How Matt Rhule has embraced Nebraska tradition to endure tough start
Matt Rhule had a task on his hands when he took on the rebuild at Nebraska. However, he is already starting to show signs of progress towards the future in Lincoln because of what he pulling out from their past.
HuskerOnline’s Steve Sipple spoke about Rhule’s approach during Sunday’s episode of ‘Andy Staples On3’. From what he has seen, Rhule, the 31st head coach in the history of the Cornhusker’s program, is going back into the archive to help his team in the present.
“Rhule really embraces the past here. Not only embraces it – he uses elements of it,” explained Sipple.
His biggest point as to how Rhule has done this is with the offense. There has been a shift from what they were wanting to run with Jeff Sims and what OC Marcus Satterfield is calling running now with Heinrich Haarberg. It has roots back to what they were using back from the mid-70s to the early 2000s and, as of late, it has been effective for the ‘Huskers.
“You were around when Nebraska was running pure option – down the line, traditional option during the Osborne years, during the Solich years. Now they’re doing it again,” said Sipple. “It wasn’t anything that the offensive coordinator, Marcus Satterfield, knew how to teach – he had to learn. He had to learn himself.”
“They run quite a bit of the option attack with Heinrich Haarberg. And, I mean, he’s 6’5, 220. When he turns the corner? It’s business time,” said Sipple. “He’s pretty good running that, he’s pretty good keeping the ball.”
Nebraska went from Sims to Haarberg after an 0-2 start. In that span, they scored 17 points per game and turned the ball over eight times overall. Since then, the offense is averaging 23 points in a 5-1 stretch with the only loss coming to Michigan.
Rhule has Nebraska right within the conversation in the Big Ten because of how they’ve played as of late. That’s because, from what Sipple has seen, the Cornhuskers are taking inspiration from their glory days in order to set themselves on a path into the next era of the program.
How Nebraska has a chance to win the Big Ten West, reach bowl eligibility
It might seem hard to believe but Nebraska has as good a chance as anyone to win the Big Ten West in Matt Rhule‘s inaugural season.
With four games remaining on the schedule, Steven Sipple of HuskersOnline wrote a column laying out their case. He joined On3‘s Andy Staples on Sunday to talk about that possibility even more and explained that the defense and a “manageable” schedule are big reasons why.
“If you’re in any division in any form of football and you have the best unit in the division? You probably are gonna be a contender. It’s either Nebraska or Iowa that has the best defense in the Big Ten West. You can make a strong case for Nebraska,” Sipple said. “The schedule? Everybody has a manageable schedule in the Big Ten, particularly the four teams in the race in the Big Ten West. But Nebraska’s is certainly manageable. It’s gonna be really close. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska? Really hard to pick.”
Even if they don’t get there, though, the Huskers appear well on their way to bowl eligibility for the first time since 2016. That alone should be a reason for fans to get excited about the future of the program.
“When you frame it up in the context of Nebraska since 2016? It would be a significant achievement for these guys,” Sipple said.