Nebraska’s 56-7 win over lightly regarded Bowling Green doesn’t really prove much of anything about the 2026 Cornhuskers, except maybe that their second-string offensive linemen have some good days ahead of them, Dana Holgorsen plans to be balanced on offense, and really wants to incorporate Jacory Barney and Kwazi Gilmer into the attack as much as possible. It’s still difficult to get a read on the Nebraska defense, except that it functioned somewhat more smoothly with Owen Chambliss calling the signals and Andrew Marshall is the real deal at cornerback. Aside from Marshall, the Huskers have not shown much shutdown ability, and they’ve got a lot of growing to do. I don’t think you can call them Blackshirts yet; they are unproven, and so many players run in and out of the game. It seems like new defensive coordinator Rob Aurich is still holding auditions. They gave up a couple of long, methodical drives to the Falcons, which is not a good sign. It seems like a unit that will have to settle for slowing down the opposition, forcing some turnovers and hoping the offense can get a couple of touchdowns for every one the defense allows. And this offense probably will be able to do that, at least over the first five games.This Nebraska offense has a lot of good players. Does it have any great ones? We won’t find out until the schedule turns tougher.Nebraska wide receiver Jacory Barney Jr. catches a touchdown pass during the second quarter. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connectlt has a good wide receiver corps and a better-than-average trio of running backs. Quarterback Anthony Colandrea shows flashes of brilliance, but at long last, there is strength in the offensive line, which is a good omen for the future of this Husker team. It’s solid, although there is some experimentation going on; Gunnar Gottula and Elijah Pritchett flip-flop occasionally at tackle, and Tree Babalade got more snaps this week.For the second straight week, the Huskers put up 200-plus rushing yards and 200-plus passing yards, something they hadn’t accomplished in five years. Barney had eight catches for 115 yards, an excellent night, albeit against a weak team.Barney is perpetually on the verge of an explosion. Yet he doesn’t explode, at least not yet. Holgorsen set him up for a pair of impressive touchdown catches and he continues to be much tougher than you think he’ll be at 175 pounds. He’s gained some strength, but not quite enough to become a game-breaker. He and Gilmer are a good tandem at wideout, and you’ve got to think Nyziah Hunter will heat up at some point. Barney is working hard at breaking out as a punt returner, but he’s not getting much help from the rest of his unit. The Husker punt return team got a blocked kick, but it wasn’t able to consistently block Bowling Green’s gunners, even by holding them, so Barney was limited to 12 punt return yards. Coach Brett Maher’s kicking game has been plagued by penalties the first two weeks and missed a 55-yard field goal attempt. Head coaches Matt Rhule and Eddie George converse before the game. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectThe Husker second-team offense overcame one penalty and scored on a steady,12-play, 79-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. There was no confusion among the second-team line, featuring center Sam Sledge, guards Tyler Knaak and Gibson Pyle, and tackles Hayden Ainsworth and Preston Taumua. They made TJ Lateef’s life easy as he passed for 60 yards, including a 6-yard scoring pass to Kwinten Ives, and rushed for 22 more.Head coach Matt Rhule said he had hoped to get the third-team offense on the field, but was unable, largely because Bowling Green had the edge during the scoreless third quarter by holding the ball for 11 minutes, 37 seconds. The Huskers’ flat third quarter was disappointing, but putting it in perspective on a day when Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota lost home games, Washington and Iowa almost did and Oregon and Ohio State lost on the road, Husker fans had reason to feel good when they left the stadium with a 49-point margin of victory. Colandrea looked sharp throwing the ball, completing 17 of 20 passes with four touchdowns in the first half alone. He racked up 204 yards of total offense in the first two quarters, shows evidence of his well-discussed ability to extend plays, and as a passer, has a 7-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio after his first two games in Lincoln. With all three of the running backs listed as co-No. 1 on the depth chart getting eight carries apiece, the Huskers had a nearly stress-free outing, rushing the ball 34 times and passing it 32. It wasn’t anything to brag about, but we all knew going into this one that such an outcome was impossible. On what turned into a shaky day for the Big Ten, just going about your business and walking off with a big win against an outmanned opponent was not a bad outcome, not at all.Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow