Bowling Green visits Nebraska on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026 at 7 p.m. ET from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, in a matchup that already comes with a clear line and a clear favorite. Nebraska is 1-0 after beating Ohio 49-21, while Bowling Green arrives at 0-1 after a 20-13 loss to Tarleton State.
That is why the game is being searched now: it is one of the first major check-in points for both teams, and the numbers from their openers give the matchup shape before kickoff. Nebraska opened with Anthony Colandrea, a UNLV transfer, throwing for 275 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, while Jamal Rule added 122 rushing yards, two touchdowns and 47 receiving yards with another score. Rule’s debut was even bigger than the box score alone suggests — 169 yards from scrimmage on 17 touches, plus Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
Bowling Green has a different question hanging over it. Jay Kastantin, who did not take over as the full-time quarterback until his senior year of high school, won the job over Austin Novosad and then went 24 of 30 for 283 yards in the opener. He did not throw a touchdown or an interception, and that efficiency is the one thing that keeps this from looking like a simple mismatch on paper.
It still looks like a steep climb. Nebraska was listed as a 29.5-point favorite at DraftKings, with a total of 51.5 and moneyline prices of -7143 for Nebraska and +1875 for Bowling Green. That spread says the market expects Nebraska to control the game from the start, but Bowling Green’s passing numbers suggest the Falcons at least have a path to staying functional through the air if Kastantin can repeat that accuracy against a Nebraska secondary that ranked third nationally against the pass a year ago.
Nebraska also returns Donovan Jones and Rex Guthrie, which matters because Bowling Green’s best argument for staying close is not a track meet but a cleaner, shorter game that avoids turnovers and turnovers in space. Austyn Dendy, who scored on a 3-yard run in the loss to Tarleton State, gives the Falcons another place to start after finishing with 60 rushing yards, and he enters after a 2025 season in which he had 493 yards and five touchdowns despite starting only four games.
The next checkpoint is simple: on Saturday night, Bowling Green will try to turn Kastantin’s opener into something sturdier, while Nebraska will try to make the 29.5-point number look conservative. If the Cornhuskers handle the line of scrimmage the way they did against Ohio, the conversation shifts quickly from whether Bowling Green can keep up to whether the Falcons can avoid getting buried early in Lincoln.
