Matt Rhule and Nebraska Are Not Back Yet
It was another fantastic College Football weekend. Week four is in the books. There has been a lot of talk coming out of Clemson, Rutgers, and Nebraska this season. However, some of these schools aren’t living up to the hype on the field.
As discussed a couple of weeks ago, the Clemson Tigers under Dabo Swinney are exactly who we thought they were, to quote the late great Dennis Green. Clemson fell to 0-2 inside the ACC and 1-3 on the season as their playoff hopes hang by a thread.
But another team that has high expectations this season is the Nebraska Cornhuskers under head coach Matt Rhule. Similar to Swinney, who opened his mouth about “if they want me gone, if they’re tired of winning, they can send me on their way,” Rhule has talked about the Big Ten deserving more teams in the College Football Playoff, but has again demonstrated that his team isn’t ready for the big stage.
Nebraska is now 0-29 in its last 29 games against ranked opponents. They haven’t beaten a ranked team since 2016. Matt Rhule is 0-6 against ranked opponents since arriving at Nebraska. He is 2-23 versus ranked opponents as a coach. The Cornhuskers, who started off the season 3-0, lost to 21-ranked Michigan on Saturday without head coach Sherrone Moore, who was suspended for two games.
While Rhule ended Nebraska’s decade-long bowl drought, it's hard to imagine it was a decade-long drought with 5-7 teams making bowl games; they won the Pinstripe Bowl over Boston College.
However, Nebraska isn’t the dominant program it was in the Big 12 (Big 8) years ago. The move to the Big Ten has not been good for the program. For the most part, they are near the bottom of the conference, not even sniffing a playoff spot.
And Rhule talks a good game, having experience in the NFL and in college, with Baylor, but again, this was a chance for a statement win against a quality opponent, and the Cornhuskers came up short.
With Dylan Riola at quarterback, who looks and plays like Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, there was a chance for the Cornhuskers to run the table and potentially go to the B10 Title game. And that door is still open. Nebraska avoid Ohio St and Oregon this season, but does have to play Penn State.
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Most of their B10 schedule is winnable, but they have to execute on the field. Defensively, there were breakdowns to allow Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood and Justice Haynes and that running game got things going down the field with over 300 rushing yards. Good teams in the conference know how to lock it down defensively.
While Matt Rhule is saying all the right things about how the players can’t have a loser mentality, that we are only a couple of plays away, he acknowledged that he has to be better as a coach. There were too many errors on Nebraska’s part to let this game on Saturday slip away.
Yes, the Wolverines are still one of the better teams in the conference; this isn’t Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan team we are talking about here, where they were dominating the scoreboard. Michigan has taken a step back, and while they are still a good team, this was a winnable game for the Cornhuskers at home, and they let one get away in the conference.
Games are won and lost in the trenches, but they are also lost when the coach opens his mouth. You can’t say you deserve to be in the College Football Playoff, but then have that performance.
“So the more spots, the better. We’re playing in a really, really tough league," Rhule said in the preseason. "We’re playing really, really good teams. And you know what? If you play in this league you deserve a chance to get to the postseason and see what you can do.”
Let's see how things turn around for the Nebraska Cornhuskers because right now, they are not near the top of the conference. Until they can prove they can win big games, Rhule needs to focus on the field because a loss like this one has the potential to carry over.
Other Observations:
Are the Miami Hurricanes Back? How many times will you hear that saying? Miami is up to number 2 in the latest poll, but while they got the win against Florida, Carson Beck looked average. The defense did step up when it needed to, but they kept the Gators around longer than they should have been in the game.
The Oregon Ducks are the best team in the Big Ten until proven otherwise. While they are ranked 6th in the AP Top 25 poll, the Ducks continue to show their dominance on the field, led by Dante Moore. The big matchup against Penn State happens this week. Now the Football Season in Happy Valley finally begins, let's see what the Nittany Lions can do to stop this high-powered offence.
Arch Manning finally heard the cheers from the Texas crowd. There would be an issue if he didn’t put up five touchdowns against Sam Houston State. He looked in command of the offense as Steve Sarkisian opened up the playbook for Arch Manning. It’s a championship-level defence in Texas, and if they can put it together, watch out in Austin.
Curt Cignetti and Indiana look better than they did last year. He has his squad rolling against the 9th-ranked, now 23rd, Fighting Illini of Illinois. The 19th-ranked Hoosiers at the time, now 11th, dropped 63 on Illinois, led by QB Fernando Mendoza with five touchdowns. Remember, just Google Him.
Let’s talk about Georgia Tech. A big win over Clemson, then follows it up with a win over Temple, which could have been a trap game. They have a chance to compete for the ACC Title.
Texas Tech is off to a 4-0 start in the Big 12 and looks strong against a good Utah team. Backup QB Will Hammond put together four scoring drives for the Red Raiders. They could be the best team in the Big 12 this season.
It's time to talk about USC and their defence again. Up 31-10 at one point, Michigan State came back to lose 45-31. Lincoln Riley continues to have a defensive issue with the Trojans, no pun intended. This needed to be a rout, and it ended up closer than it should have been.
Greg Schiano at Rutgers lost another big game for the Scarlet Knights. Any time Rutgers has a shot for a statement win, they fall short. There was no reason to fall to Iowa up 21-14. Defensively and poor play calling led to the loss.