One of the oddest turn of events this winter has been several members of the media dubbing Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule the face of all ills in the sport.
To some degree, Rhule brought it on himself, as he’s one of the only coaches in the sport willing to say the quiet part out loud. When he announced the cancellation of the Huskers’ spring game, he was among the first to do it. Plenty of people didn’t like the idea that he was canceling it because of possible tampering that can be done by teams that just have to turn on the TV in order to try and recruit players to the portal.
Now, after making comments about why Nebraska football is thinking hard about watering down the Huskers’ non-conference schedule, Rhule is taking fire again. This despite the fact that it’s a practice that isn’t new. He’s simply among the first to be honest about the approach out loud. Stewart Mandel was the latest to blame Rhule for something that schools have talked about since the Big Ten and the SEC became super conferences.
This is certainly a take from Stewart Mandel (via his March 5 Mailbag column) pic.twitter.com/0IRCkAWVzo
— Dave Feit (@FeitCanWrite) March 6, 2025
Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule takes blame for entirety of college football
Mandel’s argument started off on the wrong foot:
“I have a particular bone to pick with Matt Rhule, whose 12-13 record in his first two seasons at Nebraska apparently has turned him into the arbiter of all things college football,” he wrote.
And let’s be clear here. Rhule is not the arbiter of anything. He’s not saying that anyone else should follow the Huskers lead when it comes to an easier non-confernece and then a 9-game murderer’s row of a conference schedule. Rhule has always said its what he’s doing. No one else.
"“I have a particular bone to pick with Matt Rhule, whose 12-13 record in his first two seasons at Nebraska apparently has turned him into the arbiter of all things college football,”"Stewart Mandel
“First, he touched off the spring game revolt, and then, after Nebraska canceled its upcoming home-and-home with Tennessee, went on Urban Meyer’s podcast and said, “Why would you ever play one of those games?”
Then Mandel really went in:
“I’ll tell you why: The fans like them! Much more so than watching their team play Akron and Houston Christian, Nebraska’s two nonconference home opponents this season. Even if it means the Huskers might win seven games instead of eight.”
This is where The Athletic writer really missed the point. Nebraska fans want as many wins as they can get at this point. The Cornhuskers just made it to their first bowl game in almost a decade. It’s absolute lunacy to think NU fans don’t want to win 8 games instead of 7 next year or the year after.
The Nebraska football team has been on a long run of 4 or 5 wins at the most. Maybe in another couple of years. Maybe after Matt Rhule shows he really has righted the ship, we can talk about “quality” wins. But for now, any win will do.
And of course, there’s the added bonus that Matt Rhule did not say that anyone else should do what the Nebraska football team is doing. He simply laid out his approach. That is matches what other programs is doing is what Mandel is really mad about. And he should focus his rage accordingly.