Matt Rhule addresses where Dana Holgorsen will call plays from

Amid offensive struggles this season, Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule decided to make a change at offensive play caller, turning to Dana Holgorsen.

Holgorsen’s first game calling players is coming on Saturday against USC. Ahead of that, Rhule shared where he expects Holgorsen to call plays from for the remainder of the season.

“Obviously, he’s called a lot of games and the games he called as a head coach, obviously, he was always on the field,” Matt Rhule said. “Probably, nowadays with the new play sheet, new words, it would be easier to be in the box. But I think he’s still working through all that. I think we have a decision but I don’t want to say it in case he changes his mind.”

Dana Holgorsen came off the Mike Leach coaching tree and became known as one of the better offensive minds in the sport, eventually becoming the head coach at West Virginia in 2011 before going to Houston in 2019.

“Because that’s never bothered me. I’ve always felt wherever someone feels most comfortable. At the end of the day it’s the play call that matters most,” Rhule said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the field, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him stay in the box. We’re still working through all that.”

After being fired by Houston in 2023, Dana Holgorsen and he made a stop at TCU before coming to Nebraska. Ahead of the USC game, Matt Rhule promoted him to offensive coordinator for the remainder of the season, taking the role over for Marcus Satterfield. However, Rhule did note that Satterfield remains with the team, working out of the box during games with the tight ends.

The offense has struggled in 2024 with freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola starting for the Cornhuskers. In their last four games, Nebraska has failed to score more than 20 points in a game. They’ve gone 1-3 in those games. For the season as a whole, Nebraska only has two games where they scored more than 30 points in a game and both of those were non-conference games.

The coordinator change is going to be a major development for Dylan Raiola. Still, Matt Rhule is confident that Raiola has faith in the program to make the right choices.

“Dylan trusts me and trusts the program. What are we doing moving forward? He just took it as ‘what are we doing today?’ He’s trying to get his back healthier. I think all the guys had a positive reaction to it. Go back to what I said last week. Players need to play. Players need to go make plays. You watch on Saturdays, players have to go make plays. Dana and the staff will give the players the best opportunities to make plays and then we need the guys to go make them,” Rhule said.

“The whole pay calling thing is, ‘we handled that’ now go make some plays. Football is a game where players win games. We got good players and we expect them to win some games.”

Nebraska is looking to get to its sixth win and bowl eligibility with the game against USC. That game will kickoff at 4:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, November 16th.