Big Ten releases Nebraska Huskers’ 2023 Conference Football Schedule

The Big Ten Conference has officially released the 2023 conference football schedule. As previously discussed on Corn Nation, the 2020 changes made to host venues in certain matchups during the shortened Covid season required future adjustments to schedules to improve ticket sales for programs like Nebraska.

The 2023 schedule will see the Big Ten maintain a divisional breakdown it has had in place based on geography since the start of the 2014 football season. Nebraska will face Michigan and Maryland in Lincoln and Michigan State in East Lansing from the East Division, so no changes to crossovers. In addition, the Huskers obviously will play all six fellow West Division opponents. The non-conference schedule as previously released is not impacted, and the conference schedule order was merely reordered to accommodate venue changes for Purdue and Wisconsin..

However, this update will be a one off format that will bid farewell to the Big Ten East and Big Ten West divisional alignments in its 10th and final season. The East has won all eight championship games thus far and going into the 2022 seasons held a 77-70 advantage in regular-season matchups. Thus far in 2022, the East has won nine of 13 matchups.

Per reporting by The Athletic based on sources they have, the Big Ten is most likely implementing a format that does not contain divisions once it expands in 2024. However, the exact nature of that arrangement is still being sorted out and a strict East/West geographical alignment of divisions is not going to be the future format, regardless.

Sticking points remain between members of the Big Ten who have numerous traditional rivals and those that do not. Intrastate series like Michigan State-Michigan and Indiana-Purdue along with interstate series like Michigan-Ohio State, Illinois-Purdue, or Minnesota-Wisconsin-Iowa want such matchups to continue annually.

Meanwhile, newer members such as Rutgers and Nebraska, who lack such natural rivalries in the Big Ten, might prefer fewer logistical hurdles for scheduling purposes.

Regardless, the addition of UCLA and USC in 2024 render the future league schedules originally released by the Big Ten no longer relevant as the conference moves to a 16-team format division-less format.

The full Nebraska 2023 schedule is as follows, with the original schedule noted in the far right column for comparison’s sake:

Currently, Nebraska has non-conference games on the schedule for more than the next decade. The furthest out matchup on the schedule will be a home-and-home series with old Big 8/12 foe Oklahoma State in 2034-2035.

Other notable non-conference games between now and then include home-and-home series with Colorado (2023-2024), Tennessee (2026-2027), Arizona (2028 and 2031), and Oklahoma (2029-2030), while a lone roadtrip to Cincinnati (2025) also awaits.

The complete Big Ten schedule for 2023 can be found in the below graphic along with future Nebraska schedules listed below that.

Updated 2023 Schedule

2024 Schedule as originally published, but no longer in effect for Big Ten portion

• Aug. 31 – UTEP Miners
• Sept. 7 – Colorado Buffaloes
• Sept. 14 – Northern Iowa Panthers
• Sept. 21 – Minnesota Golden Gophers
• Sept. 28 – at Northwestern Wildcats
• Oct. 5 – at Michigan Wolverines
• Oct. 12 – Ohio State Buckeyes
• Oct. 19 – Bye Week
• Oct. 26 – at Penn State Nittany Lions
• Nov. 2 – Bye Week
• Nov. 9 – Illinois Fighting Illini
• Nov. 16 – at Wisconsin Badgers
• Nov. 23 – Purdue Boilermakers
• Nov. 29 – at Iowa Hawkeyes

2025 Schedule as currently published, but no longer in effect for Big Ten portion

• Aug. 30 – at Illinois Fighting Illini
• Sept. 6 – Akron Zips
• Sept. 13 – at Cincinnati Bearcats
• Sept. 20 – Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
• Sept. 27 – Michigan Wolverines
• Oct. 4 – Wisconsin Badgers
• Oct. 11 – Northwestern Wildcats
• Oct. 18 – Bye Week
• Oct. 25 – at Indiana Hoosiers
• Nov. 1 – at Minnesota Golden Gophers
• Nov. 8 – Rutgers Scarlet Knights
• Nov. 15 – Bye Week
• Nov. 22 – at Purdue Boilermakers
• Nov. 28 – Iowa Hawkeyes

2026 Schedule as currently published

2027 Schedule as currently published

2028 Schedule as currently published

• Sept. 2 – UTEP Miners
• Sept. 9 – South Dakota State Jackrabbits
• Sept. 16 – Arizona Wildcats

2029 Schedule as currently published

2030 Schedule as currently published

2031 Schedule as currently published

2034 Schedule as currently published

2035 Schedule as currently published