Matt Rhule lands contract bonus after win over Northwestern, becoming bowl eligible

Saturday’s win against Northwestern activated a bonus for Nebraska coach Matt Rhule, according to his contract. With the victory, the Cornhuskers reached six wins on the season and became bowl eligible, meaning Rhule will make an additional $150,000 this year.

That is in addition to the $8.5 million that Rhule made this year per the terms of his contract. Nebraska defeated the Wildcats by a score of 28-21 on Saturday to improve to 6-2 (3-2 Big Ten) this season.

This marks the second straight season that the Cornhuskers have qualified for a bowl game. Last year, they defeated Boston College by a score of 20-15 in the Pinstripe Bowl, marking their first bowl victory since 2015. Prior to that appearance, Nebraska had gone seven straight seasons without making a bowl game.

Rhule took over in 2023 and has since directed the Cornhuskers to an 18-15 record. With one more win this season, he will match his total from last year as the program has trended upward in every season he has been the coach.

Of course, Nebraska has its sights set much higher than making a bowl game in the long term, but given where the program was at when Rhule took over, this is an impressive accomplishment. The coach could also add a bonus of $200,000 if his team wins the Big Ten Championship or $250,000 for making the College Football Playoff.

Both of those possibilities seem like a longshot for this season, though technically still possible. If Nebraska manages to win the remainder of its regular season games, it would finish with 10 wins for the first time since 2012, which would certainly give them an outside shot at the CFP depending on how the rest of the chips fall.

Matt Rhule has had plenty of success at other programs, most notably leading Baylor to 11 wins and an appearance in the Sugar Bowl during the 2019 season. That led to a brief detour to the NFL, where he was the coach of the Carolina Panthers from 2020-22. Now he’s back in college and appears to be building toward something else special in Lincoln.

We’ll see exactly how far Nebraska can take it to close out this season, but the schedule looks manageable the remainder of the way. That begins with a matchup against USC at 7:30 p.m. ET next Saturday.