Nebraska Football Backs Out of Home & Home Series

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The “Indiana Method” is apparently being adopted by Nebraska for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.

In college football’s first season under the new postseason format, the committee seemed content to reward teams that laid off the gas and avoided Top-25 matchups at all costs. It’s shameful behavior, but it worked out for the Hoosiers last year so why not give it a shot?

Last year, Indiana may or may not have assembled a schedule mostly devoid of high-profile teams and boasted a best-win over a severely depleted Michigan squad. It paid off, they got their 10-seed playoff berth, but fell to Notre Dame in the first round. Overall, it was “mission accomplished”, their scheme worked and they got to the College Football Playoff.

Today, Nebraska football announced that they’re backing out of the home-and-home contract for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. They cited stadium renovations as the reasoning, adding that they wanted an additional home game in 2027.

Sources: Tennessee and Nebraska are canceling their upcoming football series, which was schedule for 2026 in Lincoln and 2027 in Knoxville. A driver of the move was Nebraska wanting eight home games in 2027 when they expected reduced stadium capacity because of renovations.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 21, 2025

I have a different theory.

Pure cowardice.

This has been almost 20 years in the making and the first games were supposed to be in 2016 and 2017. It was pushed back from then, and now it’s cancelled altogether. It’s a bummer, and if my calculations are correct that puts us at damn near two decades now that Nebraska has been ducking the Vols.

Why is Nebraska scared? I was told that Dylan Raiola was supposed to be the next big thing, the savior that Cornhuskers fans have waited for. I was made to believe that he would be a first-round draft pick if he were eligible. I realize this probably isn’t Raiola’s decision, but it’s a bad look for a program that’s supposed to be on the rise. Not to mention, if you’re gonna play dress-up as Patrick Mahomes and try to emulate his every move don’t shy away from stiff competition.

Dylan Raiola back with the Mahomes pregame ritual pic.twitter.com/J1kxIP8RzY

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 14, 2024

Nebraska will pay half a million to tuck their tail and look to schedule an FCS opponent at home, one they can hang fifty on and pad their stats.

Meanwhile, Danny White will undoubtedly find a worthy adversary for Tennessee to sharpen their teeth because we are, after all, a serious program.