Steven Sipple: Credit Rhule for cultivating “win now” mentality for Nebraska, which has the goods to make it happen

If you’re a Nebraska football fan — one who pays close attention — you know Matt Rhule has a good team on his hands.

It’s clearly a team capable of ending a seven-year bowl drought. Ending the bewildering streak should be regarded as a minimum requirement for this bunch.

Along those lines, I’m sticking hard to a 7-5 prediction for a final regular-season record — and somehow resisting the temptation to predict eight or even nine wins — in part because I respect the immense challenge of a program trying to reverse fortunes.

Rhule has his hands full here. Let’s be real, a lot of players on Nebraska’s roster have become accustomed to losing.

But one gets the distinct feeling Rhule is sick and tired of losing. You could hear it in his voice in that wonderful viral clip from Nebraska’s open practice August 3. It was both what he said and maybe even more so how he said it that was striking to me. He admonished the team’s seniors for sitting down on the sideline benches early in the practice. He was incensed when a fight broke out later in the workout.

“You guys want to know why we’ve lost a lot of close games,” he shouted after gathering the team around him. “You just saw it.”

He called out veteran defensive lineman Jimari Butler , one of the team’s better players. That shows a high degree of coach-player trust.

The sense of urgency in Rhule’s voice was evident.

“It’s time to win. It’s time to win,” he told his players. “Winning is every day.”

Takeaways from Nebraska’s media availability Friday: Raiola operates well in key situations, and Dowdell coming on strong

Easy to understand why Rhule is tired of losing

It is most certainly time for Nebraska to win much more regularly on autumn Saturdays. Time for the program to show easily discernible improvement. It has the players to do it.

And, yes, it’s easy to understand why Rhule is tired of losing. He was 11-27 (.289) as the Carolina Panthers’ head coach, then 5-7 in his first season at Nebraska, the Huskers losing by three points in three of their last four games.

Rhule likes this team. He should like this team. But he’s also realistic enough to know that if it’s going to enjoy the sort of success a loyal fan base expects — and that he expects — it’ll have to win a bunch of close games.

You know what? He’s geared much of Nebraska’s preparation with that idea in mind.

My heavens, much of what I see and hear from Rhule makes sense.

“I think coach (Rhule) has done the best I’ve ever been around this year of (coaching) situational football,” said Nebraska offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield , who’s in his eighth season with Rhule.

Nebraska has an extra week of preseason camp this summer because of the way the school’s academic calendar is structured. Satterfield said the bonus time is useful to the team in part because it allows for more opportunities by coaches to drill down on situations that often determine the result of close games.

Mind you, the close-game discussion isn’t just a Nebraska phenomenon. You see it throughout the college game. But we all know the Huskers’ ungodly amount of close losses in recent years.

When it comes to “situational football,” Satterfield says it might mean Nebraska has the ball with six seconds left before halftime deep in an opponent’s territory, with zero timeouts, needing a field goal.

“It’s understanding at the quarterback position that the ball has to come out (quickly), and it’s got to go across the goal line,” Satterfield said. “You can’t scramble. You can’t miss the opportunity to kick a field goal. That’s one of the situations we did (Friday).”

Rhule has the QB he needs

Another example: Nebraska is on the opponent’s 18-yard line with 12 seconds remaining and one time out. What now?

“When we get into those situations, we’re going to be ready to go,” Satterfield said confidently.

Perhaps it gives some Nebraska fans pause that the Huskers appear likely to start a true freshman quarterback. Is Dylan Raiola equipped mentally to handle the fine details of his position in the din of daunting Big Ten stadiums — details that often separate the great from the good?

Satterfield said Raiola operates at a “high level” in situational football. That doesn’t surprise me because Raiola takes pride in understanding all aspects of the sport. Sometimes I have to remind myself he’s only a teen, such is his impressive overall football acumen.

Plus, “ Glenn (Thomas) is really, really, really good at that (situational) stuff,” Satterfield said of Nebraska’s first-year quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator. “He’s a lot smarter than I am. He teaches those guys. He puts them in scenarios in the meeting room to front load them in situations to make sure they know how to react when they come up.”

In other words, Rhule and company aren’t just hoping Nebraska can reverse its fortunes in close games; this staff is trying diligently to do something about it.

You hear it in Rhule’s voice. You see it in the way he structures practice.

I’ll be extremely surprised if Nebraska fans don’t see easily discernible progress in the program in 2024.

Husker offense could make big turnaround

Never mind what I say, though, Rhule has a fan in Urban Meyer , one of the best coaches of all time.

Meyer last week told Colin Cowherd that Nebraska will be the surprise team in the Big Ten this season.

“They’re not good enough to win it, but they’re good enough to make some noise,” Meyer said.

Meyer said something else that was important. During his time as Ohio State’s head coach (2012 to 2018), he said, he was “shocked when I was on the sideline a couple of times we played against (Nebraska). You talk about a team that didn’t look like a Nebraska mold.”

Amen to that. I’m still amazed by how many Nebraska fans tell me that talent hasn’t been an issue in recent seasons. Those fans have forgotten what a championship team looks like.

Nebraska still isn’t there in terms of overall talent, size and athleticism. The roster still looks nothing like Ohio State’s or Oregon’s or Michigan’s or perhaps even Penn State’s. You have to be honest about this stuff. But Rhule already has markedly improved his roster, especially at the receiver positions. I’ve said it before: With Raiola and those receivers, the Huskers could be on the verge of remarkable improvement on offense.

Rhule said the O-line held up well this past week, and I’m told the kicking game was strong.

We know the defense is good, and could be great — as in top-10 great.

We also know the head coach is operating with a “win now” mentality even though it’s only his second year in charge. His wealth of veterans — a total of 19 returning starters — surely appreciate the heck out of that.

Rhule knows Nebraska has the goods to make easily discernible progress happen — and so should the rest of us.

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The post Steven Sipple: Credit Rhule for cultivating “win now” mentality for Nebraska, which has the goods to make it happen appeared first on On3 .