On3 Roundtable: Analyzing Matt Rhule’s chances at success in first year at Nebraska

There’s a chance for Matt Rhule to have success in his first season at Nebraska, despite the pressure to do so.

Rhule is a program builder, despite his failed NFL stint. What he did at Temple and Baylor can’t be understated, but he has his biggest challenge yet: win and win big at a historic program.

Can the Huskers recapture the magic of the 1990s? HuskerOnline’s Sean Callahan joined the On3 Roundtable to evaluate Rhule’s chances for success in Year 1.

“You can’t really compare it to Temple and Baylor because those are just such different situations,” Callahan said. “I mean, Temple went in the MAC, and then they went over from the MAC into the American, and so he dealt with that.

“And then Baylor obviously, he came in after the Art Briles situation. Nebraska, yeah, they didn’t win under Scott Frost but there’s still material on this roster. They were very, very close.” 

That’s where Callahan made the case for Nebraska to have a good season under new leadership (Rhule). The pieces are in place.

Think about two years ago, they had the ball tied late in the fourth quarter against Michigan and they had Ohio State on the ropes,” Callahan said. “So I mean, this team has played with people, they’ve done a good job. They’ve just been a few things short to get them over The hump. And I think for Matt Rhule, can he be that guy that wins in those small areas that’s held Nebraska back? 

“Obviously, the schedule matters and they’ve got a pretty favorable draw. It’s not going to get easier though as we know when the Big Ten switches to this new schedule model. Nebraska is gonna see extremely difficult schedules from every year on out now.” 

Once the new schedule is here for 2024 and beyond, Rhule and success will be difficult to come by. Unless he pushes all of the right buttons.

“So this year one is really important,” Callahan said. “I think, just to kind of establish that momentum he wants to get at Nebraska and I don’t know what that means for wins and losses, but you’d like to hope they get to a bowl game here in this year one.”

Rhule is 47-43 in his career as head coach. Take out the two rebuilding years at Temple and Baylor (the first years of his stints), Rhule is 44-22. Not too shabby.