Mitch Sherman joins the Common Fans to discuss TJ Lateef, the remainder of Nebraska’s season, the outlook for recruiting and the transfer portal, possible bowl destinations, and much more! 

Assessing Coach Rhule’s comments about having the resources to compete for the best players in the nation: 

• There will be more resources, both in the form of dollars in the NIL collective and in sponsorship deals for players, to help shore up the roster. 
• It’s important not to forget the need to keep current impact players on the roster.
• Money isn’t always the deciding factor in where a player lands, but Nebraska feels like it can be competitive with anyone now.
• As always, offensive and defensive linemen will be a priority, along with at least one running back. 

Looking at Nebraska’s win over UCLA:

• It was an excellent first outing from true freshman quarterback TJ Lateef, and the playbook wasn’t exactly watered down. The offense ran a lot of the same things they would have run if Dylan Raiola had been playing. 
• Moving forward, ideally Nebraska would be able to put a game like that away, and not let the opponent back in it. 

On Emmett Johnson’s Heisman Trophy chances:

• Realistically, Mitch doesn’t think EJ has a shot to win the prestigious award.
• The momentum among the national media, and the campaign being run by the University, really got going in November which is just too late. 
• That said, Johnson is likely in line to be a 1st team All Conference player, and possibly an All American. 

Looking ahead to Penn State:

• With Penn State’s win against Michigan State over the weekend, the Nittany Lions can still make a bowl game, and will have plenty to play for. 
• With quarterback Drew Allar out for the remainder of the season with an injury, it will be critical for Nebraska to stop the run. 
• PSU’s defense is formidable. They will have players who can come off the edge and get after the quarterback in a way that only Michigan has done against the Huskers this season. 

Can Nebraska keep both Dylan Raiola and TJ Lateef in 2026?

• Lateef will almost certainly be coveted, and will likely get an offer to leave Nebraska.
• Will the Huskers be willing to pay top dollar for two quarterbacks? 

Possible bowl destinations for the Big Red:

• The Music City Bowl in Nashville is looking increasingly likely as a possible bowl destination.
• One of the Florida bowls would be an indication of a strong finish to the season.
• Whatever the case, Nebraska will definitely not be returning to New York City this year. 

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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The Common Fans discuss Nebraska’s bounce-back win against UCLA, TJ Lateef’s coming out party, Emmett Johnson’s continued dominance, and much more. 

On true freshman quarterback TJ Lateef: 

• Lateef sparkled in his debut as Nebraska’s quarterback, leading the Big Red past the Bruins in front of 20,000+ Husker fans at the Rose Bowl. 
• The offense seemed to find a spark they have been missing in recent games.
• Lateef’s ability to run with the football is such a benefit to the offense.

On do-everything running back Emmett Johnson: 

• What can’t Emmett Johnson do? EJ continues to shine. 
• He continues to top his own performance from previous games, seemingly getting better, stronger, and faster as the season goes on. 
• Will Johnson return for his senior year in 2026? The Common Fans speculate on the pros and cons from a player’s perspective. Hopefully, the prospect of more money in college, being a potential Heisman candidate, and drastically improving his draft stock are enough to bring him back for one more season. 

On the performance by the defense:

• It wasn’t a perfect performance by the Blackshirts, and they were gashed by running quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
• That said, they made critical stops when the Huskers absolutely had to have them, and they did enough for Nebraska to win the game. 
• John Butler’s unit has a lot of young talent, and optimism is sky high for the future. 

On the Nebraska crowd at the Rose Bowl: 

• Husker Nation does it again! 20,000+ fellow Common Fans take over the Rose Bowl in what was an electric night to be a Cornhusker.
• Common Fan co-host T.J. Birkel was in the house, and shares his experiences on the night. 

On the future of Nebraska football:

• Vibes are sky high among the Common Fans right now. 
• No, it hasn’t been a perfect season, but the Big Red continues to improve, and Matt Rhule is committed to being in Lincoln for the long term. 
• The Huskers have a real chance to finish strong this season, and they have one of the youngest rosters in all of college football. 
• Rhule will have to figure out how to get over the hump, and go from being good to great, but it feels like a strong culture and foundation are in place for much future success. 

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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Evan Bland joins the Common Fans to discuss the loss to USC, Dylan Raiola’s injury, and the upcoming game against UCLA. 

On the atmosphere on Saturday night: 

• The blackout at Memorial Stadium was next level. It was an incredibly impressive effort from the fan base. 
• The blackout was particularly beneficial for the big recruiting guest list that was on hand. 

