Anthony Colandrea — “Ant” to teammates — carried four times for 19 yards in Nebraska football’s 34-7 victory against North Dakota at Memorial Stadium Saturday night. He capped the game’s first series with a 10-yard touchdown run. But his first carry, on the fourth play, drew more post-game attention.
Colandrea gained 3 yards, on a first-and-10, by his own admission trying to run over the defender.
“It’s pretty easy to go out there and fight for a guy like Anthony back there at quarterback,” said offensive tackle Gunnar Gottula. When he does something like that, he takes on the team’s identity, “which is just tough, grit, brotherhood. He’s just a gritty dude, tough dude.”
A gritty dude who prefers passing to running, Colandrea said. He completed 15-of-21 passes for 195 yards, 5 of them to Quinn Clark for the game’s final touchdown 5 seconds into the fourth quarter.
That touchdown, and Kyle Kunanan’s second field goal, a 40-yarder with 1:51 remaining, made the spread about what was expected in the victory against an FCS team.
A very good team, according to Coach Matt Rhule and the Huskers who spoke afterward.
Wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer caught three passes for a team-high 42 yards, but like Colandrea, he drew more post-game attention for a block he made on Jamal Rule’s 55-yard touchdown run.
He doesn’t complete the touchdown run without Gilmer’s block, Rule said.
Touchdown Nebraska 🎈
Jamal Rule rolls in from 55 yards out for his sixth touchdown of his career thus far
Nebraska leads North Dakota 24-0 with 13:57 left in the third quarter pic.twitter.com/t6mZWtf8Vp
— Hail Varsity (@HailVarsity) September 20, 2026
The play was Nebraska’s first of the second half, after the defense forced a three-and-punt, and reflected the emphasis all week in practice. “We made a big deal of coming out at the half,” said Rhule.
Rule finished with 119 yards on 15 carries. He also scored the Huskers’ second touchdown, from 3 yards out, on Nebraska’s second possession of the game.
Rule was the first Husker freshman to rush for 100 or more yards in multiple games since 2002, when David Horne did it three times. Rule rushed for 122 yards against Ohio.
“He’s different,” Gottula said. “He’s such a good player, even for his age, and that’s all credit to him, just how he works every single day throughout the week in practice and the meeting room. He’s just a great kid, great dude to be around … Honored to be his teammate and block for him.”
Rhule, whose hobby is bowling, now has a post-touchdown bowling celebration.
He’s among six running backs who carried the ball against North Dakota. Mekhi Nelson, who got the start, carried nine times for 54 yards, Isaiah Mozee 10 times for 40.
“We’ve got a lot of great running backs that can tote the rock for us, and we do a lot of different things scheme-wise in the run game as well,” said Gottula.
“So, I mean, I think we’ve got a really good balanced running attack.”
Nebraska rushed for 277 yards, averaging 6.2 per carry.
The halftime score, though a shutout, didn’t reflect how the Husker defense played. North Dakota managed only two first downs and 68 yards of offense, including a net of 21 rushing.
Nebraska had five sacks in the game, the first by defensive tackle Riley Van Poppel for a loss of 10 yards on the Fighting Hawks’ first possession. But “it’s never about me,” he said. “It’s about all of us.”
Despite the respect the Huskers showed for North Dakota, the challenge will be greater now as Big Ten play begins with a trip to Michigan State, which lost to Notre Dame Saturday, 27-10.
Still, Rhule seemed satisfied with the win over a team ranked sixth in the FCS. The Fighting Hawks “didn’t come in and just respect us,” he said.
The respect had to be earned.
