Ohio
Nebraska
4:00 PM · Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, NE)

Nebraska hosts Ohio. The market has Nebraska favored by 24.

What’s at stake

Make the CFP field

Nebraska · 3%3% → ▲4% if win3% → ▼2% if loss
Ohio · 1%1% → ▲1% if win1% → ▼0% if loss

Win the conference

Nebraska · 0%0% → ▲0% if win0% → ▼0% if loss
Ohio · 10%10% → ▲10% if win10% → ▼9% if loss

Win it all

Nebraska · 0%0% → ▲0% if win0% → ▼0% if loss
Ohio · 0%0% → ▲0% if win0% → ▼0% if loss

CFP odds as of September 5, 2026

See this week’s biggest postseason implications ›

Face-off

What each fanbase carries into this one.

Ohio

The chip

Athens doesn't carry a grudge so much as a quiet pride: the Bobcats keep getting their coaches stolen by bigger programs, and they keep reloading and winning bowls. The fanbase has stopped apologizing for being good in a league nobody watches.

What this game touches

The program that can't keep a coach. Tim Albin won Ohio its first MAC title since 1968 in 2024, then immediately left for Charlotte. His successor Brian Smith went 8-4 but was fired for cause in December 2025 amid a misconduct investigation. Defensive coordinator John Hauser, the third head coach in three seasons, won the Frisco Bowl on his first night running the team.

Nebraska

The chip · vs the national media

The take that Nebraska is a museum — a great history and a hollow present, coasting on a sellout streak and 1990s highlights. The fanbase answers with the streak itself: still there, still full, still waiting.

What this game touches

The fall from the '90s — and the Raiola defection. Nebraska's 1990s dynasty (three titles in four years, a 60-3 run) gave way to a quarter-century of decline; the 2025 team went 7-5, and the franchise QB the program built around — legacy recruit Dylan Raiola — broke his leg, then transferred to Oregon, the latest gut-punch for the most loyal fanbase in the sport.

Best players

Nebraska

  • Javin Wright (LB) · 2025: 86 tackles
  • DeShon Singleton (DB) · 2025: 70 tackles
  • Rex Guthrie (DB) · 2025: 63 tackles

Ohio

  • Britton Watts (PK) · 1 tackles
  • Sieh Bangura (RB) · 2025: 1,392 rushing yards
  • Adonis Williams Jr. (S) · 2025: 75 tackles

The line, and the room

Ohio fans are feeling better about their season (57th percentile) than Nebraska fans are (47th) — even with Nebraska favored here.

  • Model · 64%
  • Market · 97%
  • Nebraska fans · 47th
  • Ohio fans · 57th

Home −24 · O/U 46.5

Conditions

89°F · 6 mph wind · Fair

Home-field advantage: Strong

Nebraska is 50% at home, 26% on the road since 2018 (26-26 home, 10-28 away).