What Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said about Michigan before facing Wolverines

Nebraska is 3-0 coming out of a non-conference slate that head coach Matt Rhule compared to the NFL preseason. The Cornhuskers have beaten Cincinnati (20-17), Akron (68-0) and Houston Christian (59-7) and will now face their first top-25 test of the season, hosting No. 21 Michigan Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

Rhule is in his third season at Nebraska and is 0-1 against the Michigan Wolverines, having been embarrassed 45-7 Sept. 30, 2023 in Lincoln.

Michigan is 2-1, with wins over New Mexico and Central Michigan and a 24-13 loss at Oklahoma. Rhule understands the challenge freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood and Co. will present.

“Defensively, we’re facing a team that’s 15th in rushing offense,” Rhule said. “They have a quarterback who’s mobile, who can run, so obviously that showed up in the first game. They will use tempo. They will use sugar huddle. So, those are things that showed up in the first game that we haven’t seen in the last two, so we’ll have to be prepared for that.”

The last time Michigan took on Nebraska, Jim Harbaugh was the Wolverines’ head coach. Now, Sherrone Moore is in charge, but he won’t be with the team during the week or on the sideline Saturday, serving the second of a two-game suspension. Associate head coach Biff Poggi will stand in for Moore.

Michigan is led by a different staff, including having brought in a new offensive coordinator this season in Chip Lindsey, so this isn’t the same team he saw in 2023.

“I wouldn’t spend a lot of time comparing,” Rhule said. “They were different. But they still have the same core philosophy. They’re 15th in rush offense, and they’re 25th in rush defense. They’re going to have elite play up front on both sides of the ball.

“The quarterback brought the dynamic element … he was the leading rusher in the last game; that hadn’t really happened in the first two games. More of a pocket player, and this last game it was, he’ll get out and utilize his legs and his skill set. That, obviously, adds another element to it.

“They’re based on the same core philosophy of they’re going to control the lines of scrimmage, and they’ve done that so far this year.”

Michigan’s offensive line struggled in the Oklahoma loss 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.”

On the other side, Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale will look to make life tough for Nebraska sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola, who’s completed 72 of his 94 pass attempts for 829 yards and 8 touchdowns with no interceptions through three games.

Rhule has gone against Martindale-called defenses in the past. His Carolina Panthers scored just 1 touchdown and lost to Martindale’s New York Giants, 19-16, Sept. 18, 2022, and the two coaches squared off twice in the preseason when they overlapped in the league.

“Wink’s elite,” Rhule said.

When asked what comes to mind when he hears Martindale’s name, Rhule replied, “Pressure.”

“He’s one of my favorite coaches when I was in the NFL. I have a lot of respect for him,” he continued. “He’s a tough guy. His guys play unbelievably hard.

“How do you stop a passing game? You get pressure on the quarterback — and he can do that multiple ways. Part of the pressure is painting pictures for the quarterback and showing them different things. A lot of quarterbacks can come out and say, ‘Oh, it’s man. This is my man-beater. Oh, it’s Cover 2, I should throw the ball here.’ It’s when the picture changes, that’s hard for a lot of guys. They just throw the ball to the man-beater, but it’s Cover 3.

“And that’s what we’re always working on with Dylan and [freshman quarterback] TJ [Lateef] and those guys, seeing the picture. You have a pre-snap clue, but it has to be confirmed by a post-snap cue. Like, ‘Oh, I should go here with the ball pre-snap,’ but then the picture changes, and I confirm it post-snap with whatever that cue is — the safety, the corner. Wink, like [Nebraska defensive coordinator] John [Butler] does a great job of showing you a picture and then, oh, they’re bringing the JACK and the corner. Oh, they ran a five-man pressure, they ran a Cover 2.

“So, Dylan will have to be prepared. The coaches will have to be prepared for all of the different pictures you see and might see.”