Matt Rhule on Nebraska struggles: 'I'm not running'

Matt Rhule isn’t running from the current struggles at Nebraska. After a 5-1 start, the Huskers lost the last three games, including a blowout at the hands of Indiana.

What once was looked at as an automatic bowl season and potential special run was halted over the last three games. Rhule and Nebraska currently have a bye week before finishing the season with USC, Wisconsin and Iowa.

But he won’t panic and run away from the challenges in front of him, rather he’ll embrace them head on with a bright future ahead.

“We have a great thing going here, and we have recruits all across the country that want to come here,” Rhule said. “And there’ll be kids lining up if we said, ‘hey, we’ll take you’ to the kids lining up to come here. So I don’t worry about any of that. I care deeply about my players. I care deeply about their character and their growth. And you know, if they’re good enough, some guys … if they want to play, they should go down a level. But if a little bit of adversity causes you to turn and run, then, you know, you don’t see me running. I’m not running.”

Rhule knows the pressure though. Nebraska, a football hot bed, hasn’t been successful in quite some time. The Huskers haven’t made a bowl game since a Music City Bowl loss to Tennessee in December of 2016.

“We have to show progress,” Rhule said. “And the reality is, we were building this team from the very beginning. I kept telling them, Hey guys, we’re building this for November and December. You know, we’re trying to work hard in the offseason to get you guys to this moment. Here we are. 

“We’re obviously all frustrated about the last three games but we have a bye week, we have to go play. So we’ll see how we stand against USC. We’ll see obviously and against Wisconsin we’ll see how we stand with Iowa. But yeah, we’ll have a lot of good players next year here.”

Rhule is 10-11 in a season-plus at Nebraska, following a 5-7 debut campaign. At his previous two spots (Temple and Baylor) there was a noticeable jump in Year 2.

There are definitely signs of that in Lincoln, but the three-game losing streak put a damper on the current season. Of course, one win gets Nebraska to the postseason and Rhule can continue to build.

Use the bye week wisely.