Matt Rhule’s first season in Lincoln, trying to rebuild the Nebraska football program back into a national power, was filled with what-ifs. What if they could have stayed healthier? What if they didn’t turn the ball over at an alarming rate?
When the dust settled on the 2023 Big Ten season, the Huskers finished second to last in the West division at 3-6 in the Big Ten and 5-7 overall. Ahead of his second season, what did we learn from Rhule at Big Ten Media Days?
What Matt Rhule Said at Big Ten Media Days
On paper, they were a 5-7 football team. If you watched Husker football in 2023, they looked much better than a 5-7 squad most of the time.
Five of Nebraska’s seven losses were by one score or less, and four of those five were field goal games. Nebraska closed out the 2023 season on a four-game losing streak in which they lost by a combined 16 points.
There is a silver lining for Rhule and company.
Rhule is Very Confident in His 2024 Husker Football Team
Matt Rhule understands how to flip the culture inside a college football program. He has taken over programs twice in his career and reached new heights in very little time. Both overhauls featured a season in which his team took a massive jump and won double-digit games.
Before Matt Rhule took over as Temple’s head coach in 2013, the Owls had a winning rate of just over 61% over the previous four seasons. This Owls went 9-4 in 2009, 8-4 in 2010, 9-4 in 2011, and 4-7 in 2012.
Following a 2-10 season and 6-6 season in his first two years with Temple, Rhule led the Owls to a back-to-back 10-win seasons in ’15 and ’16. Then Rhule left for Baylor, a program in shambles.
In the summer of 2016, Baylor University underwent significant leadership changes due to ongoing sexual assault allegations against its football players. Head coach Art Briles was dismissed, and University President Ken Starr and Athletic Director Ian McCaw stepped down from their roles.
After one season of interim head coach Jim Grobe at the helm, Rhule took over the Baylor football program.
In his first season in Texas, Rhule led the Bears to a dismal 1-11 record. In year two, Baylor finished 7-6. In Year 3 came the jump.
Baylor would finish the 2019 season 11-3, ranked No. 13 in the final AP Poll.
At Big Ten Media Days, Rhule was asked if he felt that this team could make a similar jump to his previous programs. For Rhule, it all comes down to building and having confidence.
“I think you can tell when a team is ready to make the turn in their body language, in the way that they walk around the building. It’s just confidence. For young people nowadays, there’s nothing more than confidence. There’s such a fear of failure because everything’s evaluated,” Rhule explained.
Rhule continued that he is starting to see the confidence needed to turn close losses into close wins, which allows a program to make a significant jump.
“I think, when I walk through our locker rooms and I walk through our weight rooms and I walk out in the field, I see a confident team. I see a team that understands that games are going to come down to the final seconds. And the narrative about close losses, we’re going to turn that into close wins”, Rhule said to the field of reporters at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Rhule Sees a Silver Lining in the Rash of 2023 Injuries
In 2023, Nebraska lost three starting offensive linemen to season-ending injuries, while injuries for most of the season plagued two others. They also experienced various injuries to skill players on the offensive side, a theme that followed them for most of 2023.
When asked about the injury bug that hit Nebraska in 2023, Rhule pointed out a silver lining of players having the opportunity to step up and log some meaningful snaps early in their careers.
“One of the things that happened to us last year is a bunch of our receivers we were counting on early got hurt. Two of our tailbacks got hurt. A couple of our O-linemen got hurt. And in the midst of that adversity, I’m always looking for how do we get better?”
Rhule continued by talking specifically about the players who stepped in and how valuable that can be in their careers and to the depth of the roster as a whole.
“We put the Jaylen Lloyds in, the Malachi Colemans, young players, and by the end of the year, Jaylen and Malachi were good players. Now, in year two, those guys are a year older. Instead of redshirting, they now know what to expect. We have depth at receiver. We have depth in the running back room,” Rhule explained.
Now that those younger players have some profound experience coupled with the return of the injured players, Rhule expects the Husker offense to be much improved in 2024.
“So we have a deep receiver room, and we have a deep running back room. We have a veteran offensive line. And we have three quarterbacks that we know can play. I expect us to be great on defense, and I expect us to make a real jump on offense,” Rhule said.
Rhule Addressed the Biggest Issue of 2023: The Turnovers
In 2023, Nebraska football had its worst turnover margin since 2007. Nebraska finished 129 out of 130 teams in turnover margin with 31 turnovers to just 14 forced turnovers.
Rhule and his staff know it cost them multiple games in 2023, and he addressed how that can change moving forward. But first, he started by addressing how bad the Huskers were at giving and taking the ball away from opposing offenses in 2023.
“It’s a blemish,” Rhule said. “It’s nothing I’ve ever done before to be minus 17. We gave the ball away 31 times. We only took it away 14. Both sides have an onus, but to give the ball away 31 times, and our season would have been different had that not happened.”
Rhule touched on the bright side of winning five games while having such a dismal turnover margin.
“The great news is, when you look back at a season where you were almost — we were 5-7,” Rhule continued. “With two games left, we were still in the math to get to Indianapolis. And you have something that outrageous, you understand that, hey, if we just fix one or two things, we could be a really good team.”
“We don’t have to do an overhaul. We don’t have to fire a bunch of coaches. We don’t have to change the offense and defense. We really just have to win the turnover battle”, said Rhule.
He commented further on how you implement the mentality of protecting the football and forcing turnovers to his players.
“So we’re going to practice it, and we’re going to coach it. We’re going to allocate playing time based upon who protects the ball but also who takes it away,” Rhule explained.
For Rhule, it ultimately comes down to making plays and protecting the football.
“But I think the buy-in came from our players early on,” Rhule continued. “They recognize we need to do this because we have a really good football team. And you know what, if you turn the ball over three times, you’re probably going to have a close loss. Close losses at Nebraska are not an affliction.”
“We don’t need to get out a voodoo doll. We need to hold the ball properly and knock it out, make one more catch, have a little more confidence, go make one more play and win a couple games, and all of a sudden, we’ll be talking in a different tone.”
KEEP READING: Big Ten Power Rankings in 2024
College Football Network has you covered with the latest news and analysis, rankings, transfer portal information, top 10 returning players, the 2024 college football season schedule, and much more!