How Matt Rhule injected hope into despondent fans with the hiring of Dana Holgorsen

When you're a college coach, you only get one mulligan with hiring and firing coordinators. The next time you need to, it's too late: you'll be the one on the chopping block. Matt Rhule took his shot when he replaced Marcus Satterfield with Dana Holgorosen just three weeks ago. He did it to fix Nebraska football immediately.

"This is not about next year," Rhule said when he made the decision. "It's about this year." It's already paid off, as Nebraska defeated Wisconsin to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2016.

You've read the commentary. Maybe you've said it yourself.

It's just a desperate move to keep fans happy. You can't just change your offense in the middle of the season. Teams have tried this before and it doesn't work.

Talk about freezing cold takes exposed.

Coaching matters, doesn't it? Matt Rhule found a coach who unlocked all the latent potential in Nebraska's offense. Dana Holgorsen may not be a magician but he's an expert at overall game planning.

More than that, Holgorsen can simplify the game plan and communicate it simply to the players. Then there are the accountability and motivational pieces. Did Nebraska's receivers suddenly learn how to block? Of course not. Did Husker back suddenly learn to look for holes? Nope. Did Dylan Raiola suddenly learn to read a third-down blitz? No, again.

But Holgorsen, somehow, got an offense that was stuck in second gear to stomp on the pedal and score 44 points on a defense that allowed 16 last week to #1 Oregon. (And it should have been 52 had Banks and Neyor not dropped TD passes that hit them in the hands.) Maybe it feels magic. But it's just good coaching. Attention to detail. Communication. Simplification.

Nebraska football head coach fixed things faster than people realized

Now, we've heard Rhule say things like, "We're doing the same things. Same plays." In principle, maybe that's true. But I don't know if I quite believe him based on what I've seen. There have been some new wrinkles, including formations (mostly against Wisconsin). Two back shotgun sets. A lot more motion as eye candy and to get playmakers in space. Unbalanced formations. That swing pass to Emmett Johnson on third down when everyone went left except EJ who was wide open to the right is a prime example:

What Holgorsen was able to do in three weeks is nothing short of astounding. Nebraska previously scored 40 points only once this year--against UTEP. Nebraska never scored more than 35 points last season. In Matt Rhule's 113 games as a college head coach his teams have only scored 40+ points 16 times.

Most importantly, this move has injected hope into a despondent fanbase that began to doubt Rhule and wondered about the future of this program.

That's why ultimately this move was about Matt Rhule's leadership. After all, this is his team, not Holgorsen's. Who knows if Holgorosen will stay on as OC next season (I hope he does--we all hope he does, right?), but this move proved that Matt Rhule is beginning to adapt his leadership of this program.

Not every game has to be 17-10. Not every game has to come down to the fourth quarter. Not every game needs to be a one-score game. You can be a defensive-led football team and still score a lot of points. You can throw the ball in Nebraska in November. Your defense shouldn't have to be perfect and limit opponents to 20 points every game to get the win.

He had to make this move. And by golly, it worked.

"There's nothing I won't to do get us over the top," Rhule said just before he hired Holgorsen. He takes his role very seriously. He wants to win more than any of us. He believes in his process. He believes in his team. He believes in Nebraska.

And after last Saturday, I think Nebraska Football Nation believes in Matt Rhule again.