Matt Rhule answers if Nebraska has prepared itself enough for jump in competition

Matt Rhule answered if Nebraska prepared itself enough for a jump in competition and he was nearly left speechless. The Huskers coach had a logical answer that each game prepares the team for the next.

So far, Nebraska beat Cincinnati, Akron and Houston Christian, winning the last two games by a combined score of 127-7. The Huskers edged out the Bearcats 20-17 on the road to open the season.

But the question was posed to Rhule as this week being a step up in competition. Nebraska will host No. 21 Michigan at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in their Big Ten opener.

“I think that’s going to be more hindsight,” Rhule said. “I mean, I think Cincinnati’s going on to prove that they’re a pretty good football team, you know, just watching them I saw what (Brandon) Sorsby did, you know … I think the biggest thing is we’ve had three weeks of just preparation for those games, the games are really where you go, execute and compete. I mean, to me, it’s the work week leading up to it that makes your team better. And I think our guys have worked hard the last three weeks to prepare. 

“They’ve just been very mature about, hey, this is what we need to improve on each week. Right now, there’s not a guy who doesn’t know what we need to improve upon. And that’ll continue for the rest of the year, you know? So I don’t know if the games themselves say much. The other day, you’re not playing Big Ten teams. So, I mean now, now the Big Ten starts. This is a whole other animal, but I think our guys have worked.”

Michigan’s offensive line struggled in the Oklahoma loss a couple of weeks ago and was without two starters — graduate left guard Giovanni El-Hadi and junior right guard Brady Norton — during last week’s 63-3 victory over CMU. Nebraska’s defensive front appears to have taken a step back from a year ago, after losing key pieces, so the battle between the Husker D-line and Michigan’s O-line will be crucial.

“They’re an outstanding offensive line,” Rhule said of Michigan. “They’re big, they’re powerful, they’re athletic. They run all the runs. Any time your head coach is an offensive line coach, you probably put a lot of stock in that.

“This is an excellent, top-25 football team. They’re 2-1 because they played another top-10 football team, and they had a battle. It’ll be an unbelievable challenge. It’ll be a great challenge.”