Cincinnati and Nebraska will kick off their respective seasons at 8:00 in Kansas City at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The Bearcats, who are the new kid on the block in the Big 12 Conference, will “host” the Huskers, an original member of the Big 12 who moved onto the Big 10 about 15 years ago.
It’s an interesting pairing for the Big 12 and ESPN to feature in prime time.
Cincinnati chose to move its home game from its own stadium to Indianapolis and eventually moved the game to Kansas City. Sure, money talks. However, you have to wonder what Cincinnati was thinking in this instant. Nebraska fans are likely going to overwhelm Arrowhead on Thursday night. The Huskers have a proud fan base that travels well and has a large contingent living in the Kansas City area. It wouldn’t be shocking to see 80-90% of the stands filled with Husker fans. This will give Nebraska the perceived home-field advantage despite being a road game for the Huskers.
The Bearcats finished the 2024 season on a five-game losing streak and missed the chance to play in a bowl game with a 5-7 record. They did have a quality win over Arizona State, who would go on to win the Big 12 Championship and represent the conference in the College Football Playoff. Cincinnati will need to lean into consistency if it wants to make some noise this season, and it will get a tough test in Week 1 against a strong Nebraska team.
Nebraska finished the 2024 regular season with a 6-6 record. The Huskers made it to their first bowl game since 2016 and won the Pinstripe Bowl in a defensive battle against Boston College. Head coach Matt Rhule, a former Big 12 coach when he was at Baylor, is entering Year Three with the Huskers and looks to continue building the program.
Year Three seems to be when Rhule really brings his programs into the limelight. At Temple, Rhule brought the team all the way from only two wins in his first season, six wins in his second season, and 10 wins in his third season with the Owls. At Baylor, there was a similar progression, but even more drastic: one win in his first season, seven wins in his second season, and 11 wins in his third season with the Bears.
At Nebraska, Rhule took the team to a five-win season in his first year in the program before getting seven wins last season. Is this the year Rhule can get the Huskers to a double-digit win season? The last time the Huskers were able to win 10 games in a season was in 2012. Rhule led the Huskers to their first bowl win in a decade last season. Maybe there is more magic in the tank for Nebraska in 2025.
Nebraska was once nationally recognized as an elite program, but the Huskers have fallen on hard times over the past couple of decades. It came to a head with former head coach Scott Frost (who is now back in the Big 12 as UCF’s head coach). Frost was supposed to be the savior of the program, a former Nebraska quarterback who led his team to a National Championship in 1997. That was when Nebraska was still a part of the Big 12 Conference as well. Unfortunately for the Huskers, the nostalgia hire took a turn for the worse. They never had a winning season under Frost. Now, Rhule and company are trying to build something special from the ground up.
The Huskers are favored to win by a touchdown across most sportsbooks, and it makes sense considering what the team they are returning, featuring quarterback Dylan Raiola, and Rhule’s track record going into Year Three. Cincinnati will have to try to control both sides of the line of scrimmage if it wants any chance to pull off the upset. The Bearcats also have an experienced quarterback in Brendan Sorsby. Both defenses are supposed to be a strength this season. It should be a fun matchup.
There’s also a chance we could see the newly engaged Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift out at Arrowhead on Thursday night. Kelce, a Bearcat alum, has stated on multiple podcasts that he will be in attendance at the game. That leads Swifties everywhere to wonder if this will be the first public appearance the couple makes since the big announcement on Tuesday. That is just a fun sidebar to the game. Kelce will surely be featured on ESPN’s broadcast, and if Swift is there, it will only enhance the atmosphere in what is expected to be an entertaining prime-time game.
Cincinnati, the new school Big 12 team, and Nebraska, an original Big 12 team, will battle in Kansas City. This game will be a good time for all involved, but only one team will be able to have a happy flight back home with momentum heading into the rest of non-conference play.
