiana, 12-7, clinching the conference series for the Cornhuskers while running Nebraska’s home record to 11-0.
The Huskers scored three runs in the first and two in the fourth to build a 5-0 lead. The Hoosiers answered with three in the sixth and one in the seventh to cut the NU lead to 5-4. Nebraska took control of the game with seven runs in the bottom of the seventh to grow the lead to 12-4. IU scored one in the eighth, but drew no closer.
Drew Grego was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Dylan Carey drove in five runs and hit a home run, while always drawing a pair of walks. Case Sanderson was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a pair of walks. Jeter Worthley added a 2-for-4 showing with an RBI and a walk. Carson Jasa (5-1) earned the win, throwing 5.2 innings for NU. He allowed four hits while striking out 10 and walking five. For Indiana, Owen ten Oever was 1-for-3 with three RBI. Cooper Malamazian was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
The Huskers aim for the sweep Sunday at Hawks Field against Indiana. First pitch is slated for noon with pregame coverage at 11:30 a.m. on KLIN.
Nebraska
No Kings protests return to Nebraska, draw hundreds and thousands
LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) – Hundreds of Nebraskans protested against the Trump administration Saturday along Nebraska Parkway in Lincoln, and thousands protested near Northwest Radial Highway in Omaha as part of No Kings demonstrations statewide.
The third iteration of No Kings protests organized border to border gatherings to vent displeasure at President Donald Trump and his administration’s policy decisions. The Lincoln protest was held on the Helen Boosalis Trail between North 27th Street and North 56th Street.
“I don’t like what’s going on … I know it’s not the world I want to live in,” said Ford Kloepper, a 17-year-old Lincoln resident.
Kloepper said people his age are going to take the “brunt” of Trump’s “mistakes.” He pointed to the recent U.S. conflict in Iran as a motivator to protest for him, as he doesn’t want to get “drafted into a war in the Middle East for no reason at all.”
Many of the protesters, much like previous demonstrations, held anti-Trump signs with slogans like, “Trump lies” and “Stop Trump, save democracy.” Others held American flags and wore costumes. Volunteers from different groups gathered signatures for ballot initiatives and at least one candidate. One of the petitions sought to let voters decide on a state constitutional amendment requiring larger majorities to repeal or change any law passed by voters. Volunteers for nonpartisan U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn collected signatures to get him on the November ballot.
Organizers planned 18 protests across Nebraska. In Omaha, the rally was held at Gallagher Park, with thousands of protesters filling the sidewalks and grassy areas near the intersection of Maple Street and the Northwest Radial.
Organizers said the spot let protesters draw attention to historic Benson and all of the restaurants, galleries and coffee shops that have made the neighborhood a cultural destination since 1887. Among the crowd filled with a variety of ages and races was Lorin and Elwin Moseman, waving signs that said, “End Wars Before Wars End Us” and “No Kings No ICE.”
It was the Mosemans’ third anti-Kings rally, and despite the chill of the day, they said they wouldn’t have missed it.
“It could have been an ice storm,” said Elwin, who was motivated in particular by “the Epstein files and Trump being in them, this stupid war we’ve got involved with Iran.”
His wife, Lorin, said she came to “stand up for democracy.”
“I want to show up, stand up and speak out about our country,” she said, decrying “leadership incompetency from the very beginning.”
She said the nation needs a presidential job description and interview, and she was not short on words to describe her disgust and disappointment about current leadership: “Shameful, disgusting, exhausting.”
“We’re in a broken world,” she said.
Nearby, a bundled up woman in a wheelchair held onto a sign that said, “I’m mad about everything.”
Sara Peterson led buses carrying about 75 protesters from First United Methodist Church of Omaha. She said people felt a sense of unity and joy seeing the chanting crowd, which she said reflected her group’s makeup — diverse in age, ethnicity and political party.
“We’re not alone,” she said “It’s an exciting day to be a part of.”
Peterson called the rally a “tangible sign of people coming together … for democracy.” Her group included church members and their friends — some of whom never participated in such a protest or rally before but felt the urge and were nudged “out of their comfort zone to take back our country and democracy.
Since the return of Trump for a second term, the anti-Trump group has organized national protests. Nebraska, much like the rest of the nation, saw multiple demonstrations throughout 2025.
