As Matt Rhule enters a make-or-break season for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, it doesn’t look like many analysts think he will impress. Among some of his biggest critics is Ari Wasserman, who recently ranked every single Big Ten coach. He ranked Rhule squarely in the bottom half of the rankings at No. 10. While that’s not a huge insult considering some of the names ranked ahead of him, it’s definitely not exactly a rosy outlook for a coach entering his fourth season in Lincoln.
“We are still waiting for things to click for Rhule at Nebraska. Last season started with a ton of hope, but the wheels eventually fell off, most notably with the injury and transfer of high-profile quarterback Dylan Raiola,” Wasserman reportedly wrote.
“Rhule, though, came to Nebraska with a ton of success at Baylor and Temple, giving Cornhuskers faithful hope that he can turn around this program. The problem? Both turnarounds at Temple and Baylor happened by year three. We are now entering year four of Rhule’s reign at Nebraska, and the team is coming off a seven-win season.”
One reason this ranking has to be frustrating for Husker fans is that many of the coaches are relatively new to the Big Ten. Curt Cignetti, who arrived at Indiana one year after Rhule joined Nebraska, is No. 1 on the list. Ryan Day follows at No. 2, Oregon’s Dan Lanning is at No. 3, Kyle Whittingham is No. 4 on the list entering his first season at Michigan, Kirk Ferentz is No. 5 for Iowa, Lincoln Riley at USC is No. 6, Bret Bielema at Illinois is No. 7, Jedd Fisch enters his second year at Washington at No. 8, and Matt Campbell is in his first year with Penn State at No. 9 on Wasserman’s list.
Ari Wasserman ranking shows Matt Rhule must prove Nebraska football turnaround
In defense of the Cornhuskers’ head coach, Wasserman overlooks that his previous two stops, where he turned the teams around in Year 3, were in easier contexts. At Temple, he inherited a program that went 4-7 the season before his arrival. After a 2-10 debut in 2013, the Owls improved to 6-6 in year two and 10-4 in year three. By the end of his tenure, Temple had reached back-to-back American Athletic Conference Championship games and gone bowling three times. Still, the American Athletic was a much easier place to rebuild quickly than the Big Ten.
Rhule's next stop was Baylor, a program attempting to recover from one of the most noteworthy scandals in college athletics. The Bears went 1-11 in their first season, improved to 7-6 in year two, and finished 11-3 in year three while appearing in the Big 12 Championship Game and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The Big 12 is a Power conference, but just barely these days, and Baylor has a long history of a few seasons of success, followed by prolonged stumbles.
On the other hand, no one can argue that Rhule hasn’t had missteps. He’s essentially had two big misses at quarterback with Raiola and Jeff Sims. He’s gambling this year that his new QB1, Anthony Colandrea, can limit turnovers and repeat the success he had at UNLV in 2025.
The Nebraska coach has a chance to prove his critics wrong this year and make a big leap up the rankings. Or he can prove them right, further frustrate Husker fans, and start feeling his seat warm up.
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