Matt Rhule 'Disappointed with the Result,' Isn't Settling for 'a Couple Plays Away' Narrative

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule wanted a different result Saturday, but he knows his team would have needed to play better in a few spots for that to have happened. On Monday, Rhule dived into the first third of the season, the loss to Michigan, what needs to be fixed going forward and more.

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule signals for an exta-point kick after the Huskers' Hail Mary touchdown at the end of the first half against Michigan. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

LINCOLN—Matt Rhule isn't beating around the bush on how he feels about how the Michigan game ended up.

"Obviously, disappointed with the result on Saturday," the Nebraska football coach said to open his Monday media availability. "I think it's really, really important for us right now as a coaching staff, and really a football program, is to have a very calculated response. Not to overreact, not to underreact, but just to be very disciplined in the way that we see things.

"What I've asked our guys not to do is not to settle for the narrative of we're just a couple plays away. That's a deadly, deadly thing when you start saying things like that."

Michigan Wolverines running back Jordan Marshall is tackled by Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive back Andrew Marshall and defensive back Rex Guthrie. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Nebraska did have chances to make a few plays in the fourth quarter in winning time. Michigan had three of its four third-down conversions on the final field goal drive to make the difference two possessions. The Huskers did respond with a touchdown drive, but a perfect onside kick was squandered by how the hands team went after the ball.

"You always have to make one more play than your opponent," Rhule said. "We had our opportunities. We didn't get it done."

In evaluating Saturday's loss, Rhule acknowledged that Michigan's three big touchdown runs can't be taken away from how the game unfolded, but for much of the game, the defense wasn't breaking.

"What's frustrating about it is it's really three big runs on offense," Rhule said. "They made the plays.

"Everybody can play better. We had so many chances to make more plays."

Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood runs against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

While Rhule said part of Saturday's loss was the fact that Michigan is one of the top teams in the conference, he also saw that his team didn't control the trenches when it was needed.

"We're also not overwhelming people," Rhule said. "We're gonna have to play better. We're gonna have to coach better. I don't want to minimize how good their backs are.

"I don't know that it's a major overhaul. I think we're doing sound things. I think it's making sure the right guys are doing the right things."

The Huskers were down 10 points twice on Saturday, battling back to give themseleves a chance twice.

"I love the progress that they've made," Rhule said. "We got down by 10, we fought back, got down by seven, we fought back. We fought back at the end of the game. Their mindset is where I want it to be."

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is hit by Michigan defensive lineman Enow Etta. The Wolverines had seven sacks and two quarterback hurries. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

One of the biggest issues for Nebraska on Saturday was pass protection. Dylan Raiola was sacked seven times and pressured or hurried on a number of other occasions.

"If we give Dylan time, not many people can cover us," Rhule said, adding how his team could have better protected its quarterback. "We didn't widen the pocket enough.

"From a football perspective, you want to have the width and depth of the pocket. The tackles set the width, your inside guys set the depth. For the most part, the depth was okay, but the width, the edge guys won versus our tackles too much."

Left tackle is one spot that remains up for grabs, even though the last few weeks have seen the starting spot held by Gunnar Gottula.

"This whole week, we're going to go back and look at those guys, Rhule said. "We'll have to see how the guys respond this week. We've been rotating a lot of guys at those positions and hoping that we would solidify and crystallize by the Big Ten.

"We'll have to see through this week and then go into next week hopefully with them, hopefully, hey, here's our best five guys, and let's go to war with those five guys, and the rest of the guys are backups and they'll go in as needed."

Getting ready for a play against Michigan are Nebraska offensive linemen, from left, Teddy Prochazka, Rocco Spindler, Justin Evans, and Hentry Lutovsky. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

As for Elijah Pritchett specifcally, Rhule said the Alabama transfer has been practicing better of late.

"There's a dependability and a focus level—I'm not talking about just him, talking about in general on the offensive line—that you need," Rhule said. "It's just hard to be in third-and-threes and go to third-and-eight.

I like Elijah a lot. I think he's got great physical talent. Sometimes players come to us because they have great, great physical talent, and our way of doing things, we hope, helps them play their best football. We're searching for that with him."

Another area that showed up as an issue through the first four games, including Saturday, was red zone offense.

"I think we've attached a lot of RPOs to them," Rhule said. "We haven't really hit on the RPOs. At the end of the game, we went to the last RPO to Heinrich (Haarberg) that we did on fourth-and-one. That one worked."

Nebraska defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri pursues Michigan's Bryce Underwood, who lost a fumble on the play. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Something that helps with the run game and finishing drives is having a solid run game. While Emmett Johnson is the No. 1 running back, nobody has solidified himself as the No. 2 guy.

"That was literally what my question was in the morning staff meeting," Rhule said. "We need more production out of that second spot."

As for the schedule this week, the team was off Monday but will practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then the coaching staff will be getting out and recruiting. Rhule said he has heard good things from recruits after Saturday, even with the end result.

"As disappointed as everybody is," Rhule began, "the word from recruits from that game on Saturday—just the atmosphere, the crowd, the experience, the energy, the intensity, the excitement—I think we had an amazing, amazing experience for those guys, and they had a lot of good things to say. I think they all see kind of where the program is trending."

Memorial Stadium holds the longest sellout streak in the nation at more than 400 consecutive games. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

You can watch the full media session from Monday below. Continue scrolling for more coverage.

Coverage

• Nebraska On SI | Rhule Decries 'Lazy' National Media Obsession with Raiola-Mahomes
• Husker247 | Who's ready to provide more backup reps to Emmett Johnson out of the bye
• Omaha World-Herald* | 'Better up front': Matt Rhule unpacks Nebraska's line play, No. 2 running back mystery
• Omaha World-Herald* | Nebraska football's redshirt conversations changing amid NCAA uncertainty
• Omaha World-Herald* | Matt Rhule determined to decide on Nebraska's No. 2 running back over bye week
• Husker247 | 3-minute drill: Rhule talks Michigan loss, bye week plan
• Husker247 | Rhule on the offense: Key questions to answer as the Huskers work to give Raiola more time
• HuskerOnline* | Rhule Report: Reflecting on Michigan, looking ahead to Nebraska's bye week
• HuskerOnline* | What we learned from Nebraska's bye week press conference
• Hastings Tribune* | Husker notes: Left tackle, backup running back positions put back into focus after loss to Michigan
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Nebraska Football 2025 Schedule

• Aug. 28 Nebraska 20, Cincinnati 17
• Sep. 6 Nebraska 68, Akron 0
• Sep. 13 Nebraska 59, Houston Christian 7
• Sep. 20 Michigan 30, Nebraska 27
• Oct. 4 vs. Michigan State 3 p.m. FS1
• Oct. 11 at Maryland TBA
• Oct. 17 (Friday) at Minnesota 7 p.m. FOX
• Oct. 25 vs. Northwestern TBA
• Nov. 1 vs. USC TBA
• Nov. 8 at UCLA TBA
• Nov. 22 at Penn State TBA
• Nov. 28 (Black Friday) vs. Iowa 11 a.m. CBS

Home games are bolded. All times central.

Have a question or comment for Kaleb? Send an email to kalebhenry.huskermax@gmail.com.

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