The Fallout: Disturbing trends for Nebraska football and Matt Rhule, plus more

Alarm bells are ringing for Nebraska football, at least they should be after a 24-6 loss to Minnesota on Friday night.

When looking back on the 18-point loss, it’s easy to diagnose what went wrong for Nebraska football. The Huskers were out-toughed, out-coached, out-everything’d by Minnesota.

P.J. Fleck’s team was prepared, tough, and disciplined. It beat Nebraska football to a pulp in the trenches to the tune of nine sacks and 186 rushing yards on offense. This was the same Minnesota team averaging 59 yards rushing per game against Power-4 opponents.

41 percent of Minnesota’s rushing yards against Power-4 opponents (5 games) came against Nebraska. That’s startling. What’s also startling is that Michigan State has seven sacks against Power-4 teams. Five were against Nebraska. Michigan has 11 sacks against Power-4 teams, seven of which came against Nebraska.

MSU is averaging 0.5 sacks against Power-4 teams not named Nebraska. Michigan is averaging one. Yet, they combined for 12 sacks in two weeks, just like Minnesota set a program record with nine.

It’s shocking. What’s also shocking, or hard to understand, is how Nebraska averaged 5.2 yards per attempt on 15 first-down rushing attempts (one by Raiola) yet handed the ball to Emmett Johnson just 14 times total, with 16 carries for running backs. That means Emmett Johnson only touched the ball twice in the game when it wasn’t a first down.

Baffling.

We said it after the Michigan game. The most glaring issue for Nebraska football is one that was present when Matt Rhule took over. He said the Huskers would protect and affect the quarterback. They haven’t done either. They also can’t stop the run or run the ball consistently against good teams, especially in the red zone.

Rhule has made progress, sure.  Nebraska football hasn’t lost a Group of Five team as Scott Frost did on multiple occasions. However, after three seasons, Frost was 9-17 in Big Ten games (34 percent). Rhule is currently 8-14 (36 percent).

It makes you wonder how he’s avoided the hot seat. Other coaches with similar records are dropping like flies, yet last week, with an 8-13 record in Big Ten play, Rhule was being connected to Penn State.

Guess that podcast is paying dividends for the head coach at least.

To be frank, I’m tired of hearing how good a coach Rhule is from himself and others. He needs to prove it because, so far at Nebraska, this is precious little evidence that he has been or will be successful.

Rhule is 17-15 overall and 8-14 in the Big Ten. He hasn’t beaten a top-25 team and is 1-5 against Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. He might be a good football coach, but the record says otherwise.

Nebraska volleyball keeps dominating

The top-ranked Cornhuskers are not only the No. 1 team in the AVCA Coaches Poll, but Nebraska volleyball is also the top-seeded team, according to the bracket preview. Texas is seeded second.

It makes sense. After weekend sweeps of Michigan State and Michigan, the Huskers have won 28 straight sets. They have swept nine matches in a row on their way to 18-0.

Michigan State managed to hit .209 against Nebraska. Yet, the Huskers still cruised to a 25-16, 25-18, and 25-20 win thanks to 13 kills (.500) from Harper Murray. Bergen Reilly added 32 assists. Murray led with 14 points. Andi Jackson added 11.

On Sunday, the Huskers swept Michigan as the Wolverines set an attendance record (wonder why?). Jackson was dominant, hitting .800 on her way to eight kills and six blocks. Murray had nine kills for 11 points. Nebraska also held Michigan to .093.

Nebraska basketball beats a top-10 team

It might have been just an exhibition game, but the Huskers knocked off eighth-ranked BYU 90-89 on Saturday at the Vault. You don’t want to overreact to a game that doesn’t count.

However, the performance of Rienk Mast was tangible. After missing last season due to injury, it was fair to wonder if Mast would be able to find his All-Big Ten form from the 2023-24 season.

Yet, he did more than that. Mast was the best player on the floor, connecting on 11-of-15 shots from the field, including 7-of-8 from 3-point range to score 31 points. Connor Essegian added 20 points off the bench thanks to a 5-for-10 effort from deep.

AJ Dybantsa scored 30 points. The potential future No. 1 overall pick even joked after the game that Mast should be the No. 1 overall pick.

Again, it was an exhibition, but Nebraska fans should be excited about Fred Hoiberg’s crew.

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