Matt Rhule eager for 'level playing field' in new revenue-sharing era

There’s at least one coach who is thrilled with the direction college football is headed in the short term: Nebraska head man Matt Rhule.

Why, you might ask? Well, Rhule believes his program is about to be able to compete at the highest level again. He can’t say that was the case in the past few years.

“I think this will be the first year where we’re on a level playing field, and it’s this new settlement, right?” Rhule said on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday. “We’re going to be spending the same amount of money on our roster that everybody else is.”

That mostly checks out, as an anticipated House settlement will put some new parameters around revenue-sharing. It should, in theory, help level the field after a bit of a Wild West on the NIL front the last few years.

Nebraska and Rhule have watched as some of their peers have surged on by.

“Ohio State, Oregon, they made huge investments last year,” Matt Rhule said. “Good for them. We’ve been making big investments but not at the level they were making at, because they were just ahead of us. This new thing will kind of even things out.”

Rhule also gave a bit of an unexpected shout-out to one team and coach that he feels did exceptionally well in the NIL era, even working with considerably fewer resources.

“And I will say, kudos to Arizona State, places like that that won at the level they did without (a level playing field),” Rhule said. “Kenny (Dillingham)‘s a coach, now. He’s a real coach. One hundred percent. One hundred percent. That team played really well.”

In any case, Rhule believes that his team will be ready to step into the revenue share era with an eye on competing. Not just in a big game or two here and there, but across the board. And Nebraska is uniquely positioned — literally — to do just that.

“Long term I mean if if you want something now you’ve got to invest something into it,” Rhule said. “We’re at a point now at Nebraska we have the best facilities in the country, elite fanbase. Being in the middle part of the country now in the Big Ten is a good thing. I don’t have four-hour flights. I have a two-hour flight to LA, two-hour flight to Penn State.”