Isn't it fitting that I'm the one writing this? I mean, when you're named after a fictional mobster (Santino “Sonny” Corleone) AND you write about football for a living, you pray for a story like this to make it's way into your orbit. Well, Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule provided an answer to my prayers when he addressed the media earlier this week, somehow turning a question about Nebraska's bowl eligibility into a brief dissertation on the inner workings of the New York City mafia.

“This is a life we’ve chosen. This world, to me, is always like the mafia,” Rhule said, for some reason(?), per the X/Twitter account of Mitch Sherman of The Athletic. “You get hired, eventually you get whacked, and you live as much as you can in between.”

Now the closest connection I have to the mafia is my first name (which was enough for me to be able to tell countless convincing lies to drunk party-goers during college who asked me ‘Is your family in the mafia?'). I've seen The Godfather so many times I can practically quote it word for word. I've watched and re-watched The Sopranos from start to finish multiple times too. Throw in Goodfellas, Casino, A Bronx Tale, and a number of other gangster films, and I'm as well-versed in mob happenings as anyone else who has unlimited access to streaming services. So as far as I can tell, Rhule has it spot on.

Now being ‘whacked' as a college football coach has a slightly different meaning than it does when we're talking about Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero being ‘whacked,' but we can all see where Rhule is going with this, right? And Rhule knows that he's in charge of a Nebraska football program that is desperate to return to the level of national prominence they had accrued in the 90's. He may only in year one, but Rhule must know he won't have too long of a leash.

The Nebraska football team is 5-5 and searching for their first bowl appearance in seven years, and with one win in their final two games (at Wisconsin and home vs. Iowa), then Bada-Beep, Bada-Bap, Bada-Boop, Bada-Beep, the Cornhuskers are going bowling.