Nebraska Flag Football Arrives a Year Early: The Huskers Play This Spring

Husker fans, you’re getting a new team a year earlier than anyone promised you.

Nebraska announced Monday that its women’s flag football program will play its first competitive season in the spring of 2027 — twelve months ahead of the original 2028 plan.

So you’ll be watching this team in a few months, not next year.

Why it moved up

The NCAA recently changed its rules to grant student-athletes five years of eligibility. That, plus a roster that filled faster than expected, is what let Nebraska pull the schedule forward.

“Flag football is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and we are excited that our student-athletes will get to participate in this fast-paced sport one year earlier than previously planned,” Athletic Director Troy Dannen said in the announcement.

Flag football became Nebraska’s 25th varsity sport on January 16.

The coaches are the story

This is the part the announcement doesn’t tell you.

Head coach Liz Sowers arrives with five national championships — she won them at Ottawa University in Kansas, in the program’s first five years, on an 88-8 record that included a perfect 23-0 season in 2025. She was also defensive coordinator for the USA Women’s National Team in 2023, which took Continental Championships gold while allowing the fewest points in the team’s history.

Her associate head coach is her twin sister, Katie Sowers — and if the name rings a bell, it should. Katie coached in the NFL for the Falcons, 49ers and Chiefs, and when San Francisco reached the Super Bowl following the 2019 season she became the first woman ever to coach in one.

Nebraska hired both of them in February.

Amy Stephens is director of operations, and Associate AD Jami Hagedorn is the program’s sport administrator.

The roster and the venue

Sixteen players. Eleven transfers, five freshmen, from seven states.

“We are blessed with a beautiful facility, amazing resources and we can’t wait to represent the N in front of the greatest fans in the country,” Liz Sowers said in the announcement.

That facility is Barbara Hibner Stadium — the same ground Nebraska soccer plays on. The 2027 schedule comes later this fall.

Where this is going

The NCAA approved women’s flag football as an emerging sport in January and is expected to stage its first national championship in 2028.

Which means Nebraska will have a full season behind it before that trophy is first handed out.

Husker fans, mark the spring. There’s a new team to watch, and the people running it have already won everywhere else.