The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team is gearing up for their first season under new head coach Matt Rhule, and the former NFL HC is bringing serious changes to beef up their offensive strategy.

The Huskers have struggled in the red zone in recent years, and Rhule is bringing his years of experience to right the ship and find a way to convert their opportunities with better efficiency. The team settled for a field goal in nearly a third of their red zone chances last year, a number they would like to decrease this time around.

“We want to score touchdowns, not field goals,” Rhule said per Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald. “That’s our whole mindset. And I like the way we’re proceeding.”

Nebraska finished 11th in the Big Ten conference for red zone offense in 2022, scoring only 22 TD's while the top half of the league punched it in 30+ times. Rhule wants the team to focus on gaining field position in each scenario, and knowing the difference between goal-to-go versus further back field position.

“A quarterback has to be really cognizant down there of kind of having a sniper’s mentality of touchdown/check down,” Rhule said about the choices from each part of the red zone. “Not scrambling around and taking sacks.”

Rhule faces a tall task to turn around a storied Nebraska program that hasn't had a winning season since 2016. The Cornhuskers didn't earn more than five wins during Scott Frost's five-year tenure, and haven't won a bowl game in nearly a decade. Their win total is set at 6.5 in 2023 to break the trend, and Rhule will hope his new red zone strategy will be part of the solution in Lincoln.