What Was Year 3 Like For Matt Rhule at Temple and Baylor?

Husker head coach Matt Rhule has brought expectations of a breakout season for the Huskers this season.

Why?

Because at his other two college football head coaching stops at Temple and Baylor, his teams improved by four wins over Year 2. (The Huskers ended last year 7-6 for its first winning season since 2016.)

Let's take a look at Year 3 for Temple and Baylor.

The Temple Owls in 2015
Matt Rhule began his third season at Temple in 2015. The Owls were coming off a 6-6 record the previous year which was up from 2-10 in 2013.

The Owls went 7-0 to start the 2015 season, including a 20-7 win over Rhule's alma mater Penn State. The Lions would end the year at 7-6. The Owls' first loss that year was to Notre Dame (20-24). The Irish would finish the season at 10-3.

Temple finished 2015 with a 10-4 record. It's worth noting that prior to 2015, Temple had had only one 10 win season in program history.

Things to know about Year 3 at Temple
1.) Owls began at 7-0
2.) Their most notable win was over Penn State (27-10).
3.) Rhule made only two coaching changes from 2014 One of them was current Husker QB coach Glenn Thomas.
6.) Temple was 2-1 in one possession games, beating Cincinnati 34-26 and UMass 25-23 and losing to Notre Dame.
7.) Temple ended the season with a 17-32 loss to Toledo in the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl.
8.) Toledo finished the season 10-2.
8.) A year later, Matt Rhule would leave Temple for the job at Baylor University.

The Baylor Bears in 2019
The previous year (2018) Baylor went 7-6. That was a big improvement over the 1-11 record posted in 2017.

Rhule had a lot of talent coming back in 2019. Expectations were high for an even better season.

The Bears didn't disappoint. Baylor went 9-0 to start the year. Their first loss wasn't until the 10th game when 7th ranked Oklahoma came to Waco and edged Baylor 34-31.

After the loss to the Sooners, Baylor beat Texas 24-10 in Waco. The Longhorns would end the season at 8-5, The Bears had a rematch with Oklahoma in the Big 12 conference championship later that year, losing to OU 23-30. The season ended with a 14-26 loss to Georgia (11-2) in the Ceasar's Pizza Bowl.

Baylor finished 2019 with an 11-3 record and a #13 AP ranking.

Things to know about Year 3 at Baylor
1.) Baylor had only two wins over teams that finished with a winning record that year: Iowa State (7-6) and Texas (8-5).
2.) BU beat only one ranked team: #25 Texas.
3.) The win rate for the Bears first nine opponents was 40%.
4.) The Bears went 2-2 to end the season.
5.) Baylor was 5-2 in one possession games.
6.) Rhule replaced 7 assistants from 2018. (Does that sound familiar, Husker fans?)
7.) Going from 11 losses in 2017 to 11 wins in 2019 was the first time a Power Five Conference team improved by 11 wins in two years or less.
8.) The Bears posted some impressive offensive numbers: Average points scored (33.6), rushing yardage (2,330 and 35 TDs) and passing yards (3,571 with 24 TDs).
9.) Rhule was named Big 12 Coach of the Year.
10.) Right after the season ended, he left Baylor for the NFL Carolina Panthers.

Rhule's Mojo
So what do the turnarounds at Temple and Baylor mean for Y 3 at Nebraska?
Will NU make a big leap forward this fall?
Great question.

I think so. Having said that, the Big Ten isn't the AAC or even the Big 12. Can Rhule's magic work in the Big Ten?

First of all, I believe Matt Rhule is the right man for the job at Nebraska. He's been rebuilding the Husker football program since he got here. He's rebuilt the Huskers by blending a mixture of high school recruits with some proven transfers.

But Rhule is still in a learning mode in his coaching career. I say that because of what Rhule hasn't done in his career. He's never won a national title or even a conference title. His teams have never beaten a Top Ten team and is 2-25 vs ranked teams.

In short, he hasn't done it. If that sounds like a dig at Rhule, it's not. The man still has a lot to prove in his college football career. That's why I think he'll do that at Nebraska. He's hungry. He wants more.

You may email me at HuskerDan@cox.net.