The mantra that followed Matt Rhule to Nebraska was that his rebuilds are slow and steady and that in Year 3, fans really start to see the turnaround. Husker fans entered 2025 hoping beyond hope that it would be the case.
After getting their doors blown off for the third straight game to end the season, it's hard to see much reason to be optimistic. The Cornhuskers are essentially having to go back to the drawing board.
Except for Emmett Johnson, it's hard to argue that there was an aspect of the Nebraska football team that got better as the year went on. And as the season is now officially over, it's hard to see a unit that doesn't need a ton of improvement if the Huskers want to compete in 2026.
Worst of all is that for the third straight game, the Huskers simply weren't competitive from the second quarter on. After they built a 14-7 lead over Utah, the Utes rattled off 37 straight points. NU had 14 yards of offense in the second quarter.
There was plenty of talk leading up to the Las Vegas Bowl that Phil Snow had figured out what was wrong with the defense. Granted, most of that talk was from Snow himself, but he touched on the things that had been the problem all year.
John Butler's defense had defenders out of position too much. They seemed confused. And when they were in position, they missed a key tackle. That actually seemed like stuff Snow could fix in a few weeks.
If anything, the defense was worse. Granted, Utah is better than either Penn State or Iowa, but there was seemingly more confusion. On one play, eight defenders all followed the man in motion while the ball went the other way. How is that possible? How were they fooled that badly?
To be clear, it wasn't a fake. It wasn't a sneaky trick play. It was just presnap motion that completely and totally fooled the vast majority of the defense.
The offense wasn't much better. Dana Holgorsen's unit has been mostly stymied (outside of Emmett Johnson) in the last three games. They finally scored their third touchdown with 2 minutes to go in the game, and the score, completely out of hand. It was still the first time since November 9 that Nebraska scored more than 16 points.
The good news is the gruesome way Nebraska finished the season is now officially in the rear-view mirror. It's time to look to 2026. But there's never been more negativity around Matt Rhule's program, and it's hard to fault anyone who has lost all confidence in NU's direction. Rhule and his staff have a lot of work to do if they want to win back the fanbase.