Matt Rhule always understood the assignment. When Rhule became Nebraska’s head football coach in November 2022, his vision and expectations had to go beyond the next practice and the next game.
His focus absolutely had to be on the next practice and the next game. But his big picture had to be greater. It had to be more expansive — no matter how important the next game was, and each game was vitally important.
Rhule believed his mission wasn’t just to bring winning back to Nebraska. The winning-now part was a given. Rhule believed with winning came something more treasured. He knew the bigger goal had to be respect.
The Huskers wanted popularity, sure, and approval. But a restoration of the Nebraska program and the brand was the ultimate goal. That was always the plan.
Nebraska wasn’t just part of the national conversation in the 1990s. Nebraska was the national conversation with three national championships (one shared with Michigan) in four years from 1994 to 1997.
Nebraska football was fearless. Opponents dreaded playing the Huskers. Nebraska football was relentless, physical and dominant. The 1990s Huskers remind some of the current Ohio State Buckeyes, although OSU does it a little differently, with a little more flash.
But just as today’s Buckeyes are consistently dominant and their excellence is expected, so were those Cornhuskers. And remember, for as great as Ohio State has been, the Buckeyes haven’t even won a Big Ten championship since 2020.
“If you go back to my first year at the press conference … at Big Ten Media Days … I said something like: We have to learn to get people to respect Husker football again,” Rhule said at a news conference Monday.
Here’s what Rhule said at Big Ten Media Days in July 2023, before he coached his first Nebraska game, according to a huskers.com transcript:
“I think there’s something bigger for us at Nebraska. There was a time when Nebraska football was feared, and we certainly want to get back to that.
”We want to be a team that you say, you know what, that team’s feared. But we’re not at that point yet. We’re at a point where I believe we have to take back the respect of what it means to play Nebraska and to be at Nebraska.
“I want people to respect when they see that white helmet with that red N on it. I want our fans to respect us when they pay their money to come watch us to play. And I want our opponents to respect us. And I want all of college football to respect the way Nebraska plays the game.
“And most importantly I want our players to respect what it means to be a Cornhusker and playing at Nebraska. This season for me is all about us, not just earning, but taking back respect and bringing back respect to Nebraska football.
“Once you earn respect then you can talk about being feared. And that’s the process we’re going to go through.”
That’s what Rhule understood in the summer of 2023. And it’s what he gets today.
The Huskers are in the grip of a strange, 6-3 season that could have been much more. They can finish the regular season anywhere from 6-6 to 9-3, and likely will finish somewhere in between.
Finishing on the top side of that record would have been easier before starting sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola suffered a season-ending broken fibula against USC on Saturday.
Two starting-quality offensive linemen, Gunnar Gottula and Teddy Prochazka, are injured and lost for the season, among other injuries.
That’s the nature of football. Teams sustain injuries. Good programs have depth; they have players in waiting, prepared. Some programs succeed despite injuries. That’s what makes Nebraska’s final three games so fascinating, to see how the Huskers react and compete with their leader sidelined.
That new journey starts at UCLA on Saturday night.
“I also think these next three games are some of the most important time for our team and for our program moving forward,” Rhule said at his Monday news conference. “A, this team, the guys that are here, they deserve to leave as winners.
“They have done everything that we’ve asked them to do, and B, we have to, on a national narrative, we have to become someone that people respect and it starts with ourselves.
“When we respect ourselves and don’t talk trash about ourselves and don’t go out there and not do things right, like when we do things at a high level and we show respect for our program and our future, then I think people nationally will.”
Plans and expectations are great until injuries and unexpected whatnot happens. The best-laid plans and all that. Raiola had started 22 consecutive Nebraska games — every one since he arrived in Lincoln. And now the Huskers move forward without him.
Rhule, in his third year with the Huskers, still is looking for his first signature victory. The Huskers haven’t beaten a ranked team since 2016, an unfathomable streak of 29 consecutive losses.
Break those streaks, and respect will begin to follow. ESPN will notice and so will others in the national media.
Nebraska played two ranked teams this season, two golden opportunities to begin the program’s restoration. The Huskers played No. 21 Michigan and No. 23 USC. The Huskers lost the two games by a total of seven points. They were competitive in both games and a bounce here or there could have changed the outcome.
That’s the nature of football, too.
“We’ve had a chance to play Michigan, we lost by 3 points. We had a chance to play USC, we lost by 4 points,” Rhule said at his news conference.
“We have to chase those 3 points and those 4 points, we have to get better, we have to continue to recruit, we have to lift and run and do all those things.”
Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi is quoted as having said: “Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.”
Maybe that’s Matt Rhule’s plan, too. Pursue excellence. Build, build, build. Win games, win big games. Win meaningful games. Run a clean program.
Do all of that, and do it consistently, and what the Huskers and their fans so desperately want will come their way. The Huskers won’t have to chase respect. Respect will come find them.
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