Matt Rhule confronts reality of NIL era for Nebraska Cornhuskers

Matt Rhule knows the Nebraska Cornhuskers have been making progress since he took over as head coach.

They went 5-7 in his first season (2023) and then immediately flipped that to 7-6 in each of the past two seasons.

They're not setting the college football world on fire, but they did play in a bowl in each of the past two seasons. Being bowl-eligible isn't the ultimate goal in Lincoln, but it's worth noting that before Rhule took the Huskers to the Pinestripe Bowl in 2024, they hadn't been to a bowl game in seven years.

How do Huskers plan to keep this thing rolling heading into year four of the Rhule era?

Nowadays, it's all about NIL, and Rhule recently admitted on the "Next Up with Adam Breneman" show that Nebraska was not all-in when he became the head coach in November of 2022.

“When we got here, it was certainly behind,” Rhule said (h/t On3). “Some great people. The Peed family opened up a collective, 1890, and have worked to get us to where we want to be."

Nebraska must compete in the NIL space in a stacked Big Ten

Rhule and the Huskers feel better about where they're at NIL-wise, but there's also a reality that Nebraska must face. They were behind the game a bit, and in the meantime, everyone else has also been stepping up money-wise.

Rhule brought up the Miami Hurricanes and Texas Longhorns as examples of blueblood programs, like Nebraska, that were dormant for a while before going all-in on NIL.

"If you want to play at that level — if you want to play at the CFP level — you have to invest CFP money," Rhule said.

Forget playing at the College Football Playoff level. Nebraska hasn't won the Big Ten in football since joining the conference in 2011. The Huskers last played in the Big Ten championship game back in 2012, and they lost that game to the Wisconsin Badgers, 70-31.

Before Rhule can talk CFP, he's got to talk Big Ten. It's no longer just about the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten, either. Indiana just won the CFP.

As Nebraska continues to dive into NIL, so does the rest of the conference, and that's Rhule's challenge as he heads into year four.

“As we invest more, so does the Ohio States, the Indianas, the Michigans," he explained. "We have to continue to chase that. We have to continue to chase the ways in which we can retain our best players and get the best players here.”