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College football Week 4 winners, losers: Nebraska misses opportunity vs. Michigan
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- College football Week 4 winners, losers: Nebraska misses opportunity vs. Michigan
Needing to play a clean game to snap a four-game losing streak against No. 20 Michigan , Nebraska was stuffed on fourth down deep in the red zone, missed a 44-yard field goal and tossed an interception at its own 37-yard line — and that was just in the first quarter.
While the Cornhuskers rallied behind 308 yards and three touchdowns from quarterback Dylan Raiola , a collapsing run defense helped pave the way for the Wolverines' eventual 30-27 win . Michigan ran for 286 yards on 8.7 yards per carry, with three scoring runs of at least 37 yards.
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The third-year bump may still come for the Cornhuskers and coach Matt Rhule, who previously performed memorable turnarounds at Temple and Baylor . The program's talent level has noticeably increased in this three-year span, inching Nebraska closer to the top of the Big Ten than the league's bottom half. The remaining schedule after Saturday features just one other ranked team in No. 2 Penn State.
But this was a missed opportunity. Thanks to a non-existent running game, ineffective pass protection and flimsy defense along the line of scrimmage, the Cornhuskers were unable to capitalize on homefield advantage, coach Sherrone Moore's absence and quarterback Bryce Underwood 's inexperience.
Instead of securing a season-changing win, Nebraska dropped a one-score game against a ranked opponent. These are two of the hallmarks of the program's unconquerable malaise.
The Cornhuskers are now 4-11 in one-score games under Rhule and 12-39 since 2017. They haven't topped a ranked opponent since a 2016 non-conference victory against Oregon , which eventually won just four games.
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Nebraska, Oklahoma /Auburn and Clemson top this weekend's biggest winners and losers:
Winners
Indiana
Unstoppable No. 17 Indiana made the statement of the night with a stunning 63-10 win against No. 8 Illinois . The Hoosiers gained 579 yards of offense, 312 coming on the ground, and held the previously unbeaten Illini to just 3.6 yards per play. Fernando Mendoza had 267 yards on 21 of 23 passing with five touchdowns and no interceptions for IU, solidifying his status as an early Heisman Trophy dark horse and an obvious mesh with coach Curt Cignetti's scheme. After making the playoff out of nowhere in Cignetti's debut, the Hoosiers have looked even better through these first few weeks of 2025.
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Missouri
No. 22 Missouri beat No. 24 South Carolina 29-20 to avenge last year's 34-30 heartbreaker that knocked the Tigers out of the playoff conversation. The defense sacked LaNorris Sellers five times and held the Gamecocks to -9 yards rushing on 22 carries. The Tigers, now 4-0, are taking advantage of a friendly schedule and setting themselves up for a playoff run in the second half. Missouri takes on Massachusetts and then is off before hosting No. 14 Alabama on Oct. 11.
Michigan
Michigan will be a factor in the Big Ten and the College Football Playoff race despite some obvious flaws, including the absence of anything resembling an effective passing game. In his second start against a Power Four team, Underwood went 12 of 22 for 105 yards, though he added 61 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Down the line, this lack of balance on offense will be an issue against Southern California, Washington and No. 1 Ohio State . But the Wolverines deserve credit for staying on track during Moore's suspension and landing a key road win.
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Oklahoma
No. 12 Oklahoma's offense couldn't get anything going on the ground against No. 25 Auburn but was able to lean on quarterback John Mateer , who hit on 24 of 36 attempts for 271 yards and had two touchdowns to spark a 24-17 win. Down 17-16 to the Tigers and former OU quarterback Jackson Arnold , the Sooners went 75 yards on six plays capped by Mateer's 9-yard touchdown run to reclaim the lead with just over a minute to play. OU bellyflopped into the SEC last season but now has the pieces on offense to compete for the national championship.
Texas Tech
No. 16 Texas Tech outplayed and outmuscled No. 18 Utah in a 34-10 win that serves as a major tone-setter in a Big 12 that now has a clear favorite one month into the regular season. The best team money can buy — hate the game, not the player, USA TODAY Sports' Matt Hayes writes — broke things open with 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, sparked by backup quarterback Will Hammond 's two touchdowns in place of an injured Behren Morton . Playing against a rejuvenated Utah team boosted by its own success in the transfer portal, the Red Raiders outgained the Utes by more than 200 yards, forced four turnovers and controlled the line of scrimmage to open 4-0 for the first time since 2013.
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Mississippi
It's not all good news for the No. 11 Rebels: Lane Kiffin might have a quarterback controversy on his hands. With starter Austin Simmons sidelined, backup and former Ferris State transfer Trinidad Chambliss drew the start for the second week in a row and 419 yards of total offense in an extremely easy 45-10 romp against Tulane. The sweat-free victory against an opponent that had already topped two Power Four opponents firmly establishes the Rebels as one of the elite teams in the SEC and broader Bowl Subdivision.
Memphis
When combined with Tulane's loss, beating Arkansas 32-31 makes Memphis the top playoff contender in the Group of Five and could even bump the Tigers into this week's US LBM Coaches Poll . Down 31-26 with five minutes to play, the Tigers took the lead on a 64-yard touchdown run and then forced and recovered an Arkansas fumble at their own 7-yard line with just over a minute to play to win the first meeting between these two programs since 1998.
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Losers
Clemson
New week, new low for a dispirited program . After losing to No. 19 Georgia Tech last Saturday, Clemson turned the ball over twice and sputtered on third down in a 34-21 loss to Syracuse that drops the Tigers to 1-3 for the first time since 2004 — way back when Dabo Swinney was in his second season as receivers coach. This is clearly a lost year amid a larger, more troubling downturn that dates to 2021, when Clemson began a stretch of five seasons in a row with at least three losses. Barring an unforeseeable turnaround, the Tigers will lose more than four games for the first time since 2010. Needless to say, this team is not making the playoff.
Luke Fickell
The faithful inside Camp Randall Stadium have clearly had enough, serenading Wisconsin 's embattled third-year coach with chants of "Fire Fickell" as the Badgers took a 20-0 deficit into halftime of an eventual 27-10 loss to Maryland . The score accurately reflects the Terrapins' dominance: Malik Washington threw for 265 yards and had three scores in his Big Ten debut while the Terrapins notched six sacks, held Wisconsin to 1.5 yards per carry and blocked a field goal and a punt. With five ranked teams still to come in Big Ten play, the odds that Fickell can lead the Badgers to six wins and buy himself more time are dropping fast.
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North Carolina
Central Florida scored on four of its first five possessions and beat North Carolina 34-9 to snap the Tar Heels' two-game winning streak. This drops UNC to 2-2 in coach Bill Belichick's first season, with the two losses coming against TCU and UCF by a combined 82-23 score. While UNC had gotten on track against Charlotte and Richmond, the performance in these matchups with Power Four competition paint the Tar Heels as one of the worst teams in the ACC and turns what had been a highly anticipated game against Clemson in early October into one of the saddest pairings of the regular season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football winners, losers for Week 4 include Indiana, Nebraska
