It’s way too early for Nebraska fans to give up on Matt Rhule

Nebraska football fans will generally agree that Matt Rhule hasn’t quite met expectations in his three seasons as the Huskers’ head coach.

There have been some successes — such as making consecutive bowl games. There have been failures, too. Nebraska hasn’t beaten a top-25 team under Rhule. It also hasn’t beaten Iowa or Minnesota (0-5).

Rhule’s best win is still the 2024 victory over Colorado, when the Blackshirts whipped the Buffaloes. That’s when you thought the Huskers might have something.

We all know how that season ended, with a bunch of disappointing losses. 2025 ended even worse, especially after Dylan Raiola was injured.

Now, Raiola, the five-star recruit, is Oregon’s backup as Nebraska turned to former UNLV starter Anthony Colandrea.

The Huskers had one player drafted in the 2026 NFL draft. The schedule this season makes it feel like hopelessness is starting to seep into the fanbase, which sort of erupted in a radio interview that Jason Peter did last week.

Peter was critical of Rhule. He didn’t like Rhule saying Nebraska was close to being a playoff team because they were 6-2, or the fact that Rhule stumped for more national attention for Dylan Raiola after last season’s 3-0 start.

Nebraska football fans have also jumped on Peter because he wasn’t critical of Scott Frost, even though he technically had a role on the staff, so that explains that to me. You don’t see Rhule assistants blasting him in the media, because they would get fired (rightfully so).

The bottom line is that Peter made some good points. Maybe he hopes that Rhule will hear him and adjust. I don’t know. I’d like to see Rhule talk less, but is that why the Huskers aren’t winning?

Probably not. There have certainly been missteps. But it hasn’t been the disaster some have made it out to be either. The Huskers have won seven games two years in a row. The 2027 recruiting class is 50 percent blue chips and includes a top-100 quarterback.

Rhule needs to learn from the mistakes he made with Dylan Raiola. But I don’t know that treating players like Tom Osborne would help that much.

Osborne didn’t have to deal with the transfer portal. He had a walk-on program filled with players who were good enough to play for other college programs, yet chose to try out for the Nebraska football team. Guys were willing to wait their turn in a way they aren’t today.

Then, he got to keep those guys, develop them, and create a pipeline of football players ready to go year in and year out. It was a genius strategy. It also wouldn’t work today.

Walk-ons basically aren’t a thing anymore. Rhule didn’t even get the chance to develop his Nebraska teams like Baylor and Temple. The rebuild was always going to take time. It has taken longer than some of us wanted.

Despite all that, despite what you think about Rhule, he’s not going anywhere. Not after this season. Not after next season. Probably not the one after that either.

Nebraska would owe Rhule $63 million if it fired him after this season. The number falls to $54 million in 2027 and $44 million in 2028. Even in 2029, the buyout is $33 million. In 2030, it’s still $21 million.

So Rhule isn’t going anywhere. He’s got a full runway. Nebraska fans have to hope against hope he’s successful.

At this point, there isn’t another option.