Rhule's Nebraska: Vol. II
The spring game revealed a revamped Nebraska with several new faces on offense to potentially help the Huskers break out in year two under Coach Rhule.
I’ve been pretty bullish on Nebraska’s prospects under Matt Rhule from the beginning. Beyond his success at Temple, which was impressive, what he did in Waco at Baylor was really something and I had a pretty good seat to observe it while covering the Big 12 heavily.
His knack for finding and developing talent, particularly on defense, is really something else. At a place like Nebraska, it’s always possible to be good on offense with the right quarterback or hire, but defense is tricky. In year one, Rhule immediately made the defense respectable and they went from giving up 27.6 ppg and finishing 92nd in defensive FEI to yielding just 18.2 ppg while jumping up to 15th in defensive FEI.
That’s remarkable.
However, the offense was awful. They scored just 18 ppg, wasting a good defensive effort against Colorado early in the year (and at other points in the season) and only managed a 5-7 record.
For year two, the defense only needed to add a couple of transfers as they return most of the main characters. The task was obvious…fix the offense.
Rhule, ever the one to slow and steady his way to his destination, appears to be approaching the problem by potentially starting 5-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola. The youngster got several drives in the Nebraska spring game and I took a look to see what we’re looking at in terms of Husker offensive hopes in 2024.
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