Matt Rhule delivers passionate message on changing culture at Nebraska

Entering Saturday’s game against Ohio State, Nebraska lost 26 straight games against ranked opponents and continued to struggle in one-score games. But the Cornhuskers looked like they had a chance to change that, taking a late lead over the Buckeyes in Columbus.

Ultimately, NU fell in the final minutes as Ohio State got the 21-17 win. It seemed all too familiar for Huskers fans – but Matt Rhule had a passionate message to open his postgame press conference about the changing culture in Lincoln and the direction of the program.

Rhule arrived at Nebraska after engineering turnarounds at Temple and Baylor throughout his career. He hoped to do the same with the Cornhuskers, and they’ve already hit their win total from last year. That said, Saturday’s game was an important moment as he makes his mark on the program, and it’s part of the process of changing the mentality around the program.

“The hardest part of what we did when we went to Temple and what we did when we went to Baylor was getting guys not to say, ‘Oh, here we go again,'” Rhule said. “Getting guys not to expect to lose, getting everyone –including the people around the program – not to focus always on what’s wrong, but what’s right. And that’s hard, right? You’re constantly talking to your staff, your coaches, players. Last week was a low for us since we’ve been here because the minute the game got hard, we kind of looked around like, oh no, what’s happening to us? Kind of kind of victims, like, yeah, this is happening to us.

“And this was a hard week. This was a hard week. But a week that I knew, because of my experiences, we would turn into something good. We would teach, the players would see us. Instead of us being defensive as things were said, they would see us stand like men. Anyone can just be defensive. Just stand like men. Not blame the players, but work hand-in-hand with them. And we expected to come here and win the football game. We expected to win.”

Matt Rhule: ‘We’re not here to lose’

Throughout the game against Ohio State, Nebraska had its chances. The Buckeyes’ run game struggled once again and they had a hard time getting in the end zone despite an efficient day from Will Howard. But a touchdown with 6:04 left put the Buckeyes back on top, and a late Dylan Raiola interception sealed the game.

Although there were some good signs from Nebraska in Year 2 under Matt Rhule, he didn’t want to focus on the positives from the box score. Instead, he discussed the mentality he saw from the Huskers as the game went along – and the emotions that followed such a tough loss. That, he said, showed more about what the staff is building.

“To me, it’s so hard because you don’t want to sound like [it’s] a moral victory because we lost,” Rhule said. “We’re not here to lose. We’re the University of Nebraska – we’re not here to lose. But in terms of the development and growth of what you’re trying to build … if you want it to be sustainable, if you want it to be to last forever, you have to do it the right way. I get asked a lot of questions about, why aren’t we doing it this way, not that way. We’re trying to build something sustainable. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t. Who knows? A lot of you guys have seen a lot of guys come here trying to do it, and it hasn’t worked. So I’m trying it a different way.

“I was proud of that football team today. I was proud. They didn’t back down. They had some really tough breaks, they had some things really go against them – even the way we started. And they competed. It’s the first time … since I’ve been here that I felt championship mindset in the locker room. Along with the championship mindset, as those who compete know, comes utter disappointment when you lose. So that part’s hard. It’s hard for the guys. But I saw a group of guys, even at the very end, take the field, going out there to make one more play. Have a chance to compete against one of the best teams in the country. So I thought they grew up. I challenged them. It better look this way next week. Some of the football still is tough. It’s hard.”