The Huskers are off to a 5-0 start and beating our opponents by 3 possessions or more to start the year. But the schedule to this point has been relatively light, most likely leading to the Huskers not finding their way onto the AP top 25 this week. But that all ends this week with Nebraska getting the opportunity to take on the defending National Champions at Memorial Stadium for what could be a huge game for the program moving forward. On Monday, October 5th, Husker head coach Matt Rhule gave his usual press conference to the media. Here is a breakdown of what he had to say:
- Rhule was asked first about his appearance on the HBO series Lanterns, and the coach said he was asked to go out and film a role for the series and was happy to do it in order to grow the Husker brand
- Indiana has a great system that they are able to tweak here and there to better fit the scheme
- The Indiana assistants have been great and the continuity has shown in Indiana's success
- Due to the transfer portal when a school looks to higher a coach they expect to hire coaches who can bring a team over with them, which was different from when Rhule left Temple for Baylor
- Colandrea is considered a part of the Husker run game and they intend to let him play
- Some of Colandrea's runs are scrambles, and others are based off the defensive coverage
- Gottula is a versatile OL and Rhule appreciates what he is capable of giving the O-Line
- Tree Babalade has been playing better as the season has gone
- Feel's like the O-Line has six guys who are starters at the moment
- Indiana is very good at completing the back shoulder throw, which is a difficult throw to complete
- Indiana has an elite QB, good system, and good players top to bottom
- Rhule looks at the Indiana offense like its a triple option offense due to the kind of looks they can give a defense
- The running backs and receivers do not run out of bounds and they block very well
- Rhule feels the team has improved since the last time they played Indiana, noting that he thinks they did a poor job coaching that game. Noting that they were trying to win the game instead of just run the ball and slow the clock and scoring down
- Both Nebraska and Indiana are tops in the country in not turning the ball over
- Cignetti came into Indiana and brought in his developed culture and system along with bringing his own assistants and players
- Indiana does a good job evaluating talent in the portal
- Nebraska has changed it's tune on the transfer portal compared to when Rhule was hired, noting that they too go after players who have produced at any level
- Jamal Rule was ready to go if need be against Maryland, and we will see if he is fully ready to go against Indiana
- Mekhi Nelson hurt his ankle last Wednesday during practice, noting that Nelson was texting him that he was going to play Saturday regardless
- The crowd and the student section in Lincoln is next level and Rhule loves the level of involvement of the crowd
- Players don't have to like practice, but they have to respect it
- The Huskers need to focus on deliberate tackling and the O-Line needs to practice the Indiana pass rush
- There are a lot of players that are playing their best football right now for Nebraska, noting Williams Nwaneri and Vincent Shavers
- Rhule discussed the penalty situation during the Maryland game, noting that defensive holding was called on a run play, and a few other blatantly obvious bad calls
- The pre snap penalties are bothering coach and the staff needs to do a better job of fixing that
- On the roughing the snapper penalty Rhule said he made a poor decision on not asking to re-kick the PAT because he thought they had made the PAT and was under the impression he was just going to take the penalty yards on the kickoff
- Colandrea was taking responsibility for some of the pre snap penalties. Turns out the teams were not allowed to wear the headsets until the second half because Maryland's head sets were not working
- Nebraska was hit early by Maryland and things didn't look good to start, but the team didn't panic and just kept playing
- Rhule told Colandrea that the great ones aren't always great, but they find a way to be great and win
- Nebraska is not going to run people off the field, but they are gritty
- Rhule listen's to the B1G Coaches press conferences as well as a few others throughout the country
Rhule spoke for about 32 minutes today and seemed very complimentary of Indiana and he seems to expect that Nebraska is going to have to play gritty and disciplined if we are to pull off the upset. This will be the last time we hear from Rhule this week before the game, but coordinators will go on Wednesday.
