Matt Rhule wants complete and total overhaul of special teams

The good?

Nebraska won enough football games to qualify for a bowl game for the first time since 2016. Even more good? The Huskers beat Boston College 20-15 on Saturday in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in New York to mark the program’s first bowl win since 2015.

Clearly, there is positive momentum at Nebraska.

Now, the bad.

The bad was Nebraska’s poor special teams rearing its ugly head once again. Mistakes in the third phase of the game caused Nebraska to nearly lose its 20-2 lead late in the third quarter in stunning fashion.

First, BC blocked a John Hohl extra-point attempt after Nebraska’s second touchdown of the first half. The snap from Camden Witucki was fine, but holder Brian Buschini dropped the ball as Hohl was making his approach.

With the chaos in front of him, Hohl’s kick went low and was easily blocked by BC’s Max Tucker. Ashton McShane scooped it and scored 2 points from 87 yards.

Then in the fourth quarter, Buschini had a punt blocked after BC’s Victor Nelson split both Jason Maciejczak and Dylan Parrott, who were part of a three-man shield (Mason Goldman was the third member of the shield, but had his own Eagle to block).

And just like that, BC scored a touchdown one play later to make it a 20-15 Husker lead. The Eagles scored 13 points in under 2 minutes of game action.

The collective gulp from Husker fans was heard everywhere.

“It’s no secret. To be where we want to be next year, we have to be the same defensively, probably a little better in some areas,” Matt Rhule said after the game. “We have to really improve on offense, and I think we’re all seeing at times signs of what it’s going to look like. And then special teams, we need a complete and total overhaul of that. We have to be better at that. I always put those things on my shoulders, we’ll get it done. But it has not been good enough this year.”

There was also a moment where Nebraska tried a fake field goal, where Buschini, the holder, took the snap and tried running for a touchdown on BC’s 8-yard line. The play didn’t come close to working.

“The fake field goal, probably should have just dropped back and thrown it again,” Rhule said. “But we had the numbers there and the kid just made a good play.”

Ed Foley’s special teams haven’t performed up to the standard he and his boss, Rhule, constantly talk about. Both the field goal and punting units have struggled with snaps throughout the season.

Nebraska went to the transfer portal for help at long snapper and added New Hampshire’s Kevin Gallic.

“We’ve had snapping issues all year long. I think we’ve tried to already address that for next year,” Rhule said.

With Buschini playing his final season at Nebraska in 2024, the Huskers also added veteran transfer punter Jack McCallister, who started for Washington the past three seasons.

As Rhule always does, he tries to remember the positives, too.

In that regard, Rhule liked how the unit executed a fake punt pass vs. BC, where Buschini completed a pass to Isaac Gifford for a first down. That was Buschini’s second completion for a first down of the season.

“The fake punt was kind of a big call. A gutsy call that they’ve worked and executed,” Rhule said.