New Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has quite a bit of work to do.
It has been decades since Nebraska was the standard that college football teams were measured against. The days when Tom Osborne would trot out a team that was bigger, faster and meaner than the opposition are long past, and the one-sided beatings that team would deliver are a distant memory.
But the Cornhuskers are still a team with a brilliant football legacy, and there’s no reason why they can’t get back to an extremely competitive level. There’s no reason they shouldn’t contend for a Big Ten title, and the idea that they are near the bottom of the conference’s West Division is ridiculous.
Rhule has had other reclamation projects in his coaching career at Temple and Baylor before his brief tenure in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers, and Nebraska could turn out to be his career-defining assignment. Here are 3 things he must accomplish to get the Cornhuskers back on track.
3. Establish the power running game
This is college football, and while the game has evolved quite a bit, a team with powerful offensive linemen and running backs who combine moves and speed can still cause a lot of damage. This is not a call to go back to the option game that was the signature during their glory years under Bob Devaney and Osborne.
There is something to a great team playing to its legacy. No team ran with power better than Nebraska, and there is no way that Rhule should run away from that. Let opponents know that if they are not prepared to stop power, they are going to be in for a very long afternoon.
2. Rhule must expand recruiting
Nebraska still has a big name in the world of college football and Rhule has shown he has the engaging personality to be a first-class recruiter. While he concentrated on finding the best local talent while at Baylor, he demonstrated the skills to turn recruits into excellent players that were highly respected NFL prospects.
He will have to expand his recruiting efforts with the Cornhuskers. Rhule will have to go after the best players from California and Texas, in addition to Illinois, Georgia and New Jersey. The latter 3 states have been solid for Nebraska over the years and he will need to keep them, but the skills position stars from California and Texas are vital to returning Nebraska to glory.
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any great football program, and the Cornhuskers must expand their footprint if the return to glory is going to be accelerated. Rhule understands this and he needs to make it happen.
1. Diversify the offense
While power running will be important under Rhule and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield, the Cornhuskers cannot be predictable.
Satterfield has shown the ability to attack with a spread offense at South Carolina, and his attack allowed the Gamecocks to engineer upsets over high-powered Tennessee and Clemson. One of the aspects of Satterfield’s offense is to employ multiple tight ends, and that is something that Nebraska has had success with in the past.
In the Big Ten, a team that lacks power will find itself getting steamrolled in the second half on a regular basis. Rhule knows this cannot happen to Nebraska any longer and must reverse that situation. Establishing the power game while also showing it can spread opponents out and hurt them with big plays through the air is the way Rhule can bring Nebraska back into contention.
As Matt Rhule gets established in Years 2 and 3, contention will turn this team into a much more confident unit, one that can push Michigan and Ohio State to the limit.
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