On the game against USC: 

• Nebraska played about as well as they could for nearly two and a half quarters.
• This wasn’t Minnesota–Nebraska showed up ready, they had a good plan, and they played well for large chunks of the game. 
• Defense did everything you could have asked them to do. 
• Additionally, the Huskers probably win without Dylan Raiola getting hurt. 
• But this one was unique, in the sense that it involved some bad luck as well. 
• In the end, they fell short of an opportunity to make a statement on a national stage. 

On the two third quarter timeouts:

• On the 4th and 1 play, Nebraska was going to go for it, and ultimately changed their mind. 
• On the other timeout–it’s still unclear why Matt Rhule used the timeout in that moment. 
• Huskers playing too fast and loose with their timeouts. 

On Dylan Raiola’s injury: 

• Recovery time according to Rhule is 8-12 weeks. 
• He may miss some winter conditioning, but the expectation is that he will be ready for spring ball. 
• Raiola still expected to be a leader for this team: mentoring TJ Lateef, sitting in on game planning meetings, and generally supporting the team. 

On bouncing back from the USC loss and the importance of the remainder of the season: 

• Players and coaches talked this week about how anxious they are to get back out there. Like a closer in baseball who blows a save, the Huskers are ready to get the bad taste out of their mouth and try to get back in the W column.
• Year three still needs to be about upward momentum. Even with the loss of Raiola, and even if it’s not a traditional “Year 3 leap” for Matt Rhule, progress is important. 
• The next step for Nebraska is to be a team that can finish strong. 
• What record would constitute success for this Nebraska team? They need at least one more win, preferably two. 

Looking ahead to UCLA:

• You normally don’t see a team fire its coach, pivot to an interim coach, and then have the kind of resurgence the Bruins have had. 
• Interim head coach Tim Skipper and interim offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel have been bright spots. 
• Quarterback Nico Iamaleava can be expected to run the ball as much as any quarterback Nebraska has seen. 
• UCLA does have some talent, although Nebraska has been the more explosive offense of the two. 
• Expect the Huskers to have heavy doses of Emmett Johnson, as well as some designed keepers for Lateef. 

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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The Common Fans discuss Nebraska’s heartbreaking loss to USC. 

• Huskers looked ready to play and came out strong on an electric night in Lincoln. 
• Coaching staff had a solid game plan, as the defense completely took away the Trojans’ passing game and the offense scored on two of its four 1st half drives. 
• Nebraska ultimately couldn’t close the deal, like so many recent heartbreak, gut punch losses. 

Pivotal 3rd quarter ultimately turned the tide in favor of the Trojans: 

• Going 3-and-out on the opening drive of the 2nd half is inexcusable. The Common Fans hate the deep shot on the opening play of the half with the fire of a thousand suns. 
• After the Blackshirts force a pick, disaster strikes for Nebraska. At 1st and 10 from the USC 23 yard line, the Huskers dial up another pass, during which Dylan Raiola fumbles and gets injured–an injury we now know will end his season. 
• Hard to understand why the Big Red didn’t pound the rock, considering how much success Emmett Johnson had on the ground.
• Even after such an unfortunate turn of events, the defense stood tall again, forcing a turnover on downs and giving the offense the ball back around mid-field. 
• The Huskers then burn two timeouts unnecessarily on the way to a missed field goal. 
• Getting zero points on these first three drives of the half is ultimately what doomed Nebraska. 

Some positives on the night: 

• The defense, while getting gashed on the ground, held one of the nation’s best offenses well under its season average for points and yards. 
• Holding USC to 21 total points is certainly enough to give the team a chance to win. 
• Even after seeing Raiola go down, the team fought to the end. Other than the Minnesota game, this team has shown tremendous fight this year. 

Nebraska’s identity on offense still lacking:

• What is this offense trying to be?
• Whatever it is, the Huskers continue to lose at the line of scrimmage. 

Thoughts on the blackout: 

• Hats off to all common fans in attendance who made the blackout a smashing success. 
• The Common Fans are definitely in favor of making this an annual tradition. 

Looking ahead to UCLA and the rest of the season:

• While no one would ever choose to have Dylan Raiola be injured, or to be out of the playoff race, in a way it’s freeing for this team. 
• They will likely not be favored the rest of the way; they can simply go play without any expectations. 
• Anxious to see what backup quarterback TJ Lateef can do with a full week of game prep. 
• UCLA has been a bipolar team. Huskers should expect a battle at the Rose Bowl. 

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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Former Michigan Tight End and current Big Ten Network analyst Jake Butt joins the Common Fans to discuss Nebraska’s season to date and the upcoming game against USC. 

Jake shares some fantastic stories about his time as a player.

• Overlooked by Ohio State and Notre Dame, even though he grew up 15 minutes from Columbus.
• Coming face-to-face with Urban Meyer for the first time. 
• Winning the John Mackey Award as college football’s best Tight End. 

