Nebraska’s ‘here we go again’ problem; Satterfield stumbles

Welcome back to the Just Askin’ mailbag.

The premise is straightforward. You ask me some questions — or vent your frustrations — about Nebraska Athletics. Any sport. I attempt to answer them.

If you want your question included in the next edition of the mailbag, find me on Twitter/X at @Amie_Just or email me at ajust@journalstar.com.

Here’s the full quote from Matt Rhule’s press conference, for context:

“If I’m going to be completely honest, my battle since I’ve been here has been the ‘Here we go again,’ which predates us,” Rhule said Monday. “It’s like, ‘Oh. Here we go again.’”

I feel like if Nebraska football is going to get past that mentality, it will probably come from the youngins. It should come from the veterans. They’re the leaders, after all, but the freshmen are the only ones who haven’t experienced that.

I’m sure it’s incredibly frustrating for fans to hear. It’s incredibly frustrating for fans to see, too.

It’s mind-boggling. And, while Rhule may not admit it, I think there’s some credence to Jimari Butler’s postgame comment about a lack of confidence.

The question to the lone defensive representative on Saturday was, “What’d you guys struggle with today?”

Butler’s answer: “Confidence. At times a big play would happen and everybody’s heads were kinda down.”

That’s letting one bad play turn into two. Or more.

And yes, the issue predates Rhule. The quote that will forever be wedged in my brain comes from former offensive coordinator Mark Whipple.

“I don’t know if they really think we can win every game,” Whipple said in Oct. 2022 when Nebraska was somehow still in the hunt for the Big Ten West title. “We’re good enough, I think. OK, I’m no genius, but we could win seven games. We can win these games.”

Then, a follow-up comment from then-interim head coach Mickey Joseph.

“Look at it now. They hadn’t won a lot of games,” Joseph said that week. “So if you were on this team and you lost nine straight, would you think you can win every game? No. It’s human nature to doubt yourself.”

Between the 2020 season and this year’s Oklahoma game, Nebraska went 7-17 with a stretch of seven straight losses and nine straight losses to FBS teams. … With each loss, the confidence eroded. It’s not something that happened overnight, and it’s not something that can be built back up immediately, either.

Though, I didn’t foresee that we’d still be talking about this more than two years later.

I think baby steps have been made since then.

Nebraska didn’t back down from the Colorado game. The Huskers believed they could win that one and they slammed the door on the Buffaloes. But where did that team go? That’s the team that needs to show up every week.

Yeah, Marcus has to want this one back, based on the backlash. If he had simply said, “Better than we have now,” no one would have said anything other than maybe, “No duh.”

I think, though, that this stems from coaches not necessarily being the most driven by statistics. Some stats, like the turnover margin and the final score, obviously matter. But so many coaches are not in the weeds on statistics.

Either way, Tuesday’s presser was not Satterfield’s best. I think he’d even admit that, based on the traction he’s received from some of his answers.

Like the answer regarding the run game: “I have to commit to it. I’ve got to get in the mindset of you have to, in order to win in this league, establish the run game.”

I know fans are mad about that answer. I’ve read my inbox.

Yes. Nebraska needs to run the ball more. No duh. Yes. Nebraska’s run game is in rough shape, stats-wise. Nebraska’s rushing offense ranks No. 99 out of the 133 FBS teams with 127.1 yards rushing per game. The only Power 4 teams worse are Mississippi State, Maryland, UTEP, Cal, Oklahoma State, Duke, Oklahoma, NC State, Minnesota, TCU, Colorado, Florida State and UCLA. Not exactly the company you want to keep.

However, I’m not reading into Nebraska going away from the run game when it was down by 35-plus against Indiana. I’m also not going to read into the playcalling from the game’s opening drive, because obviously, that’s not what was scripted.

But in between then though? Suspect.

Again, I think this goes back to the lack of commitment to the run game. If Nebraska went whole-hog on the run, then maybe we’d see more of Heinrich Haarberg.

Nebraska needs more of Haarberg. The time for talking about this is over. It’s time to actually execute the plan with him.

He was on the field for only 10 snaps against Indiana — and some of that was in garbage time at quarterback. Granted, that was more than the last three games combined, but that bar is on the floor with one snap against Rutgers, three against Purdue and two against Illinois.

With those 10 snaps against Indiana, he was Nebraska’s leading rusher.

He needs to see the field more. Period. End of discussion.

But will Nebraska do it? Who the heck knows?

For those who missed it, No. 2 Nebraska volleyball pulled the black uniforms out of storage for its nationally televised sweep over Ohio State — something they haven’t done as a team since perhaps the COVID-altered spring 2021 season. (That’s not a readily accessible stat, so I went based on photos attached to match recaps. Additionally, Lexi Rodriguez wears black quite frequently as the libero, but not the entire team as a whole.)

The black Teraflex has been rolled out more recently, like in the 2022 season for several matches and for the spring match in Central City.

Why the black uniform revival? (Not just volleyball, but in many sports, like soccer earlier this season, too.) Well, quite frankly, former athletic director Trev Alberts didn’t like them. For any sport. He was a traditionalist in that way.

Selfishly, I hope we get a black uniform match on the black Teraflex. I like the look. It’s sleek. But, the options aren’t super great.

There are only three home weekends left of the regular season.

There’s this weekend against Illinois and Michigan. Those matches are on BTN+, so I doubt they would even consider rolling the black Teraflex out for that.

Then they’re home for the Nov. 14 weekend against Minnesota and Indiana. Both matches are on the Big Ten Network and are night matches, but is that when you do it?

Then they’re home the following weekend for a one-match weekend against Wisconsin on Nov. 23 on the Big Ten Network. If they’re going to do it, I feel like it would be this one. But I’ll believe it when I see it.

Either way, I’m glad the black uniforms are back. I hope Nebraska continues to keep them in the rotation.

Now, is football next? I feel like Matt Rhule is the type of guy who believes that the Huskers need to earn the right to wear an alternate uniform. So, probably not yet.