Matt Rhule updates health of Nebraska's roster after flu outbreak

Riding a four-game losing streak, things went from bad to worse for Nebraska ahead of Saturday’s contest against Wisconsin. A flu outbreak rocked the team, thinning the ranks before the pivotal Big Ten matchup.

Multiple players were ruled out of the contest, leaving Nebraska thin on depth in several spots, including the secondary.

“We had both flu and strep throat last week, so it was really kind of all hands on deck by our medical staff,” coach Matt Rhule explained. “We still have a couple guys that tapped out today. Not tapped out, like tapped out in the bad way, but because of strep throat. But they were mainly non-travel guys.”

The good news is the flu outbreak didn’t hit a ton of key players. And Nebraska managed well enough that it topped Wisconsin 44-25, securing bowl eligibility with a sixth win.

Still, it was a unique experience for Rhule dealing with the flu outbreak.

“Like Marques Buford… Ceyair Wright, if you could put a camera on me, I kept putting my arm around him the whole game, like, ‘I’ll give you tomorrow off, just get through this game, buddy,'” Rhule said. “Because he was playing corner, he was playing gunner, he was playing jammer on punt return. So he was just dying. Obviously him and Marquise Buford got back but they were just not feeling great. I think we’re much healthier this week.”

Now with bowl eligibility secured, the goal for Nebraska is to keep winning games. The team can reach eight wins if it wins out, something that hasn’t happened since 2016, when the team went 9-4.

Win one more game and the team will be assured of its first winning season since 2016 as well.

Of course, mitigating the flu outbreak will be key.

There are other complications, too, with Nebraska traveling to Iowa to play on Black Friday.

“The challenge of a short week, obviously, is just kind of you lose a day,” Rhule said on Monday. “So today we went out there and practiced like it was a Tuesday. Tomorrow we’ll go out there and practice like it’s a Wednesday. Typically I don’t do that, but because of also the Thanksgiving component of all this and some of the things we do later in the week we treated this morning like Tuesday.”