Jake sees Nebraska as having made huge strides in several critical areas: 

• Winning one score games. 
• Improvement in turnover margin. 
• Special teams is so vastly improved, the third phase is likely responsible for at least two of Nebraska’s wins this year. 
• Jake calls out Mike Ekeler in particular as a massive addition to Rhule’s staff over the offseason. 

That said, the Huskers need to develop in the one area that is most important for winning in college football: the trenches. 

• Missing Nash Hutmacher and Ty Robinson on defense. 
• Offensive line has sustained some injuries, but they still need to be better. 
• Jake sees winning in the trenches as the next step Matt Rhule’s program needs to take to get over the hump and start playing at an elite level. 

Assessing Dylan Raiola eight games into his sophomore year:  

• Dylan likes to make the huge play, but sometimes that can come back to bite you. 
• With maturity comes understanding about when it’s appropriate to make the big play, and when you need to throw it away. 
• Jake would put Dylan definitely in the top half of Big Ten quarterbacks, and possibly in the top quarter. 
• Dylan’s leadership has been a huge intangible benefit to the 2025 Nebraska football team.

Looking ahead to USC: 

• November is championship football season. It’s when the contenders get separated from the pretenders. 
• This game will be a huge separator for both programs. 
• Key for this game: the run game for both teams. USC’s run game is much improved over previous years. 
• For Nebraska to win, they have to stop the run, and be able to run the ball. 
• Like the Common Fans, Jake is a huge fan of Emmett Johnson. Feed Emmett!!!

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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The Common Fans discuss Nebraska’s win over Northwestern and celebrate getting to bowl eligibility for the second consecutive season. 

Huskers get up off the mat after Minnesota: 

• After a disappointing performance in Minneapolis last Friday night, the Big Red brought more fight and energy to the game against the always-pesky Northwestern Wildcats. 
• It wasn’t always pretty–it rarely has been in 2025–and the officiating was some of the worst we’ve seen in a long time. 
• But the Huskers found a way to get the W. 

Is it actually better?

• The Common Fans do an exercise to go through the different phases of the game to examine if–and how much–the team has actually made progress this season. 
• Special teams is so clearly better in every way that Mike Ekeler might be the most important hire of the last 10 years for Nebraska football. One could argue the third phase is the difference between Nebraska being 6-2 and 4-4 this year. 
• Offense and defense are more of a mixed bag. 
• The offense as a whole is better, although their inconsistency drives Husker fans crazy. 
• Quarterback play is better overall, running back play is better (we love you Emmett!), wide receiver play is better, but the unit stalls all too often and the offensive line needs work. 
• The defense has probably taken a step back given all that they lost, but the pass defense is still strong and a plethora of young talent gives hope for the future. 
• Other things that are better: winning close games, making late stops, and putting together game winning drives. Husker teams of recent years have simply not done these things.
• Ultimately, the Common Fans conclude that Nebraska football is in fact better; they are making progress. 
• That said, it is often not as consistent, or not as good, as Husker Nation would like to see. 
• At 6-2, we’ve gotta celebrate all the Ws, and hope 2025 will still see a breakthrough win for the program. 

Celebrating the Common Fan tailgate: 

• Thanks to all those who came out to say hi (or in some cases, hang out all day) at the Common Fan tailgate. 
• It was awesome to have Husker legend Steve Taylor and longtime sports talk radio guys Mike’l Severe and Gary Sharp hang out with us. 
• Equally as awesome was to see so many friends, family, and listeners. We love the Common Fan community!

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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Mike’l Severe joins the Common Fans to discuss Nebraska’s meltdown in Minneapolis, the chatter among Husker Nation this week, and the coming battle against Northwestern. 

What went wrong against Minnesota: 

• Mike’l suggests the number one difference between the two teams on the field on Friday night was not anything related to blocking or tackling, or throwing or catching the football. It had everything to do with culture.
• Minnesota knows exactly who they are and what they want to do. While Matt Rhule has established a culture in Lincoln, the Huskers appear to be lacking an identity. 
• Still, Huskers should not have been pushed around in the way that they were. 

Sacks and Dylan Raiola’s struggles:

• The sack problem lands on everybody’s feet. 
• The offensive line needs to be better, running backs need to be better in pass protection, and Dylan needs to have better pocket awareness. 
• Raiola missed Dane Key twice on Friday, both of which would have been touchdowns and possibly changed the game. He needs to be better in those situations–especially throwing the deep ball. 

Checking the pulse if Husker Nation: 

• There seems to be a broad cross-section of reactions among the fan base after Saturday’s loss, everything from calm and collected to full meltdown mode.
• How concerned should we be about Matt Rhule’s program a little more than halfway through Year 3?

