Matt Rhule reacts to opposing fans throwing bottles, cites Philadelphia roots

The Nebraska Cornhuskers nearly pulled off an upset over the Ohio State Buckeyes and, amid a controversial call, frustrations boiled over for fans and some threw bottles on the field. For Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule, his Philadelphia roots helped him handle the situation.

Following the game, Rhule joked that he doesn’t mind the bottles before explaining the situation at that point in the game and how Nebraska was trying to find a way to win.

“It was a break in the action too because they told us to go to the middle of the field because they were throwing bottles,” Matt Rhule said. “That’s water bottles. Trust me, I’m from Philly. I’m for all of that. I mean, that doesn’t bother me. Just got the guys in the middle, said, ‘Let’s go.'”

The moment when fans threw bottles on the field was reminiscent of the Texas–Georgia game from a week prior when fans stopped play by throwing bottles onto the field. In that game, officials overturned their controversial call after getting time to consider it longer.

On the controversial call in question, a targeting call on Ohio State was confirmed while the throw on the play was also ruled a catch. That meant that Nebraska moved more than 30 yards forward on the play, when both the targeting and the catch were under review.

“But, we had the penalty. There’s 3:45 left. So, we always expect something good to happen,” Rhule said. “So, really in those situations you’re trying to [get] what we call last shot. You’re trying to get the ball at the two-minute warning so that they don’t have an opportunity to go back and answer. Like, you’re either gonna win that on a game-winning buzzer beater at the end of the game, go down there, throw a touchdown with 17 seconds left, or not. So, that happened.”

In the end, it was another loss in a one-score game for Nebraska. That’s become a trend and under Matt Rhule the Cornhuskers are now 2-7 in one-score games. Still, there are positives for Rhule to take away, like the experience earned by younger players.

“We ran the screen play and we just missed the block on the man-to-man defender. We have them. We just missed the block on the man-to-man defender. Comeback. I know they’re being pretty exotic there. I didn’t see the last play as we pushed the ball down the field, I didn’t see exactly what happened on that last play, but these are great reps for Dylan [Raiola]. I know he wanted to win. These are great reps for Gunnar [Gottula]. These are great reps for Jacory [Barney]. A lot of those guys. I thought Isaiah Neyor showed up and played probably one of his best games,” Rhule said.

“But, yeah, they’ve got quite a pass rush. They’ve got great players on defense. I thought we hung in there, though, on those plays. They got us in zero that one time in the red zone. That was difficult because we would’ve kicked a field goal and that might have changed the game. We called a play trying to get the ball out of his hands and they just brought more than we could block and didn’t get it off. So, we had some other opportunities that we just need to keep working on.”

With the loss, Nebraska is still at five wins on the season. One more and the Cornhuskers will be bowl eligible for the first time since 2016. They’ll have a chance to get there next week against UCLA.