Identifying Our Path Forward

[djw004]

I am trying to figure out what the hell we even do to figure out our program's struggles at this point. As I dive in, I am constantly conflicted with 2 Things - Our Defense and our Lines

When we hired Rhule I was excited for a couple of reasons:

1) We needed someone that at the very least respected defensive football, even if not a "savant" in that category. Just a healthy respect for it so as to not overlook the importance of solid defense like our previous head coach

2) We needed someone that could establish our lines in the B1G, and develop. And that is all that Rhule talked about for his first year+ which led me to believe it would happen

But here we are at the end of year 3 - with trenches that are sub par and a defense that, while statistically top 25, is filled with obvious deficiencies. 91st in takeaways, 102nd in Sacks. A defense that allowed (71) Michigan to run all over us, (97) Minnesota (37) Penn St (59) Cockeye to blow us out with physical dominance, and allow (95) Maryland their highest offensive output in B1G play. I am not saying it was all bad - USC was a solid performance, Northwestern put up their "normal", I'm even OK scratching MSU because of the insane conditions that day AND weirdly they had a solid offense most of the year. But against those teams that are physically demanding, we look incompetent

Here we are with obvious OL and DL deficiencies that have had 3 years to be solved and they are not solved. Here we are with a house of cards on defense - you can point to some strengths to justify the weaknesses.

And I believe this - we haven't dove all in when it comes to our roster creation, and we do not develop. All of the time when I talk to opposing fans I hear "You guys used to have homegrown linemen...what happened to that? That's what you need to do to get back" and they never understand - we have a FUCK ton of local talent on our lines. Which leads me to this - we don't develop our talent. We need it delivered to us in its final form and hope it translates here.

We dip our toe in developing local talent - Rhule praises the local kids publicly but we aren't making them B1G ready. We dip our toe in the portal, but we don't go all in enough to get the real game changing prospects. And that leads me to this question - when it comes to our development/roster is our biggest issue:

A) Assistant Coaches - technique, system, personal player development​

B) Strength and Conditioning​

C) Evaluation​

D) All of the Above​

E) something else​

​

I am landing on this - Pat Stewart HAS to prove his worth this offseason. Hit the portal hard as a "stop gap" to our development deficiencies, COMMIT to the portal. Simultaneously COMMIT to developing those local guys we have and that we recruit, selling them on what they see in the output of top tier portal guys "that's what it should look like". We are in an era where you can do both, and we are at the point where we have to do both perfectly if we don't want to suffer for years to wait for the development to show tangible results.

 

[SlumpBuster]

I have always believed that if I was a college coach or an NFL GM I would put almost all my effort into getting the best lines on either side of the ball and a QB before I did ANYTHING.

You know how good of a coordinator you look like when you have a dominant d-line? How good almost any QB or RB can look when they've got all day to throw or huge holes to run through?

It literally opens up everything else. Look no further than Bo. Dude 2 of the best DTs we've had in the 2000s and his defenses were unreal. He for some reason can never get another dominant player on the d-line and his defenses start to really suck. I mean epically suck.

Build your team from the lines out.

I'm not saying you don't need good position players, but I'm saying you can cover up a lot of weaknesses with dominant line play.



And to your point OP....line play used to be our calling card but it's been ok in a few years but absolute trash every other year of the past 2 decades.

 

[Bootleg11]

I have always believed that if I was a college coach or an NFL GM I would put almost all my effort into getting the best lines on either side of the ball and a QB before I did ANYTHING.

You know how good of a coordinator you look like when you have a dominant d-line? How good almost any QB or RB can look when they've got all day to throw or huge holes to run through?

It literally opens up everything else. Look no further than Bo. Dude 2 of the best DTs we've had in the 2000s and his defenses were unreal. He for some reason can never get another dominant player on the d-line and his defenses start to really suck. I mean epically suck.

Build your team from the lines out.

I'm not saying you don't need good position players, but I'm saying you can cover up a lot of weaknesses with dominant line play.

QB + trenches is the key to consistent winning.

I feel like Nebraska has been in the vicious cycle of getting decent QBs, fringe 4 star WR/DB/RB types but keeps taking this "development approach" with the OL/DL. The DL has had some success in development (not this year) but the OL has not. Benhart and Evans probably being the exception? Scott was a good OL but a transfer, Spindler transfer etc etc.

Those fringe 4 star skill players aren't really ever going to take off if Nebraska can't block up front or stop the run.

Maybe there are more examples on the OL but I'm struggling to think of any in the past few years.

