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Nebraska

Paul Finebaum eviscerates Matt Rhule for saying Big Ten deserves 4 CFP bids: 'Stay in your lane'

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•07/26/24
Matt Rhule Nebraska football 2024 spring
Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule (Photo: Abby Barmore/HuskerOnline)

Before the clock struck 9:00 a.m. ET Friday morning, Paul Finebaum had already lambasted one Big Ten coach over a comment he made earlier in the week that the league ought to receive automatic bids to the new College Football Playoff.

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule suggested at Big Ten Media Days that the Big Ten should automatically get four teams in the CFP every single year. Why? Because he believes it is the strongest and most NFL-adjacent of the conferences.

“I think four teams from this league should get in every year, because this is the best league. This is the NFL of college football in my mind,” Rhule said. “It stretches coast to coast, different time zones, different weather. That’s not to diminish any other league, the SEC is amazing, these other leagues are great, but the challenge in the Big Ten is going to be very difficult.”

When Mike Greenberg asked Paul Finebaum for a reaction on that snippet, the SEC Network host went in on Matt Rhule.

“Man, stay in your lane!” Finebaum exclaimed. “Job one: win enough games to get to some stupid bowl game. Don’t worry about the big boys, because you’re not one of them,” he continued, really giving it to Matt Rhule.

“We saw what you did in the NFL, you were a complete disaster in Carolina. You somehow got this job in Nebraska and you’re talking like you belong at the table with Ohio State and Georgia. You don’t! Just try to win maybe six games, quit choking big games on the final play and leave the punditry to the professionals. Thank you.”

Currently, Nebraska is nursing a pretty hefty bowl drought, the largest among all of the Power Four conferences, as the Huskers have not played in a bowl game since 2016. They went 9-4 in 2016 but have since finished the last seven years with no more than five wins — happening twice (2019 and 2023).

With improvements in win total each of the last two seasons under Rhule, it finally feels like the Cornhuskers are ready to break through and get back to a bowl game. Soon enough, maybe they’ll even dream about a playoff appearance, where Rhule believes at least four Big Ten teams ought to get in every season.