The group also bought ads in local newspapers ahead of the Saturday protests. Nebraska Republican Party chair Mary Jane Truemper had no immediate comment on the protests.
As Election Day gets closer, political observers have wondered how organizers might harness the political energy, whether the demonstrations might signal a coming wave of change at the polls, or whether momentum will fizzle after the crowds go home. Some have argued Democrats and progressives are good at mobilizing people for large-scale protests but have lagged conservatives in building local infrastructure to affect sweeping policy changes.
Back in Lincoln, Erik Betts, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln student, said the political winds are in Democrats’ favor, and he feels the possibilities are endless, even in a reliably red state. He said he thinks Osborn could beat Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, and he hopes the “blue” wave might be large enough to beat Nebraska 1st Congressional District Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, a former speaker of the Legislature.
“We need to really show up this time …We’ve got to take this motivation … and make a difference,” Betts said.
Betts said events like these help him stay hopeful because it reminds him that he is not alone.
“When you are in your own house and just scrolling on social media, it’s easy to feel just defeated,” Betts said. “So I come out as much to show support for everyone else, to feel that maybe a bunch of people agree with [me] and things can change.”
Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Aaron Sanderford for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com.
Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Copyright 2026 KOLN. All rights reserved.
Nebraska
Omaha woman fighting for medical debt relief in Nebraska
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – For many families, beating a cancer diagnosis isn’t just about physical recovery. One Omaha cancer survivor is now using her voice to fight for medical debt relief across Nebraska.
Diana Gleisberg Meredith thought she had an upper respiratory infection in January 2024.
“In January of 2024, I felt like I had some kind of upper respiratory – maybe Pneumonia, RSV…” Meredith said.
She was sent from her primary care doctor to the emergency room to a hospital by ambulance in a five-hour span.
“The ER doctor identified that it was cancer, likely lymphoma,” Meredith said.
Diagnosis came as new mother started treatment
The diagnosis came as Meredith became a new mom. She knew she had to immediately start treatment.
“It’s life changing. You go from not having a care in the world to thinking you’re going to die and how is that going to affect my baby. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through emotionally, physically and mentally,” Meredith said.
Meredith said there’s an invisible burden that comes with the diagnosis.
“Not everybody is lucky to have the financial support or the human support to help them,” Meredith said.
Treatment costs could add up to millions
Meredith had 12 chemo treatments. Each used four medications, with one of those costing more than $130,000. For one family, this could add up to millions.
After Meredith entered remission, she began fighting for medical debt relief for other Nebraskans.
“Nebraskans all throughout the state and right here in Omaha – they’re having to make those decisions about should they save their life, or how do they care for their family,” Meredith said.
Advocacy group plans Washington trip
She works with Blood Cancer United alongside other Omaha mothers whose children are cancer survivors. They hold fundraisers like “Light the Night,” collecting thousands of dollars and supporters.
In May, they’ll travel to Washington, D.C., for training on how to push for change at the federal level.
“Our office of public policy gets together to help train these volunteers, help them get to know each other better and develop familiarity with what it means to go to a lawmakers office in Washington DC,” said Dana Bacon, senior director of government affairs for Blood Cancer United.
Meredith is fighting for lower interest rates on medical debt, no foreclosures on homes over medical debt and paused interest rates.
“It’s probably the most stressful thing that you’re going to go through, and then having to add medical debt on top of it? To be honest it’s hell,” Meredith said.
Other states are already protecting families from medical debt. Meredith said Nebraska should be next. Iowa is one of the states that limits liens and foreclosures when a family is drowning in medical debt.
Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.
-
Sports1 week agoIOC addresses execution of 19-year-old Iranian wrestler Saleh Mohammadi
-
New Mexico7 days agoClovis shooting leaves one dead, four injured
-
Tennessee6 days agoTennessee Police Investigating Alleged Assault Involving ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson
-
Technology7 days agoYouTube job scam text: How to spot it fast
-
Minneapolis, MN3 days agoBoy who shielded classmate during school shooting receives Medal of Honor
-
Science1 week agoRecord Heat Meets a Major Snow Drought Across the West
-
Politics1 week agoSchumer gambit fails as DHS shutdown hits 36 days and airport lines grow
-
Texas1 week agoHow to buy Houston vs. Texas A&M 2026 March Madness tickets

