Has Matt Rhule’s Year 2 turnaround happened at Nebraska?

Welcome to the Hot Topic, a weekly feature that poses a key question about the Nebraska football team. On the “Life in the Red Podcast,” Luke Mullin and Amie Just will discuss a topic heading into that week’s game, and a transcription of the conversation will appear in the Journal Star’s Huskers section before gameday.

Amie: I think so. I do think though — and he’s talked about this before — what he inherited here is a much, much, much better than he inherited at Temple and lightyears better than what he inherited at Baylor, because he inherited one of the worst situations in college football history when he took over at Baylor.

Comparing the two, yeah, it’s kind of in the same realm but Nebraska’s in a much better spot. I do think that Nebraska’s on a trajectory once again for a Matt Rhule team to make a leap between year and year two.

Luke: Absolutely. I think that just comparing the 2023 Colorado game to this year’s game, it is just night and day. The defense was incredible last year; they’re incredible again this year and have gotten better in some aspects too. And the offense is completely transformed from last year too.

I just think the talent level in the program — not just the guys who are (always) out there on the field — we saw it the game against UTEP too with all the freshmen, the young players that they’ve been bringing up in the program, the way he’s transformed this roster has been super impressive.

And then there’s the guys, too, that were of course already on Nebraska that have just completely elevated your game. I think you’re looking pretty much everywhere on defense, every guy on that field that was there when Matt Rhule came on as head coach and this new coaching staff took over and Tony White had his new scheme, they’ve all improved.

That is just a testament to this entire coaching staff, and as we kind of look long-term, yes it’s not probably as dramatic as those other two places that he was at, but it’s the same thing.

Amie: Maybe it will be, though. The schedule plays a big factor into that too, right? Nebraska doesn’t have to play Michigan, though they are down a little bit this year, don’t have to play Penn State and that helps. One of the three horsemen, so to speak, that you do have is Ohio State but that’s after a nice stretch where in theory Nebraska can build some confidence and continue to move up in the polls because there are some teams that are having down years this year that are on Nebraska’s schedule. Maybe it is a big jump from last year to this year.

Luke: The way things are looking, it looks like there should be a significant win total increase there. It just shows that his process is still working; we’re in a different era of college football but still recruiting high school players and developing them for multiple season, that is still showing up.