In-state rivalry games are one of the most special and unique aspects of college sports.
Matchups like college football’s Iron Bowl between in-state rivals Auburn and Alabama, or college basketball’s historic Duke-North Carolina series, are part of what makes college sports what they are. College baseball has some classics of its own, with series like Florida-Florida State and Tennessee-Vanderbilt boasting some of the best rivalry games in the sport.
While Nebraska is the state’s only Division I football team, two teams up I-80 provide the Huskers with an in-state rivalry of their own.
This week, Nebraska baseball will face both of its in-state rivals, hosting Creighton and traveling to Omaha on back-to-back days for the first time since 2017.
Over the past five years, Nebraska’s fortunes against these teams have been a mixed bag. Since 2020, the Huskers have only managed two wins against the Bluejays: a 7-4 result on May 9, 2023, and a 1-0 victory on April 12, 2022. Creighton swept the 2024 series against Nebraska and won the 2023 and 2022 series 2-1. The Huskers have three more chances to improve their record against the Bluejays this season, the first coming April 1.
In their first two games in 2023, Nebraska was one run away from a win but fell short in both games, 6-5. Last season, the Huskers lost their games against the Bluejays with a combined score of 20-12.
Meanwhile, Nebraska and Omaha have split their rivalry since 2020, each team winning four games apiece. Last season in their lone matchup, Nebraska walked away with a convincing 11-5 win. The Huskers led 8-0 through the sixth inning before the Mavericks cut the lead to three in the top of the seventh. Nebraska still managed a win off a trio of runs in the bottom of the eighth. This season, Omaha and Nebraska were scheduled to square off on March 4, but the game was postponed. Just one matchup between the teams remains on April 2, one day after Nebraska’s first matchup against Creighton.
In 2023, for the first time in the series’ history, Omaha won the season series against Nebraska, winning two of their three face-offs with a combined 19-17 score.
Since 2000, Nebraska has led the overall series with both teams. The Huskers have overpowered the Mavericks, winning 38 out of 44 games. The series was put on hold from 2000 to 2014, so Omaha didn’t get their first win against Nebraska of the 2000s until April 2018. The Omaha series dates back to 1977, when the Huskers beat the Mavs twice. Nebraska remained undefeated in the rivalry until 1997.
Meanwhile, since the turn of the century, Creighton has experienced more success than Omaha against Nebraska, losing 40 of 66 matchups.
Leading into their next two rivalry dates this week, Nebraska is flying high after a 17-6 win against No. 5 Oregon State. In the seventh week of the season, Nebraska sits at a 12-15 overall record, Creighton sits at 16-7 and Omaha sits at 5-17. Notably, Omaha has the highest-ranked upset this season, beating No. 3 LSU in February.
No matter how a season goes, a series win over an in-state rival is always a bright spot, and this week, the Huskers have a prime opportunity to gain the upper hand against both of them.