College football analyst David Pollack spoke about one historic program that he says is ready to take the next step during the 2025 campaign.
David Pollack Reveals Legendary College Football Program Ready To Take The Next Step originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
With the 2025 college football season right around the corner, there are plenty of storylines and questions, as usual.
A big looming question is the state of the revamped Big Ten Conference that is in its second year with USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon, and also includes the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes.
David Pollack dropped a new episode of "See Ball Get Ball With David Pollack" that went into detail about the Big Ten. In it, he revealed one team he is hoping can take the next step into the national limelight.
David Pollack Wonders if This Legendary Program Takes the "Next Step"
When discussing the Big Ten, Pollack concluded the episode with a question about the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
"Nebraska fans, is this the year?" Pollack asked. "Are we finally going to take that next step? They had a winning season. They took a step forward...They took steps forward. Do they take that next step? If they take that next step, Big Red's going to be out of their mind because that's such an elite fanbase."
After all, it's a valid question.
Nebraska finished 7-6 in 2024 with a 3-6 conference record in the first year with star quarterback Dylan Raiola. It was the second year with head coach Matt Rhule and an improvement for Nebraska after going just 5-7 in Rhule's first year in Lincoln.
Last year, Nebraska lost to each of Illinois, Ohio State, UCLA, USC and Iowa by one score and had wins over Wisconsin and Colorado.
Pollack also said that Raiola is one of the "most talented quarterbacks in the country" and added that "Matt Rhule's program's going to take steps forward."
Nebraska added Nyziah Hunter from Cal and Dane Key from Kentucky, giving Raiola even more options in the passing game.
Rocco Spindler (Notre Dame) and Elijah Pritchett (Alabama) are also key additions in the offensive line for Nebraska, so the portal worked well for them this time around.
David Pollack Raves About Nebraska's Schedule
While Raiola's sophomore campaign is full of buzz, Pollack also spoke about Nebraska's schedule as a key factor this year.
"You gotta love Nebraska's schedule, you gotta love it," Pollack said.
Nebraska's schedule is as follows:
- at Cincinnati
- vs. Akron
- vs. Houston Christian
- vs. Michigan
- vs. Michigan State
- at Maryland
- at Minnesota
- vs. Northwestern
- vs. USC
- at UCLA
- at Penn State
- vs. Iowa
So, Nebraska avoids playing all of Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon, and the Cornhuskers play at home against Iowa, USC and both Michigan programs in a favorable draw.
Pollack said the Iowa game might "count for something" in what is the regular-season finale for the Cornhuskers.
Whether or not it will be Nebraska's year remains to be seen, but Pollack loves what he is seeing from this program after it had the first winning season since 2016.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: General Sports
