Matt Rhule rails on rankings, accuses some of just 'looking at the logos'

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule went on a bit of a rant on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday about the lack of respect the middle-tier teams in the Big Ten get in college football at large. He did so because he said someone had to speak up for them.
Railing on the rankings and pointing out that Penn State and Texas were the preseason beneficiaries of being big brand names, at the expense of other deserving schools, Rhule outlined his issue with things. Essentially, the middle-tier schools in the Big Ten are slept on, he said.
“I had to go back on Monday and put on the tape of Indiana–Oregon to see what Indiana did,” Rhule said. “They didn’t gimmick them. That’s a great football team with an excellent quarterback. Just give them their due. But we’re still, in college football, looking at the logos, looking at the perennial this, the last 10 that, instead of people actually watching the ball.”
To the Nebraska coach, many people who vote in the rankings must not be watching game tape. If they were, things like Cincinnati being ranked ahead of a Nebraska team it lost to wouldn’t be feasible.
Rhule thinks there’s a good deal of bias inherent that makes those kinds of things possible. He broke it down on the show.
“I think there’s a lot of partisanship throughout all that,” Rhule said. “Even like we beat Cincinnati and at the end they came back and made it a close game score-wise and they did an excellent job. I’m a big Cincinnati fan.
“But they’re voted ahead of us right now. And they’re voted ahead of us because for whatever reason people might see them on a Saturday. I would say this: Is anybody actually watching the film? Is anybody actually watching the tape?”
A lot doesn’t add up for Matt Rhule. He explained.
“I watch some teams that are ranked and I’m like, ‘That’s not a very good football team,'” he said. “I watch other teams and I say, ‘Man, that’s an excellent football team.'”
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Rhule thinks it’s particularly a problem in the Big Ten. Especially compared to the SEC, he sees the league’s middle-tier teams not getting as much respect.
“What we’ve done in the Big Ten is we have basically propped up a couple teams, and they’ve earned it,” Rhule said. “Ohio State‘s earned it, don’t get me wrong. But the propaganda machine hasn’t pushed the middle teams. The middle-tier teams, the Illinois. Even when Indiana got in last year and they deserved to get in it was kind of like, ‘Yeah, but…’ because they’ve been Indiana the last several years.””
He pointed to a counterexample in the SEC. Matt Rhule honed in on that to drive his point home.
“I mean, Lane Kiffin went to Ole Miss and that place took off,” he said. “What he’s done, they’ve taken off at Ole Miss. And we just say, ‘Ole Miss is a great team.’ They are a great team. But so is Illinois, so is Indiana, so are the teams in the Big Ten.
“I think the Big Ten and the SEC, personally, stand alone, and then the ACC, the Big 12, all great conferences. We should play each other, but when we play each other, the Big Ten and the SEC wins a lot. So I think the Big Ten has to help itself.”
Matt Rhule is doing his part to help the Big Ten get more recognition, top to bottom, he said. It’s why he’s so vocal.
“Part of me being out, doing things like this. We have to help ourselves get our names out there because, like, Nebraska’s a blueblood,” Rhule said. “We have to earn it. We’re not in that conversation. I’m not talking about us yet. Some of those other teams that have won eight, nine, 10 games, they’re kind of dismissed in the Big Ten, but they don’t deserve that. They’re better than that.”