Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule feels like he has a team that can take the next step and start playing real, competitive football in the Big Ten.
If that is truly the case, it will have been a long time in coming for Nebraska. Since joining the Big Ten in 2012, the Huskers have never won the conference. They did make the conference championship game once, in 2012, but ended up losing to the Wisconsin Badgers, 70-31.
Nebraska’s time in the Big Ten is a stark contrast to the way things used to be. The Huskers won 46 conference championships while in the Big Eight and then in the Big 12. They also won five national championships, including three in the 1990s.
And yet, the best seasons under Rhule have been two 7-6 campaigns in 2024 and 2025.
The head coach was clear at Big Ten Media Days that he believes his program has to take that next step, but what does that look like?
“For us, we have to be better in November,” Rhule said, according to Daniel Hager of On3. “We’ve gotten off to good starts, but champions are made in those winning moments in the cold on the road late in the season. Those are championship moments. For us, we have to excel in those. It’s me, it’s our staff, our coaches, and our players.”
Matt Rhule says 7-6 is not good enough for Nebraska Cornhuskers
Rhule has been building something, for sure, at least in relation to the Scott Frost era of Nebraska football. Frost went 16-31 in five seasons, which makes Rhule’s 19-19 record seem great.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s average, though, and that’s something Rhule doesn’t want to be at Nebraska.
That means he and his players will have to start winning some big games, and those games typically come in the latter half of the season when the pressure is really on.
“You have to have players that want to be in those moments and they want the hat on their head when it matters. I think we have those guys,” Rhule said. “Some people can snap their fingers at it happens overnight. We’re builders. We’ve had to build, and we love doing it. We understand the expectation. That’s why we came to Nebraska. We didn’t come to Nebraska to go 7-6. We have to take a step this year.”
