Matt Rhule clearly still bothered by Illinois loss

Normally, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule turns the page on Mondays.

His standard Monday media availabilities usually start with injury/personnel updates if there are any to give. There’s always thoughts on film review. He gives his reactions to the latest news or storylines of the week. There’s usually an anecdote from his playing days at Penn State or a previous coaching stop. And, as is customary, plenty of time is spent on Nebraska’s upcoming opponent.

Except, that isn’t exactly how Monday went.

It didn’t matter that Nebraska had the benefit of a longer view in the rearview after its loss to Illinois. It didn’t matter that Nebraska had another day over the weekend to chew on what happened.

Rhule was still clearly bothered by what happened against Illinois.

The overarching theme: Nebraska was not good enough — a phrase he said four variations of during his 36-minute availability. Nebraska was not disciplined enough — a word he said three times on Monday. Nebraska, especially in the second half, played too tight — a phrase he used five times on Monday.

He’s correct in that. The yards after contact? While I don’t have the precise number in front of me, that was a problem. None of the defensive linemen recording a sack? Uncharacteristic of this defense.

“The disappointing thing was — overtime was not nearly good enough. It was a debacle, right? But at the end of the day, it’s just a missed assignment,” Rhule said. “It’s not like we’re not good. That’s my message to our guys.”

The issues on Friday were a lot of small things. (And some officiating snafus against both teams, but we won’t go into that.)

The false start Gunnar Gottula had in overtime. That’s a small thing that changes things.

The overthrown would-be touchdown pass from Dylan Raiola to Luke Lindemeyer. That’s a small thing that changes things.

The slightly-off snap-hold-kick operation on the 39-yard field goal miss from John Hohl. That’s a small thing that changes things.

The simultaneous reception in the end zone between Isaiah Neyor and Torrie Cox Jr. turned into an Illinois interception. That’s a small thing that changes things.

The punt that sailed in the opposite direction that was intended, causing Nebraska to not only outkick its coverage but not be in the right position to bring Illinois’ Hank Beatty down until after he’d returned the ball 37 yards. That’s a small thing that changes things.

Or, more broadly, Illinois was 7-of-13 on third downs and 2-of-3 on fourth downs. If any of those were stops instead of conversions, that’s a small thing that changes things.

“The one thing that I have is, none of it was quite good enough, and we still had a chance to win the game,” Rhule said.

He continued later, “I played for Coach Paterno, and in games like this he’d be like, ‘Everybody settle down. We’ve just gotta make one more play. Just go make one more.’ That’s kind of how that game felt. The ball’s in our hands and we don’t just quite come out with it.”

If Nebraska had turned any of those aforementioned plays from miscues into highlights, the Huskers put themselves in a strong spot to win the game.

No false start on the first play of overtime? Nebraska doesn’t start behind the sticks and likely tries a shot play.

If Raiola’s pass to Lindenmeyer isn’t overthrown and is caught, that puts Nebraska up 31-24 with 2:59 to play.

If the snap-hold-kick operation is flawless, maybe Hohl’s 39-yard field goal splits the uprights and puts Nebraska up 27-24 with 2:59 to play.

If Neyor comes down with the ball rather than having Cox pick it off, that puts Nebraska up 17-10 with 7:57 remaining in the second quarter. The halftime score would have been 24-10 rather than 17-10.

If Beatty doesn’t return that punt for 37 yards, maybe Illinois doesn’t march down the field and score a touchdown with 1:55 to play in the third quarter. Maybe it’s just a field goal. Maybe it’s a turnover on downs.

“The biggest question, as a coach, is, everyone can tell me how we lost. You have to figure out why we lost,” Rhule said. “‘How did we lose?’ Well, we couldn’t get off the field on third down. We have up all these yards after contact. The question is, why? Where did this come from? That’s the secret sauce of fixing these things.

“To me, that comes from a lot of intimate, personal conversations with players and coaches. And that’s something (we’re) going to go through the whole week.”

One thing it could be? Playing tight in the second half.

Winning close games is not something Nebraska has experienced much of in recent years. Is it something subconscious that causes the rigidity? How do you get through that?

“Well, it’s a chicken and the egg. How do you learn to win if you’ve never really won?” Rhule said. “But our guys are winners, and that’s the biggest thing for me. Our guys do winning things. I want them to be themselves in these moments and stop worrying about all this other stuff and just go out and compete.”

Other thoughts

Brett Maher

Nebraska always uses its fraternity of elite alumni for teaching moments, but the Huskers have taken it a step further by hiring Brett Maher to assist on special teams.

Good. Who better to learn from? He’s done it all.

He’s an award-winning kicker. He’s an award-winning punter. He’s held for kickers. He had a 10-year career playing professional football and is still in good enough shape to not just tell Nebraska’s specialists how to punt and kick, but he can show them, too.

Regarding Hohl’s miss and Tristan Alvano’s injury, he’s been there too.

In 2021, Maher sustained a groin injury while he was warming up before a preseason game in August. He didn’t end up playing in an NFL game until November of that year.

In 2023, Maher had an uncharacteristically rough game where he missed four extra points. In a playoff game. Despite making 94.6% of his extra point attempts in his NFL career.

Again… Who better to learn from?