Nebraska has done it.

The bowl drought is over.

The long national nightmare has ended.

With a 44-25 win over Wisconsin on Saturday, Nebraska won its sixth game of the season and officially qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2016.

The 7-year drought without a bowl game was the longest active drought among power conference teams. Nebraska fired Mike Riley after a 4-8 season in 2017 that snapped a string of 9 consecutive bowl appearances. When Riley was replaced with Scott Frost, Husker fans believed the program would return to at least a baseline level of respectability.

Instead, Nebraska suffered through an 0-6 start to a season, gut punch after gut punch in close games, and 4 straight losing seasons under Frost before he was fired 3 games into his fifth year.

When Matt Rhule was hired prior to the 2023 season, Nebraska was looking to turn the page on one of the worst periods in program history. Among coaches with at least 3 seasons on the job, Frost’s .340 winning percentage was the second-worst in Nebraska history.

Rhule got NU off to a 5-3 start in his debut year, but Nebraska lost 4 straight to end the season — all of them by a single possession — and miss out on another bowl game.

Nebraska got this season off to a 5-1 start but entered Saturday’s game riding a 4-game losing streak that threatened to rob the Huskers of a bowl appearance once again. But quarterback Dylan Raiola was spectacular, completing 28 of his 38 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown without an interception. The ground game produced 180 yards and 4 touchdowns as well.

Nebraska’s 44 points were also the most scored against a Big Ten opponent since 2021.

The Huskers didn’t just end the drought. They buried it.

And, yes, fans rejoiced.