Anthony Colandrea had his worst game in a Nebraska football uniform Saturday night, but he’s taking accountability for his struggles.
Colandrea completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Carter Nelson and threw for 255 yards while running for another 20. However, his three interceptions proved costly in Nebraska’s 17-10 loss to Washington.
“I didn’t play good at all,” Colandrea said. “I didn’t get the offense going to where the standard is, and also on Saturday I turned the ball over. You can’t turn the ball over three times and expect to win.”
Nebraska’s first two offensive drives ended in Colandrea interceptions, and he threw his final pick with less than two minutes remaining in the game. That throw proved to be the most damaging of them all, resulting in a 48-yard pick six for the Huskies.
Offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen and Matt Rhule both felt Colandrea was “amped up” during the game.
“We want Anthony to be Anthony,” Holgorsen said. “Don’t be anything more, just play within yourself. Have confidence in yourself, and go out there and just play ball. That’s all he needs to worry about.”
Colandrea will continue to focus on playing ball the rest of this season at Nebraska, and he’ll do the same next fall. Colandrea’s agent shared last Friday that the quarterback had re-signed with the Huskers for 2027, and he’ll remain in Lincoln for his final year of eligibility.
“I love being here,” Colandrea said. “I love Coach Rhule, I love Coach Holgorsen, I just want to be here.”
Can confirm Nebraska QB Anthony Colandrea has signed a deal to return to Nebraska in 2027 for his fifth and final year of college eligibility per @noahreisenfeld1 of 21 Sports & Entertainment
QB1 is locked in pic.twitter.com/u9Mc4XQWdZ
— Tim Verghese (@TimVerghese) October 30, 2026
Colandrea has guided Nebraska to a 5-3 record so far this season and he’s thrown for 1,825 yards.
The Florida native has 15 touchdowns passes and seven interceptions — five of which have come over the past three games — and he owns a 62.9 quarterback rating. Colandrea also has 354 rushing yards on 75 carries, and he’s added four touchdowns on the ground.
Now he’ll turn his attention to Friday night, as the Huskers visit Illinois.
“He came to us as a receiver corps, he was like, ‘Man, stop overthinking it, it’s just football; we’ve been doing this all our lives, bro,'” said junior wide receiver Jacory Barney. Jr. “Let’s just go out there Friday and have fun, and ball out. Just having a guy like that, with that mentality. Of course he beats himself up, because he knows the plays he could have made, but just coming in and telling us to let it go, and we’ve got to just live in the present and stop thinking about the past, because we can’t control that.”
The signal caller said that was the message for the entire team.
“I have to play better for those guys,” Colandrea said. “We have to play as a unit, right? In fall camp, we were playing together, and we were rolling. We were going down and scoring touchdowns, but at the end of the day, we’ve just got to go out there and have fun.”
Although Colandrea wants to have fun, he also knows the offense needs to produce. The Huskers averaged 43.6 points over their first five games, but just 13.6 over their last three.
“We can’t overthink stuff,” Colandrea said. “We’ve just got to go out there and stay on schedule, not get behind the chains, and just play together. We showed that we can. We’ve just got to go out there and do it.”
Colandrea and Nebraska’s offense will look to get back on track Friday night in Champaign. The Illini run a 3-3-5 defensive scheme, which Nebraska is familiar with.
“They play fast. They’re big, they’ve got a lot of good players,” Colandrea said. “I think it’s going to be a good test for us. Their guys are really good, but we’re excited to go play them.”
Friday’s game is set for a 7 p.m. CDT kickoff and will be televised on FOX. Fans can also listen on the Huskers Radio Network.