Troy Dannen’s comments about being in year three of a rebuild:

• Is Dannen right? Do Husker fans need to be just a little more patient? Or, in the era of Curt Cignetti completely flipping the Indiana program, should we expect more success sooner?
• Mike’l suggests Cignetti is an outlier, and Rhule is still on track to have success at Nebraska. 

The importance of the Northwestern game to the remainder of the season:

• The entire crew agrees the coming game against Northwestern is absolutely pivotal for Nebraska’s outlook the remainder of the season. 
• The team needs to show they can bounce back and beat a physical Big Ten opponent. 
• Mike’l suggests everything from 1-4 to 5-0 are on the table for this team. Northwestern could go a long way toward determining how the remaining five games play out. 

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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The Common Fans discuss Nebraska’s disappointing performance against the Minnesota Gophers on Friday night. 

• The Huskers were outcoached, outhit, and outplayed against the Gophers. Whether they were tired or felt like it would be an easy win, Nebraska simply didn’t show up against Minnesota. 
• It’s Lucy with the football once again–every time Nebraska feels like it’s about to turn a corner, we see a performance like this. It’s incredibly frustrating for fans.
• Yes, there is more parity than ever before in college football. Yes, every team is investing in players, coaches, and facilities now. But Husker fans deserve to see the upside of that investment and not just the pain. 
• Nebraska fans could have told you exactly the kind of game P.J. Fleck wanted to play, and that’s exactly what we saw. The Gophers had an answer for the Nebraska offense, they had an answer on 3rd down, they seemed to have all the answers all night. 
• The offense has to figure something out. Commit to the run, and come up with some better options when the straight drop-back game isn’t working. If you’re going to run this kind of pro-style offense, the line play and the quarterback play both need to be better. 
• At this point, the sacks are on everybody. 

With all the frustration from Friday night, the Common Fans are not giving up hope. 

• We only get to do this 12 Saturdays a year, and we’re going to enjoy it. There’s still nearly half the season left.  
• The team still has the opportunity to prove itself; the game against Minnesota is not predictive of the remainder of the season. 
• This week’s game against Northwestern is now crucial for getting the boys in red back on track. If this team has improved to the extent that we want to believe it has; if this program is in a different and better place, as we’ve been told, then Northwestern is exactly the kind of game they need to win. 
• Beat Northwestern, get to 6-2, and then see what happens in November. 

The life of being a fan:

• While it’s exciting to see the basketball team beat preseason #8 BYU in an exhibition game, it does not take away the sting of a Nebraska football loss. 
• Most fandom is pain: only one team ends the season with a championship. 
• But you don’t only show up when things are going well. 

Speaking of, hats off to Nebraska fans.

• In the words of Tom Shatel, Husker fans are undefeated against apathy. 
• Husker Nation showed up at Maryland, they showed up at Minnesota, and we know they are going to show up to fill up the stadium once more against Northwestern. 

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Josh Peterson joins the Common Fans to discuss all the latest with Husker football. 

The Penn State question:

• Would Matt Rhule leave for Happy Valley? 
• How high would he be on PSU’s list?
• Does anybody really know anything? 
• What Penn State needs to show their fans. 
• What Matt Rhule needs to hear to stay.

On the upcoming game against Minnesota:

• Would Husker fans actually like P.J. Fleck if he was Nebraska’s coach?
• Assessing where quarterback Drake Lindsey fits among the QBs the Blackshirts have faced this season. 
• Nebraska looks like the better team–but are they ready to take the next step and get the Gopher off their back? 

The big picture: 

• Did the Maryland game indicate a renewed commitment to the run game for Nebraska?
• Is this defense just getting better and better?
• And finally, discussing the ceiling for this 2025 Nebraska squad. 

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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The Common Fans discuss Nebraska’s comeback win against Maryland on Saturday. 

• The Huskers give up two 10 point leads, and were losing with under two minutes to go, before pulling out a 34-31 victory.
• HUGE PROGRESS: Putting together not one but two 4th quarter scoring drives to ultimately propel the team to victory. 
• SPECIAL TEAMS AGAIN! The kickoff return team has entered the chat.
• The Blackshirts–despite not playing their best game–bowed up when it mattered. 
• Emmett Johnson absolutely carried the team in arguably his best game as a Husker. 
• Nyziah Hunter emerging as a major threat. 
• Despite three picks, Dylan showed his heart and his toughness in leading Nebraska to the win. 
• Offensive line takes a major step forward. 
• Plus, discussing where the 5-1 Huskers fit in the broader Big 10 conversation. 
• It’s a brave new world in 2025, and the Common Fans are celebrating all the Ws!

This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE! 

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