Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule Taking a Different Path than Indiana’s Curt Cignetti

What Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti has accomplished in two-plus years is the stuff of myth, legend, and Disney movies.

Cignetti's success is unprecedented and might never be duplicated. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule — and most college football coaches — live with the expectations that Cignetti has wrought. Maybe Cignetti is just the new Nick Saban and his methods are to coach the heck out of good players.

Rhule, and others, probably can’t match Cignetti’s remarkable early triumphs.

Few will come close.

Rhule’s path seems more old-school. He is coming off consecutive 7-6 seasons and this 5-0 start to the season seems to promise a better final record. Maybe there’s more than one way to achieve success if your name isn’t Curt Cignetti, whose Hoosiers will play Nebraska on Saturday (11 a.m. CT, FOX).

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule is 5-0 this season with hopes of improving on the past two 7-6 seasons. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Advantage, Huskers

Rhule had so many more built-in advantages than Cignetti when the Hoosiers hired him on Nov. 30, 2023. None of Rhule’s advantages guarantee the kind of success that Cignetti enjoys. But it’s a start. High-quality infrastructure is a solid launching point for football achievement.

Necessary, really.

The rest is on Rhule. Nebraska has high expectations, a return to the glory years. Ultimately, that falls onto the head coach.

Nebraska has new training facilities, having spent $155 million on a 350,000-square-foot North Expansion Project, which includes a new strength complex, locker room, football offices and training table. That opened in 2023. In April, Nebraska unveiled plans for a $600 million renovation of Memorial Stadium called the "Big Red Rebuild."

Memorial Stadium is one of the cathedrals of college football. Rhule constantly talks, with great pride, about the Memorial Stadium crowd and what it means to his team, his program and how impressive it looks, sounds and feels to recruits on game day.

Memorial Stadium provides a recruiting boost for Nebraska and coach Matt Rhule. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“I thought they were awesome … Our crowd was loud, they were active,” Rhule said at a news conference after the Huskers defeated Maryland, 48-23, on Saturday. “We had a great crowd, our student section …

“Credit to our people. It’s homecoming here. It’s been raining you know. It was a beautiful day and people came out to the game like they always do here.

“I’m so proud to show our recruits … We had some big-time recruits here today. We walk out on the field and say show me this week in and week out somewhere else. Not very many places.

“So, we got a great thing. Thankfully we were able to get the win for everybody so we’re going to have a good time tonight.”

Recruiting rankings

Current recruiting rankings by ESPN show Indiana coming in 27th for the Class of 2027. Nebraska is ranked 16th. Rhule is making inroads. In the new world order of the transfer portal, building through recruiting is considered somewhat old-school.

For the Class of 2022, before Cignetti, Indiana ranked 55th in recruiting by 247 Sports.

So often, when kids sign with a school, they talk about the relationships they have built with the coaches. Time after time, that’s the story. It’s that way at Nebraska, too. Rhule stresses this approach. Truth is, players make recruiting decisions based on varying factors. A kid can turn down a school because his third steak at dinner was tough.

What Rhule has done with the portal is measured strikes, landing players he hopes will provide immediate impact and to shore up weaknesses. Quarterback Anthony Colandrea is the prime example of that, but the offensive line also has been improved through the portal as has the defense, led by transfer linebacker Owen Chambliss.

Nebraska wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer celebrates after a first down against Maryland during the second quarter. — Nebraska wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer celebrates after a first down against Maryland during the second quarter at Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer had 11 catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns against Maryland. He has 29 catches for 387 yards and six touchdowns on the season. He transferred this year from UCLA. He is the Huskers' leading receiver this season.

That’s how the portal works the best — good players making good plays.

Nebraska’s history

Nebraska has an enviable heritage. The Huskers have won five national championships. The last national title was in 1997, when today’s potential recruits hadn’t been born. To them, 1997 is ancient history. Do those national titles matter to today’s potential recruits? They should.

Atop Memorial Stadium is a reminder of the national titles. That’s important and gives Nebraska cachet in the sport, even if the kids weren’t alive to see it. Heck, current recruits' parents might not have been alive when Bob Devaney won national titles in 1970 and 1971.

Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch won the Heisman Trophy in 2001, the third Heisman win for the Huskers. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Same with the Heisman Trophy. Nebraska players have won three Heismans, the last being Eric Crouch in 2001. Again, today’s athletes weren’t even born when Crouch won. They might not know about Johnny Rodgers (Heisman in 1972) or Mike Rozier (Heisman in 1983).

But Rhule can sell the Heismans, just like he can sell the national titles. He can sell the consecutive home sellout streak record that goes beyond 400 games.

That rich history might not be the main selling point, but it’s a legacy not many programs can match.

Did Cignetti hurt expectations elsewhere?

Maybe what Cignetti pulled off at Indiana has poisoned the well for college administrators who wonder why their school can’t win a national championship, too.

Heck if Indiana, of all places, did it …

Nebraska ranks ninth in all-time wins with 929. When Cignetti took over Indiana, the Hoosiers were the program with the most losses in college football history, 715 — since surpassed by Northwestern with 718.

Indiana coach Bob Knight talks to his team in the locker room during the 1976 NCAA Final Four. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

In sports, Indiana was known for basketball and volatile Bob Knight — his three national titles and legendary temper. Indiana is great at men’s soccer and swimming and diving, but those sports just don’t register far beyond Bloomington or their devoted fans.

They aren’t football or basketball.

Cignetti came from FCS James Madison, where he was 19-4 in two seasons. He came in with a bluster of confidence, claiming the title of being a winner. He was undeterred by Indiana’s lack of football success. His simple philosophy: He had been a winner, so Indiana will be a winner under his watch.

That does not appear to be Matt Rhule’s style. He appears more measured when he talks, without bluster or being a braggart.

This is Cignetti’s third season at Indiana. He is 32-2, with two College Football Playoff appearances, one national title, a 5-0 record this season and a No. 7 AP poll ranking.

Success breeds success, as they say. Indiana is riding a 21-game winning streak. Indiana had a program-record eight players drafted into the NFL this spring.

“That’s what Curt did a great job of,” Northwestern coach David Braun said after his Wildcats nearly defeated Indiana two weeks ago, as reported by Sports Illustrated. “He came in and said, ‘No, we’re not messing around. We’re going to evaluate everything that touches our football program.’ They’ve not only approached it that way, but they’ve executed.”

Indiana reportedly spends in the $30-$40 million range on NIL. Nebraska reportedly spent $23.7 million in 2026, ninth in the Big Ten, according to NIL Standard.

That’s a potentially significant gap.

Maybe Nebraska’s financial shortfall is overcome with a stronger and focused recruiting class and strategic portal additions. The money means plenty when it comes to player retention, however. According to 247Sports, Nebraska lost 17 players to the portal in 2026, and brought in 17 players.

That sounds like a wash, which is what college programs likely can expect nowadays. But programs can lose players to the portal they didn't want to lose because of money.

All of this background makes Saturday’s game even more interesting than two 5-0 teams battling on national television. Maybe it’s the clash of two cultures, too. One led by a coach who has enjoyed unheard-of success, a comet that flashes across the college football landscape once in forever. And the other guy trying to get there.

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