Matt Rhule addresses possibly playing spoiler to Big Ten's hopes for College Football Playoff: 'I care about no one else'

With a third loss last week, now being out of contention for the Big Ten Championship and for the College Football Playoff, Nebraska isn’t focused on the same aspirations as it was even three weeks ago. However, the Huskers’ continued focus on winning every time that they take the field could still have an impact on the CFP, namely for those still vying for a spot in the Big Ten.

Appearing on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Thursday, head coach Matt Rhule spoke on how there’s been a shift in mindset or on goals for the ‘Huskers after falling to 6-3. He said there hasn’t been because, regardless of what they can still accomplish postseason-wise, Nebraska is playing for more than just that still.

“Yeah, you know, one of the things I said this week in our press conference, and I mean it. Like, hey, if you want to be taken seriously nationally, if you want to, like – you know, we’re a two-loss team last week and we’re not in the Top 25 and other teams are,” Rhule said. “So, if you want to gain the respect of the country, then you need moments like this and you need to come through, you know. You need to go on the road, with a freshman quarterback, underdogs, everyone counting you out, everyone saying, ‘Well that was a good game last week,’ and so, you can just walk away and be disappointed, kind of write the season off. That would be pretty average.

“That would be like what we’ve kind of been like here for a long time. And so, to me, we have an unbelievable opportunity to kind of change the narrative, to begin to show tremendous respect for ourselves. And, once you respect yourself and start standing up for yourself, then people around you start to do it, the nationally you start to do it.”

Nebraska will play its final three games at UCLA, at Penn State, and against Iowa. That brought about the topic of the playoff again as, while the Bruins and the Nittany Lions have had their own down seasons, the Hawkeyes are in contention at No. 20 in the CFP Rankings as of Tuesday night. However, despite how good it’d be for the conference if they could get into the playoff too, Rhule isn’t bothered about the Cornhuskers playing spoiler, if need be, within the Big Ten.

“Yeah, I care about no one else other than us. I just want to win,” said Rhule. “I look forward to every game that we have a chance to play, and that’s kind of what I said before. Like, you know what, like, we’ve got to get Nebraska where, nationally, like, we are respected and not just kind of dismissed. And so, we have to win every game that we play.”

Nebraska, with nothing else to do as far as its playoff hopes, remains all in on this season, with three games to go to try for its best record, if it wins out, since 2016. That starts this weekend in Pasadena, with Rhule keeping everyone bought in up in Lincoln.

“I’ve told us, I’ve told everyone around us. Like, either you’re with us or you’re not. My goal this week as the head coach is to be the best coach I can be for these guys that bust their tails for me, make it all about our players, don’t make it about ourselves. And, I’m expecting the fans to show up, I’m expecting the people that support us and love us to do the same. And, this is a chance for ‘Husker Nation to rise up,” Rhule said. “And, you know what, it won’t get us in the CFP, you know what I mean? You know, we lost by three to Michigan, we lost by four (to USC). We’ll have to chase those in the offseason. But, right now, it’s time to stand up for ourselves and go fight for what we want.”