Husker Football's Adult in the Room

Behind the backdrop of a Sea of Red and pockets of purple, a year ago this August Husker fans were met with a familiar taste in their mouths. Despite being 4,000 miles away from home and situated in the friendly confines of Avila Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, they had tasted this particularly cruel dish many times before.

This wasn’t a heaping plate of corned beef and cabbage. Or even a slice of Shepherd’s pie.

This was the metallic taste of losing in a particularly horrific fashion. You know, the kind that even a few pints of Guinness can’t wash away.

Fresh off an unprompted Scott Frost-induced onside kick and all too similar unraveling, Husker fans were left shell-shocked and stuffed to the brim. And not just because of the free concessions.

Fast forward almost a year later, and things feel different. If the prodigal son’s farewell was the death knell of winter’s first frost, Matt Rhule’s early tenure is the warm sun on a spring day.

Whether Rhule is the answer to the Nebraska football program remains to be seen. But so far, being the adult in the room is more than enough.

Two years ago, I wrote about the prospect of Nebraska keeping Scott Frost. I compared it to Aesop’s fable The Fox & The Grapes, where the fox foolishly grasps for grapes, only to realize he’s worked himself up for sour fruit.

Funny enough, that comparison still plays today. The Husker athletic department did a lot of grasping and wishing for something that, in the end, was quite sour.

The final death blow for Frost and his storybook return came at the hands of someone that in retrospect, Frost can only hope to emulate someday. Clay Helton, fresh off his own embarrassing coaching stint at USC, led a ragtag bunch of Georgia Southern Eagles into the hallowed halls of Memorial Stadium and walked out with a 45-42 upset victory. His team ran rampant and finished with a gaudy 642 yards of offense.

The next day, Nebraska AD Trev Alberts relieved Frost of his head coaching duties, making the once touted coach $15 million richer.

In the days and weeks to follow, details trickled out about the competency of Frost and how he chose to conduct his business. In this story from The Athletic, sources told described Frost as “stubborn”, “lacking discipline” and said he did a poor job of instilling a “healthy fear” amongst his team.

The thing about the Frost experience is that it wasn’t supposed to end this way. Frost promised to make B10 defenses bend to him. He promised to put Nebraska back on the map. But instead, he went out in a cruel twist of fate.

He went out at the hands of a G5 coach whose path he would soon emulate.

The checklist for any just-hired college football starts with stacking up the small wins. The layups. The gimmies. Basically, just do your best to win the PR battle and say the things the fanbase is dying to hear.

Written atop Matt Rhule’s checklist was Play the Hits.

That meant leading his opening press conferences with promises to:

Sprinkled in with his early promises were nods to the Husker fanbase, the importance of patron saint Tom Osborne, the recollection of his playing days against the Huskers and describing how special the city of Lincoln is to him and his family.

But let’s be clear: None of these things are new. They’re straight out of the New Coach PR Playbook. But for Rhule’s sake, this was so, so crucial. Especially considering his predecessor failed to live up to his promises.

Fast forward a few months, and Rhule adds a few more layups to his highlight package.

He, along with the rest of the athletic department, brought back former coach Frank Solich–lifting the “curse” and getting in good with the fans again. That same spring game appearance for Solich was marked by–you guessed it–a fullback run to kickstart the spring game.

A few months later, Rhule and his staff notch important, homegrown recruiting victories with commitments from in-state studs like DE Carter Nelson, QB Daniel Kaelin and others. Their early work in Nebraska and Texas has already vaulted the Huskers to a Top 15 recruiting class for 2024, per 247Sports.

Nothing that Rhule has done so far is particularly groundbreaking (outside of the big recruiting wins), but it doesn’t make it any less important. He’s barely kicked off his first fall camp yet, and he’s notched more small wins than Frost probably ever did.

I’ve spilled a good amount of proverbial ink discussing why Frost was bad and why most of what Rhule has done so far is good. And while that’s true, this has to be just the beginning for Rhule. And even if it is, plenty of questions remain.

Below are a few interesting questions as it pertains to Rhule’s first year.

How quickly does this turn into winning?

I’m skeptical about Year 1 “success” for Rhule and the Huskers. I think 2023 will be an improvement in a lot of ways, but I’m not sure it translates to a ton of wins. New system. New coach. New QB. The list goes on.

I’d encourage Husker fans to curb their enthusiasm after they throttle Colorado in Week 2. Jeff Sims will likely be an upgrade at the QB position. The defense will feel different. There’s no way the special teams can be as bad as they have been.

And yet this schedule feels very 5-7 or 6-6 to me. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, I’d argue that’s a natural progression and a reasonable step in the right direction for Rhule.

How long can Rhule and company sustain this good favor without serious winning?

I think this is one of the more interesting storylines to watch this season. Husker fans are damaged goods, and the first time something goes wrong, it’s going to feel like the sky is falling.

If Rhule stumbles in Week 1 against Minnesota, are the vibes still good? If Deion pulls a rabbit out of his comically large cowboy hat and beats the Huskers, does the confidence in Rhule get shaky? How patient will Husker fans truly be?

My recommendation is for Husker fans to take this season with a grain of salt. Tolerate the inevitable growing pains and enjoy the good stuff.

What do the Husker glory days mean in 2023 and beyond?

There’s a certain subsect of Husker nation that can’t and won’t take off the scarlet and cream glasses and see the shifting landscape of college football in front of them. For some fans, this is yet another opportunity to hitch their dream to a new coach and expect a return to national prominence dominance and a real shot at a title.

I can’t predict the future. As much as I wish I could, I can’t tell you how the Rhule tenure will turn out. But I’d be hesitant to expect a return to dominance.

A roaring success under Rhule would be consistently landing in the 8-win range and every few years swinging above your weight class. Maybe that means a B10 title game appearance. Perhaps even a playoff birth in a 16-team field. But please, Husker nation: Crawl and walk before you attempt to run.

We’re just a few weeks out from the first Husker game. And despite not playing a game yet, the adult in the room is already notching wins in a meaningful way.