It's Okay To Ask Nebraska To Be More On Point Right Now

On this week's I-80 Football Show, Doug Lesmerises joined Josh Peterson for a look around college football, including the top of the sport with Ohio State and Indiana, the pressure on the Buckeyes in their 2025 game with the Wolverines, and so much more.

They also took a look at Nebraska and what Doug is thinking about the team coming off the brutal loss to USC.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of their discussion.

Josh: I wanted to ask you about the Matt Rhule extension. Doug, it's been so weird because for years, this place was like, “I want to get back to go into bowl games again. I want to win games that we used to lose all the time.” And then that happens. And yet everyone around here still just kind angry and not really having a good time.

One of my radio colleagues pointed it out two [or] three weeks ago; “I just don't think people are having fun. I don't think they like this team.” You know, you have an idea in the off season; hey, they could go 8-4, but then you have to actually watch them go 8-4, and you're like, “this kind of sucks” because you lost by 18 points to Minnesota.

So, I use that as a long backdrop to ask you, how did the extension land to you? I can't imagine you were surprised by it. And yet around here, there was that kind of that question of “did it have to be done? Do you have to offer extensions when a guy still has five years remaining on his contract?” What did you think of it all?

Doug: Unfortunately, it's the nature of the business and maybe someday we'll get out of that business where the agents of coaches run college football. But it happens in every sport, right? A 32-year-old guy in baseball signs a 10-year contract. And it's like, “is he going to be worth this money when he's 41?” It's like, well, that's not what it's about; we're signing him to a 10-year deal because we want to make sure he has four good years. And it's just the cost of doing business.

So it's like, do you want to lose Matt Rhule after what Nebraska has been through? No, probably not. You don't want to lose him. He’s a good coach. There's opportunity there. You're just starting to build something. So I guess it's the cost of doing business. And in the end, it's one of those things; all it does is make the buyout bigger at the end, if you don't like it. So he got an extension. “Well, now he's got this many years on his contract before he had this many years. And now he went back-to-back 2-10 [seasons] and we want to fire him, but oh, the extension, we can't!” That's not how it would be.

Lincoln Riley and Matt Rhule talk ahead of the game between USC and Nebraska on Nov. 1, 2025. — In his first game after signing an extension, Matt Rhule faced off against Lincoln Riley and USC. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

So it really doesn't matter. And it's one of those things; it's not your money. Whatever, it's Warren Buffett's money. I don't know whose money it is. They’re going to have to pay him off if it would ever become an issue. So I think it's fine. And I do think “let's build something” is good, but from afar, there's just some things still.

Because I picked Nebraska last week. I do a Sirius [XM] hit every Friday morning on their Big Ten show. I was like, oh man, all these close, middle-of-the-pack games in the Big Ten; the home team has won every single one of them, except Nebraska [vs.] Michigan. It's going to settle things down. We're going to get the real Nebraska this week. I'm not sure I trust USC on the road. This is the first day of the rest of your life. Matt Rhule and Nebraska; extension and ranked win ahead... Nope!

Okay, that seemed like an opportunity lost. Obviously, your quarterback gets hurt and I get it. But man, I'm sure you guys have been doing this 24 hours a day since it happened, but wouldn't that have been a great night to just come out and show the world what Nebraska football can be? And there's a little bit of an opportunity lost.

I will just say – I'm saying this as an outsider – Dylan Raiola developed this year, right? He’s better than he was last year, but I still watch that sometimes and I see a guy who just feels like maybe there's more in there. And if somebody just coached him a little harder. If you could just squeeze the “Baby Mahomes” stuff out of him a little bit and just increase your pocket awareness. And don’t dangle the ball as much.

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is sacked by USC. He would suffer a season-ending injury on the play. — Dylan Raiola's season ended on a sack against USC. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Patrick Mahomes can play that way because he's been doing it for 20 years, going back to high school. And he's the most uber-talented quarterback. Do you know how good and by the book you have to be to then be able to look that casual? It feels like Dylan Raiola has seized on the casualness of the way he plays quarterback sometimes, but there's no way that he can be as on point every single day as Patrick Mahomes has been to get to that point. And I put that on that Matt Rhule.

That program, whatever this is, the quarterback, the offensive coordinator, to the program, there's such talent in there. And it's just a young man who I just think [if you] coach that guy a little harder, there's something really there. Best of luck to Dylan Raiola in his recovery – you don't ever want to see something like that happen to any player, especially a supremely talented player like him – but even just like the way that pocket collapsed around him. Shouldn't Nebraska be beyond this? Should he should have thrown that ball away or felt the pressure coming from behind? Or you never let it happen to begin with. Be more on point.

It's okay to ask Nebraska just to be more on point right now. And if you're Matt Rhule, let's go. Let’s get all the ducks in a row. No more excuses, no more distractions. Dana Holgorsen’s in and you're not saying we have the wrong offensive coordinator, whatever this is like. Experiment time is over. It’s go time. And I thought go time could have started with the USC game. And instead, it feels like, no they're still grasping for something. And Matt Rhule, if you're going to be this guy, those conversations are over, right? There's no more, “well, I got to figure this out.” See your extension. See the commitment to all of this. No excuses. Let's go.

And I don't think this is unfair; if Cincinnati can do it, Nebraska can do it. What are we doing? This is now ridiculous. Can we get a ranked win? This is crazy. And so from afar, I found that to be a very, very disappointing Saturday.

Nebraska players run to the end zone to celebrate Andrew Marshall's interception against USC. — The atmosphere and opportunity lost for Nebraska made their loss against USC even harder to deal with. | Cory Edmondson, KFGE

Josh: I think Doug, you say all that and it almost just makes me think they have improved, Dylan Raiola has improved, but they're missing something. And I don't know if you totally put the finger on it, but I think you're right. Like maybe the casual nature in which you described Raiola, maybe that almost fits the program.

You know, people always wonder around here, and I'm guessing some Ohio State fans have wondered this over the years with the losses to Michigan; are they so pampered? Do they have so many things going for them that they lose the toughness, the edge? But in the 90s, they were always out ahead in terms of facilities and stuff. So I don't know, but they are loved around here and you do wonder is there's almost a casual nature to the way that in which they operate that can affect them in a negative capacity on Saturdays.

Doug: Yeah. He’s coaching millionaires in the NFL. He’s lifted programs up by their bootstraps at Temple and Baylor. I still think Alabama is kind of a puffed up fraud, but nobody coached their program harder than Nick Saban coached Alabama. And I was sort of preparing, after they lost to Florida State, Alabama's not coached as hard in the same way. And you saw there were Alabama players who were mad about the way guys were behaving on the sideline.

And so I don't think that means you have to be frowning while you raise the national championship trophy, the way that Nick Saban was his whole career, but if Nick Saban was the coach at Nebraska, would this conversation be 180 degrees? Would we be talking about the casual nature of Nick Saban's Nebraska? The casual nature of quarterback play? No.

So all you gotta do is be like the greatest coach of all time; problem solved. But that's what we're talking about. That idea. I'm sure I would imagine you and your folks have talked about this, but you're on with [Pat] McAfee and you have a podcast. And you have all this stuff and I am not sure that I really am that interested in you being a nice guy. I think maybe I'm interested in you being kind of a hard ass and maybe kind of a jerk at sometimes. And maybe it's time for jerk Matt to come out. And I'm not sure jerk Matt has a podcast and goes on McAfee.

Watch the entire interview below!

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