Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports
Stukenholtz: Rhule Really Went There
You may have missed the biggest surprise from last Saturday.
It wasn’t that Nebraska lost 45-7 to second-ranked Michigan. The pregame consensus of most college football followers was pretty much spot on with a big Wolverine win. Perhaps the margin was 7-10 points wider than many score predictions, but this game went according to plan.
And it should have surprised few that sophomore Heinrich Haarberg earned his third straight start over junior Jeff Sims at quarterback. Sims has reportedly been less than 100% since his ankle injury he suffered against Colorado on September 9th. Haarberg had also only turned the ball over once in his two starts compared to Sims’ six in as many games. Opponents aside, it was conventional wisdom to stick with the underclassman.
Sure, maybe I was a bit taken aback as Joshua Fleeks streaked down the middle of the field for an out-of-nowhere 74-yard touchdown run late in the 4th quarter. Fleeks filled the role of Steve Kriewald vs Oklahoma circa 2004 (look it up, kids) in helping NU avoid their first shutout since 1996 and their first home shutout since 1968. But that wasn’t the most unexpected result of the game, either.
It wasn’t Michigan committing zero penalties or turnovers on the day.
It also wasn’t the Blackshirts giving up 249 rushing yards, though that number was a bit unexpected.
It wasn’t even that crazy TD catch from Michigan receiver Roman Wilson in the 1st quarter that he somehow caught around Isaac Gifford’s helmet.
The biggest surprise came after the game was over, when Matt Rhule said this to the Nebraska media:
“Everyone in Nebraska will find out about this team next Friday night. We’ll find out about me, find out about them, we’ll find out about all of us on Friday night. And that doesn’t mean winning and losing. If Illinois is better than us, so be it. …But we’ll see on Friday night – how excited we look, how much we’re flying around, what we look like. We’ll see.”
Wait…did he just say that?
Did he just publicly lay down the gauntlet at what could be the critical juncture of this season?
Most people probably didn’t even hear this quote at the tail end of the 14-minute postgame media session. Even those of you who did hear it may not have thought anything of it.
But it caught me off guard. I doubt I’m the only one.
I mean, I agree with Rhule. Wholeheartedly. This game against Illinois, on a short week, on the road, at 2-3, heading into the team’s bye week, will likely define Nebraska’s entire season. It will certainly set the narrative for a couple weeks.
Win, and you’re back to .500 with a real shot at making a bowl game for the first time since the Obama administration.
Lose, and it’s another step back, another opportunity squandered against a below average Big Ten West team, something we have all seen far too much of for far too long.
But he didn’t have to say it.
So why did he say it?
I believe I know, but we’ll get to that in a second. Maybe he thinks these Huskers got their pride kicked in a bit and he’s trying to motivate them. It’s also possible that Rhule is less than confident in their ability to light their own fire without a bit of public prodding. Or perhaps he sort of let it slip out unexpectedly, like how he wishes he’d never said Anthony Grant had a fumbling problem in fall camp.
What do I think? First, he knows that Michigan is going to do what they did to NU to 75% of their schedule. Just look at that team and their remaining opponents. They’ll start 9-0 before they face Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State to finish the regular season. Starting there, I think Rhule’s preconceived notions of how competitive his team is are still intact, regardless of the beatdown they just took. So that’s his starting point.
Then, Rhule states a fact, that we’ll all learn quite a bit about the 2023 Huskers based on how they look against the Fighting Illini. It’s true, we will.
There’s a sense of public accountability that Rhule likes, not only for himself but the players and coaching staff, too. By putting it out there for everyone to hear and discuss, it ratchets up the necessary focus and effort levels ever so slightly. And that could be the difference between defeating a Bret Bielema team – flawed as they are – and losing to one.
Rhule also calls himself out in the process. “We’ll find out about me,” he said. Why? Because he’s smart enough to know a little humility goes a long way in Lincoln, Nebraska. He already has a sense of this place, of how the people here react to certain personalities. Not only does he lump himself in with the team, but he also tells you to judge him based on this week’s performance. And not just any week; the destiny-defining contest of his first Husker team.
And, though this is not Rhule calling out Scott Frost explicitly, it is yet another subtle reference to the previous head coach who found it difficult to publicly accept blame when things went worse than expected. (I still haven’t figured out if he’s really the polar opposite of Frost and it’s coincidental that the things he says reflect that, or if it’s calculated because he studied and knows Frost’s flaws that well.)
Lastly, this sounds like confidence to me. It appears that Rhule is betting – figuratively, that is – that his guys will get it done. Why else would a first-year head coach with relatively low expectations for this season put himself out there like this when he doesn’t have to?
In saying what he said, Rhule is telling us that he thinks we’re going to see a winning team on Friday night. He believes he and his assistants have the talent, the complementary schemes, and the toughness to win these games against comparable competition.
Before I heard this quote, I wouldn’t have thought he had formed this opinion of his team. Having heard him deliver the message tells me he does have that confidence, that he expects to see his guys fly around, to look excited at another chance to play Husker football.
Remember, it’s the Big Ten West. Sure, Nebraska’s flawed. But so are the rest of them.
My belief is that there is a method to Rhule’s madness. His way with words is a skill he wields very purposefully. What he said about finding out who these Huskers are may have surprised me when I heard it, but now I see it was a clever take that struck the right tone for the moment. He probably thought of this parting shot well before he said it as he left the podium last Saturday:
“We’ll find out who we are on Friday night, so I hope everyone watches.”
