In November of 2020, Matt Rhule gave a speech to the American Football Coaches Association during which he laid out five keys to winning football. The list is as follows: 1) Don’t beat ourselves. 2) Make special teams special. 3) Dominate the trenches. 4) Win the toxic battle (i.e. turnovers and explosive plays). 5) Great at situational football. After two years with Rhule as the head man in Lincoln, there is probably a whole series of articles (or at least a podcast episode) that could be done to assess how much progress Nebraska has or hasn’t made in each of those categories. But today I want to focus on special teams, which has been anything but special since Rhule’s arrival in Lincoln.
Make sure to catch up on our other articles from this week, where we took a look at the big picture challenges Rhule faces as college football becomes more complex than ever, as well as the state of Nebraska’s offense and defense at the outset of a pivotal offseason. It’s never too early to start focusing on next season, fellow Common Fans. As we say on the Common Fan Podcast, all Husker football, all the time.
The Third Phase. During the 2024 season, you could argue special teams cost Nebraska at least two games. The Huskers missed a field goal with roughly three minutes left in the game against Illinois, which would have given them the lead and the opportunity to avoid overtime (where things rapidly fell apart). And we all know what happened against Iowa. A missed field goal early in the 2nd half, and a muffed punt return that gave the Hawkeyes the ball in the red zone and ultimately led to a field goal were pretty much the difference in the game.
Husker fans have seen this movie all too often going back over multiple coaching staffs. The 2021 game against Michigan State comes to mind, when a veteran Nebraska defense completely bottled up Kenneth Walker III and the Spartan offense, only to see Nebraska’s special teams give up a punt return touchdown and ultimately lose the game in overtime. The entire 2019 season was also an adventure, when the Big Red didn’t seem to have an answer at kicker going into the season, and at one point held open tryouts for anyone on campus to try for the job. That sounds more like something out of a bad movie than what you would expect from a college football blue blood.
Special teams failures are particularly maddening because generations of Nebraska fans grew up watching well coached, disciplined teams under Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. Even for many years after TO’s retirement, special teams play was often very good, almost always at least serviceable, and rarely a liability. It’s something high school teams do well when they devote enough time to it, but unfortunately for Nebraska, it has been the difference in more close losses than Husker fans care to count.
Mind Boggling Ineptitude. In 2024, the Big Red made just over 61% of their field goal attempts, which put them at 120th in the nation. In 2023, that number was exactly 60%, good for 119th nationally. The Huskers were DEAD LAST in the country when it came to blocked punts allowed in 2024, one of only two teams to give up four blocks. They were SECOND-TO-LAST in blocked kicks allowed with seven. I mean, what????
Let’s be clear: this was a system-wide failure. Some of the missed field goals (maybe even the majority?) were the result of bad snaps or bad holds, and not the kicker’s fault at all. Beyond the problems with the punt and kicking games, it didn’t look much better when it came to returning kicks. On the punt return side of things, all too often the Husker return man would fair catch the ball when he should have let it go, or let it go when he should have fair caught it. And forget about attempting to actually return a punt for positive yardage; at some point in the season it seemed like Nebraska abandoned that effort altogether. The Huskers were more aggressive when it came to attempting to return kickoffs. The only problem was, most of the time the returner would be tackled short of the 25 yard line, which is where we could have gotten the ball automatically by simply fair catching the kick.
Husker fans know the story. I don’t need to belabor the point. And I suppose, in the interest of fairness, we should add that there were a few successes this season. The improvement of place kicker John Hohl over the course of the season is a reason for optimism going into 2025. Additionally, the Huskers successfully executed two fake punts, one against Rutgers and one in the bowl game, both of which went for 1st downs and extended drives. Nebraska also blocked two field goals on the season, which is something we hadn’t seen much of before Rhule arrived.
All of that said, I just can’t bring myself to give the unit much credit. The overall performance was not good, it absolutely cost Nebraska wins, and it has to be better moving forward. Thankfully, Matt Rhule knows that much better than me or anyone else.
Where Do We Go From Here? Rhule said after the bowl game that Nebraska needs “a complete and total overhaul” on special teams. That’s music to Husker fans’ ears, but I have to get one thing off my chest. Special teams wasn’t great in Rhule’s first year; how was it not better in Year 2? Not only did none of the issues from 2023 get addressed, the unit actually got worse in 2024!
OK, forgive me for venting. We on the Common Fan Podcast are big believers in Rhule, and he is clearly committed to getting this fixed. As Robert Frost (no relation to Scott) famously said, the only way out is through.
Rhule is reportedly relieving special teams coordinator Ed Foley of his duties. Foley seems like a good guy, and by all accounts, he has done great work rebuilding Nebraska’s relationship with the high school programs in the state (side note: I love his social media posts from various small town Nebraska diners). Hopefully there’s still a role for him on the staff, but clearly a change was needed here.
Where does Rhule go for his next special teams coordinator? Two intriguing names come immediately to mind: Mike Ekeler and Bill Busch. Ekeler is currently the special teams coordinator at Tennessee, where the unit has thrived under his leadership. He previously coached at Nebraska (under Bo Pelini), and has also done stints at USC, Georgia, and in the NFL to name just a few. What’s more, he’s from David City, Nebraska! My Dad grew up on a farm just outside of that town, and I spent many happy days eating kolaches at my grandmother’s table in David City. Make the call, Matt.
Bill Busch also has an impressive resume. The Pender, Nebraska native has done three stints in Lincoln under three different coaching staffs. Aside from Nebraska, Busch has coached at Wisconsin, Ohio State, and was a member of the coaching staff for the 2019 national championship team at LSU. He’s been a special teams coordinator at multiple stops along the way. Busch was most recently a member of Scott Frost’s last staff (and was interim defensive coordinator after Frost was fired), and he hasn’t left Lincoln since. Could the fact that he already lives in Lincoln and is currently available be a factor here?
It seems Rhule has options, and I’m excited to see where the Huskers land with this hire. It’s a big one, and they need to get it right.
Overall Assessment. Nowhere to go but up.
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