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The Nebraska football team took an important step last season as it made a bowl game for the first time since the 2016 season. The Cornhuskers finished the regular season with a 6-6 record, and they won their seventh game of the season in the Pinstripe Bowl. Nebraska needed to break the bowl drought, and it did. However, head coach Matt Rhule has to keep the momentum going. The Pinstripe Bowl isn't good enough, but if history tells us anything, it's that Rhule does well in his third year with a team.
When Matt Rhule coached at Temple and Baylor, he had a lot of success in his third year. Is a similar jump coming for the Nebraska football team?
“For Matt Rhule, I think that they can probably take a little bit of a jump,” College football analyst Joel Klatt said during an episode of his podcast. “You look at their year last year, it was progress. Year two with Rhule was almost really good, except for those one-score games, which I know you could be saying forever for Nebraska, but they snapped that seven-year streak without a bowl. That's progress. And then historically, for Matt Rhule, year three has been a jump. You look at what he did at Temple, what he did at Baylor, he won at least 10 in year three at both locations. So is that a possible jump this year?”
Joel Klatt ranked 10 teams that he thinks are most likely to make their first ever College Football Playoff appearance. The Cornhuskers came in at #10. In order to be a contender, Nebraska needs to start winning close games.
“They were right there in a bunch of games last year,” Klatt added. “They went 2-5 in one-score games. Can they turn it around? Yeah, they probably can. They're going to have a returning quarterback in Dylan Raiola, who was just a true freshman. So yeah, you could say he made a lot of mistakes last year, but remember, you get some experience going and you get the continuity of having your coach back.”
Nebraska has some talent that it needs to replace along the defensive line, but the team seems to be in good shape elsewhere.
“He's got an experienced quarterback,” Klatt said. “They upgraded at the wide receiver position from last year. They got some O-Line help amongst their transfers, and then on defense, the front seven has to replace some really good players whom I was very impressed with a year ago. They played really well, in particular, even in a loss against Ohio State in the middle of that defensive line. But there's a lot of experience in that secondary.”
So, what does the Nebraska football schedule look like? It's fairly manageable in September and October with a home game against Michigan being the toughest matchup, and then games against USC, Penn State and Iowa will be tricky down the stretch.
“Comes down to the schedule,” The Fox analyst said. “They've got a real shot to be 7-1 in their first eight games going into November. Now will they be? I'm not sure. They're going to have to win some of those close games, which historically has been a real issue for Nebraska. And then November doesn't seem that difficult. USC probably their most difficult, at UCLA, bye week, at Penn State, clearly their toughest game. And then an Iowa game, which is obviously going to be huge for them late in the year.”
The target for Nebraska if it wants to make the CFP is 10 wins. That means that the Cornhuskers can lose to Michigan and Penn State, but then that USC showdown might be the most important on the schedule, according to Joel Klatt.
“The key game for me is that USC game,” he said. “They have that Michigan game early. Do they have to win that one? Probably not. Do they have to beat Penn State? Probably not. But then you look at that November 1st USC game, and that's the one that I'll be kind of looking at and then you look at the ending of their schedule. If they can get past USC, even if Michigan were beat them, even if Penn State were to beat them. Now you look at that Iowa game and now you're like, ‘Okay, you know, do we have a chance at 10-2? I think 10-2 Nebraska probably goes.”
There's no doubt about it, year three is a huge one for Matt Rhule. This feels like the season where we find out whether or not Rhule will have a successful tenure with the Nebraska football team.
