The Cleveland.com Big Ten preseason media poll dropped Monday, and Nebraska checked in right where most of us expected: 11th in the 18-team league. Ohio State sits at No. 1, followed by Oregon and defending national champ Indiana. Then it’s USC, Michigan, Penn State, Washington, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota. The Huskers are next, with 246 points. Some of you will fire up the social media and scream that the media is sleeping on Big Red yet again. Others will say 11th is too high. From where I’m sitting, the ranking is fair, maybe even a little generous.
Let’s be honest about where we are. Matt Rhule is entering Year 4. The Huskers have gone 7-6 the last two seasons and finished 4-5 in the Big Ten both times. That’s progress from the dark days, no question. Back-to-back bowls after years of missing them is real progress, but it’s also the definition of a middle-of-the-pack team in a conference that just produced three straight national champions and keeps adding heavyweights.
The schedule this year is no joke but is also the new normal in the B1G. Nebraska draws Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana, the top three teams in this very poll. Add in the usual gauntlet of Iowa, Penn State and the rest, and you’re looking at a brutal slate that doesn’t hand out free wins. Then there’s the roster turnover. Dylan Raiola is gone to Oregon, and every media outlet thinks that’s the end of the story for Nebraska, when in reality it’s probably going to be the best thing for Nebraska. The offensive line is being rebuilt with new pieces and a new coach. The defense is switching schemes under a new coordinator. There’s talent on both sides of the ball, but talent alone doesn’t move you into the top half of this league anymore. Execution and consistency do, and sadly those have been the missing pieces in the last two seasons. Look around the conference. Minnesota and Illinois both finished with stronger late-season resumes last year. Iowa is still Iowa, physical, well-coached, and annoying as hell to play. The teams above Nebraska have more proven quarterbacks, deeper trenches, or both. The teams below them have bigger question marks. That’s the middle of the Big Ten in 2026: a cluster of programs that are good enough to beat anybody on a given Saturday yet not good enough to string together enough wins to crack the top half of their own conference.
Rhule and the players will step to the podium Thursday at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago and talk about belief, culture, and taking the next step. That’s what they’re supposed to do. And they might be right. An 8-4 or 9-3 season with a couple of signature wins isn’t out of the question if the new quarterback settles in and the defense finds its identity early, but the media voters didn’t invent this ranking out of thin air. They looked at the same tape, the same roster, and the same schedule the rest of us did. Eleven feels about right until the Huskers prove otherwise on the field. That’s the beauty of September. Preseason polls are just noise. The real rankings get written on Saturdays in Memorial Stadium and on the road. Until then, 11th is a fair place to start. It’s now up to Nebraska to prove everybody wrong.