Nebraska and Matt Rhule are Flailing and Failing

What is most worrisome is Rhule. It is becoming increasingly apparent that he is operating on a wing and a prayer rather than with a coherent plan.

Additionally, Rhule’s previous success came in a college football landscape that still had structure and rules. In today’s era of no laws and revolving doors, Rhule has not effectively kept up.

The Nebraska program enters the offseason with dark storm clouds on the horizon and an increasingly apathetic fan base that is sick and tired of being sick and tired. Unlike grandpa, grandma, mom, and dad, today’s Husker fans have increasingly discovered other ways to find sports entertainment and fulfillment.

Matt Rhule Struggles With No Rules

What Matt Rhule accomplished at Temple and Baylor can’t be discounted. At Temple, he went 2-10 in his first season, then 6-6, 10-4, and 10-3.

Nearly everyone thought he was insane to take the Baylor job in 2017, but he did anyway. Baylor was emerging from ugly scandals that triggered national scorn. Additionally, Rhule arrived as a northeasterner operating deep in the heart of Texas.  But he went 1-11, 7-6, and 11-3 to earn an NFL head coaching job with the Carolina Panthers.

At Baylor, Rhule pulled off one of the greatest and most improbable turnarounds in college football history. But it was a different world then, totally incomparable to now. Rosters were stable, and NIL was not yet a thing. 18-year-old kids were not yet in charge of the sport as they are today. Thus, in those days, Rhule could mastermind developmental programs that are more difficult to establish today.

It is fair to wonder if Rhule is out of his element in today’s unrecognizable world that did not exist six years ago.

To ponder the question is to ponder Nebraska’s potential extinction as a serious national program.

The Mother of All Offseasons

For 2026, Rhule will be on his third defensive coordinator with new offensive and defensive line coaches. The quarterback situation is in flux, as are most other positions. This season, Nebraska was fully exposed for not being physical or mentally tough, and for being too slow. There was not enough speed, and the interior lines were liabilities.

Of course, the portal giveth and taketh. Rhule and Nebraska have made it clear that they have the NIL bankroll for a potentially quick fix. That is fine, but until Rhule sticks with a coherent philosophy, it won’t matter.

When Rhule arrived, he vowed that Nebraska would be tough and lumbering, the type of team necessary for success in the Big Ten.

And while Husker Nation longingly looks at Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers as an example of what is possible, they may first want to start with the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Illinois Fighting Illini instead.

While Cignetti was able to import his best players from James Madison to Indiana, that was not the case with PJ Fleck at Minnesota and Bret Bielema at Illinois. 

Fleck and Bielema took over programs that lacked large fan bases and passion for college football. Minnesota and Illinois lack Nebraska’s football infrastructure and financial commitment, let alone its historic legacy.

Yet Minnesota and Illinois win consistently and don’t embarrass themselves in bowl games. Both programs are developmental, tough, and physical. They are everything that Rhule vowed for Nebraska.

As the offseason begins, Nebraska fans are justified in asking, “Why can’t we, with the most passionate fans in college football, a loaded NIL bankroll and facilities that are second to none, win as much as Minnesota and Illinois?”

Yes, indeed, why is that?