Matt Rhule breaks down preparation for Week 1 as season approaches

The 2023 college football season is nearly upon us, and Nebraska fans have been anticipating the Huskers’ season opener since Matt Rhule was named head coach late last year.

Rhule will make his head coaching debut against Minnesota for an early Week 1 matchup on Thursday, Aug. 31, but he’s not making too big of a deal of that as fall camp wraps up. There’s no point in starting game prep while Nebraska is still trying to find its own identity, let alone try to pinpoint another team’s.

“One of the keys for me is to never start opponent prep too early,” Rhule said. “Sometimes they think so much about the game, that by the time the game is here — it sounds dumb — but it’s almost boring. There has to be some excitement about it in terms of timing. You have to time it perfectly.”

Some teams dedicate their entire offseason toward the preparation for their season opener. Michigan notably installed a ‘Beat Georgia’ period to practice over the summer. Rhule won’t be implementing anything like that during his practices this season.

After Saturday’s scrimmage, Rhule rewarded his team with two consecutive days off which coincided with the first day of classes on Monday. After that, it’s time for game prep — a system that will be rinsed and repeated for the duration of the season.

“They get a chance to kind of recover now,” Rhule said. “We’ve gone really hard. For some of them, it’s probably the hardest thing they’ve ever done. It’s good. I’m pleased with them, so we’ll take two days before going three in a row on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll have a mock game Thursday night under the lights. We’ll come in Friday, do some stuff and give them Saturday off.

“Then we practice on Sunday like a normal game week, give them Monday off and start over again on Tuesday.”

After the Huskers battle on the road against the Golden Gophers in the early window of Week 1, they’ll enjoy a few extra days of rest before heading to Boulder for a date with Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes. Both teams made headlines throughout the offseasons regarding the fallout of their respective coaching staff changes, and should be an entertaining affair.

After that, Nebraska will enjoy home games against Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech, respectively. Then it’s time to begin the bulk of Big Ten play with another homestand — this time against No. 2 Michigan. Rhule will tell you that game is the last thing on his mind, though.