Matt Rhule accused of throwing Nebraska football players under the bus

There sre few things that point to problems in the Nebraska football program than overanalyziing comments made by the head coach. And on Monday, it officially began. While it’s not surprising, it’s a bummer that we’re here … again … just 21 games into Matt Rhule’s stay in Lincoln.

The over analyzing began after Rhule held his weekly press conference and was asked about the problems with the offense. He was quite clear that he’s not entirely sure what is at the root of things. To that end, he’s bringing in “outside eyes” to evaluate everything.

“I think my job is always to consider everything.  I think part of that is what are the problems, what are the issues?  It' s looking at everything.  So, I think one of the first things I' m doing this week is I have a lot of friends in the business, had some outside people kind of come in and look at, hey, tell me what you see,” the Nebraska football coach said.

Nebraska football head coach accused of throwing players under the bus

Rhule also went in on the fact that he knows some of his players need to perform better. 

"I owe it to everyone to be honest," he added. "I'm trying to find a way to get the players to be more consistent, so this is probably the first time you guys have heard me say, 'The players have to have play.' Like, they have to play."

It was here where at least one writer decided this was throwing Nebraska players under the bus. 

“2nd-year coach Matt Rhule is pointing the finger at - Cornhuskers offensive players & not play-caller Marcus Satterfield,” Football Scoop’s John Brice said on Twitter.

However, it’s worth noting that Rhule has made similar comments about players before. He hasn’t pulled punches, especially after losses with making sure people knew he wasn’t happy about the level of play.

He also laid out what’s grinding his gears about the talk centering on Satterfield.

"They can't just say, 'Well, oh, man, did you read what they're saying about Satt?'," said Rhule. "You are Satt. You are the offense. You're out on the field, like, like, Jacory's (Jacory Barney Jr.) not worried about what play-call Satt is calling. Jacory is out there flying around. You can't throw a bubble out on the perimeter and guys not block. It's one man against another man. I've got to block you.”

The comments about perimeter blocking have come up before. In fact they’ve come up all season. It’s likely one of the reasons people see the head coach as protecting his offensive coordinator.

Rhule wasn’t throwing his players under the bus. The entire press conference makes it clear that everyone is sharing the blame. And Nebraska football players are not clear of the blame. And while Satterfield’s performance has been bad, a good head coach isn’t going to let his players think they’re doing things right when they aren’t.