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The Nebraska football team has played in a lot of close games over the years, and it seems like they end up on the losing side of almost all of them. That has been the theme for the Cornhuskers throughout the past five years or so. Head coach Matt Rhule was brought in to fix it, and while there have been some improvements, Nebraska still hasn't been able to find a way to win a lot of those tight battles during his tenure.
So, what is it about the Nebraska football team and losing close games? A lot of people thought it might go away after Scott Frost's departure, but it's a lingering issue. Matt Rhule addressed it on Wednesday, and he was 100% honest about why he thinks these heartbreaking defeats have been a problem.
“I think we lost a lot of those games because we just weren’t good enough,” Rhule said, according to an article from On3. “I think it’s just sometimes a great storyline to say, ‘Hey, you know what, close loss here, close loss there.’ And there’s some of it, but our focus has been on just improving as a team. Because they don’t all have to be close. Some of those games, why don’t we win by 14?”
While last season wasn't great for Nebraska, it was still a step in the right direction. The Cornhuskers went bowling for the first time since 2016, and they got a win in the Pinstripe Bowl. A lot of people argue that non-College Football Playoff bowls are meaningless, but it was a very important game for this program.
“I saw a different mindset from our team in the Pinstripe Bowl,” Rhule added. “We were up and they came back. We had to make a couple plays. Dylan (Raiola) made a play. Rahmir Johnson hit a power to win the game on fourth-and-2. And what I saw for the first time was not a lot off panic. But that panic comes from when you don’t think you control what happens. When you’re like listening to all the outside narratives and ‘we should be doing this and we should be doing that.’ And finally the team grows up and they’re like, ‘I’ve got to go make the play. And I’ve got to go pick the ball off. And I’ve got to block the punt.'”
The momentum from that win is carrying over to this upcoming season. It helped instill some confidence in the team, and the Cornhuskers are again getting bigger and better during the offseason.
“…It’s a much different feeling when you walk in with a bunch of guys that now they know they’re good,” the third-year head coach said. “And some of them, they’re the same players. They’re just good because they’re a year into the system. And that 250-pound guy is now a 280-pound guy.”
At the end of the day, that's the goal for Matt Rhule. He wants this Nebraska football team to improve each year, and so far, that has happened. If more improvements are made this season, the Cornhuskers could find themselves in the CFP conversation.
“I’m an incrementalist,” Rhule said. “I believe in just getting a little bit better every year,” Rhule said. “I’ve got great news: Nothing that happened last year carries over into this year. And that’s a good thing, right? The Iowa loss at the end of the year was really, really probably painful, but sometimes it’s the pain you need. It’s the pain that spurs you forward in the offseason when guys get a little bit complacent.”
This is year three for Rhule. Improvements have been made, and now it's time to put it all on display. Nebraska fans have been waiting for the breakout season, and it could be this year.
“There’s no complacency at the University of Nebraska right now,” Rhule said. “Our guys understand that we’ve got good enough players. We have an excellent roster. We’re fast, we’re explosive, we’ve got veterans where we need to. We’re good on the lines. We’ve got great coaches. But we’re going to have to go perform. And that performance comes from guys owning it. Not listening to anything else, not listening to the guy in the locker room complaining. Shutting all that up and saying Husker football, it’s all about performance. It’s all about us getting it done.”
The 2025 Nebraska football season will get underway in about four weeks as the Cornhuskers will open the season on the road against Cincinnati.
