Matt Rhule at Big Ten Media Days appears confident Nebraska will make a bowl game in 2024

It was an off-hand remark in response to a question about his team’s collective GPA.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule mentioned that the Huskers have 20 college graduates on the team. Ten more will graduate in December, so “when we go to our bowl game, we’ll have 30 college graduates on our team.”

NU hasn’t played in a bowl game since 2016. Rhule’s implication that the streak will end this season was one aspect of a broader theme within his large podium session at Big Ten Media Days. Sunnier days are on the horizon for Nebraska. The team learned from a trying 2023 season and knows what it collectively needs to do to point the program back in the right direction.

“You can tell when a team is ready to make the turn in their body language, in the way that they walk around the building,” Rhule said. “It’s just confidence. For young people nowadays, there’s nothing more than confidence. There’s such a fear of failure because everything’s evaluated, and I think when I walk through our locker rooms and I walk through our weight rooms and walk out on the field, I see a confident team.”

Nebraska lost four games by one possession to end the regular season. Its ugly minus-17 turnover margin was a thorn in its side and a talking point in Indianapolis. Rhule sees a team that knows where its flaws lay, one with the solutions directly in front of it as he enters his second season in Lincoln.

“The guys are getting it done in the weight room,” Rhule said. “They’re getting it done in the classroom. Now we’ve got to get it done on Saturdays.”

Luke Mullin and Amie Just look back on the last few months of Husker athletics in the season finale of Life in the Red.

Photos: Sights from Day 1 of Big Ten football media days — July 23

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti speaks during an NCAA college football news conference at the Big Ten Conference media days at Lucas Oil Stadium, Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Darron Cummings