 

[Bootleg11]

I am trying to figure out what the hell we even do to figure out our program's struggles at this point. As I dive in, I am constantly conflicted with 2 Things - Our Defense and our Lines

When we hired Rhule I was excited for a couple of reasons:

1) We needed someone that at the very least respected defensive football, even if not a "savant" in that category. Just a healthy respect for it so as to not overlook the importance of solid defense like our previous head coach

2) We needed someone that could establish our lines in the B1G, and develop. And that is all that Rhule talked about for his first year+ which led me to believe it would happen

But here we are at the end of year 3 - with trenches that are sub par and a defense that, while statistically top 25, is filled with obvious deficiencies. 91st in takeaways, 102nd in Sacks. A defense that allowed (71) Michigan to run all over us, (97) Minnesota (37) Penn St (59) Cockeye to blow us out with physical dominance, and allow (95) Maryland their highest offensive output in B1G play. I am not saying it was all bad - USC was a solid performance, Northwestern put up their "normal", I'm even OK scratching MSU because of the insane conditions that day AND weirdly they had a solid offense most of the year. But against those teams that are physically demanding, we look incompetent

Here we are with obvious OL and DL deficiencies that have had 3 years to be solved and they are not solved. Here we are with a house of cards on defense - you can point to some strengths to justify the weaknesses.

And I believe this - we haven't dove all in when it comes to our roster creation, and we do not develop. All of the time when I talk to opposing fans I hear "You guys used to have homegrown linemen...what happened to that? That's what you need to do to get back" and they never understand - we have a FUCK ton of local talent on our lines. Which leads me to this - we don't develop our talent. We need it delivered to us in its final form and hope it translates here.

We dip our toe in developing local talent - Rhule praises the local kids publicly but we aren't making them B1G ready. We dip our toe in the portal, but we don't go all in enough to get the real game changing prospects. And that leads me to this question - when it comes to our development/roster is our biggest issue:

A) Assistant Coaches - technique, system, personal player development​

B) Strength and Conditioning​

C) Evaluation​

D) All of the Above​

E) something else​

​

I am landing on this - Pat Stewart HAS to prove his worth this offseason. Hit the portal hard as a "stop gap" to our development deficiencies, COMMIT to the portal. Simultaneously COMMIT to developing those local guys we have and that we recruit, selling them on what they see in the output of top tier portal guys "that's what it should look like". We are in an era where you can do both, and we are at the point where we have to do both perfectly if we don't want to suffer for years to wait for the development to show tangible results.

It is crazy that Matt Rhule who was known for this physical brand of OL/DL development let his DL be this bad in year 3.

 

[Tsakoi]

I thought about this over the weekend, but had trouble figuring out a way to express it. I'm not certain this post will convey my thoughts but here goes.

Seems to me that Rhule hasn't had a consistent philosophy or a balanced roster.

Year one: Traditional college football approach. Recruit Texas. Recruit local. Endear yourselves to Nebraska high school programs and pick off some game changers from outside. Don't rely heavily on the portal. Build a program focused on development. Like I said a very traditional approach.

Year two: Scrap parts if the year one plan because a 5 star QB dropped in our lap and we need to recruit portal to give him something to work with. Money not there for the best of the best so look for bargains. Switch OC in the middle of the year because the offense is behind the defense.

Year three: We need to be good now. Spend on portal to give our QB some weapons because the defense will be hobbled by graduation. The development is off balance because of the departing seniors putting the offense ahead of the defense. Abandon Nebraska recruits because of the lack of ROI.

A common theme is roster imbalance and changing priorities each year.

 

[Kaladin]

I thought about this over the weekend, but had trouble figuring out a way to express it. I'm not certain this post will convey my thoughts but here goes.

Seems to me that Rhule hasn't had a consistent philosophy or a balanced roster.

Year one: Traditional college football approach. Recruit Texas. Recruit local. Endear yourselves to Nebraska high school programs and pick off some game changers from outside. Don't rely heavily on the portal. Build a program focused on development. Like I said a very traditional approach.

Year two: Scrap parts if the year one plan because a 5 star QB dropped in our lap and we need to recruit portal to give him something to work with. Money not there for the best of the best so look for bargains. Switch OC in the middle of the year because the offense is behind the defense.

Year three: We need to be good now. Spend on portal to give our QB some weapons because the defense will be hobbled by graduation. The development is off balance because of the departing seniors putting the offense ahead of the defense. Abandon Nebraska recruits because of the lack of ROI.

A common theme is roster imbalance and changing priorities each year.

agreed

Trying to do to many things at once and please too many people

Hopefully things come into focus this offseason

 

[djw004]

I thought about this over the weekend, but had trouble figuring out a way to express it. I'm not certain this post will convey my thoughts but here goes.

Seems to me that Rhule hasn't had a consistent philosophy or a balanced roster.

Year one: Traditional college football approach. Recruit Texas. Recruit local. Endear yourselves to Nebraska high school programs and pick off some game changers from outside. Don't rely heavily on the portal. Build a program focused on development. Like I said a very traditional approach.

Year two: Scrap parts if the year one plan because a 5 star QB dropped in our lap and we need to recruit portal to give him something to work with. Money not there for the best of the best so look for bargains. Switch OC in the middle of the year because the offense is behind the defense.

Year three: We need to be good now. Spend on portal to give our QB some weapons because the defense will be hobbled by graduation. The development is off balance because of the departing seniors putting the offense ahead of the defense. Abandon Nebraska recruits because of the lack of ROI.

A common theme is roster imbalance and changing priorities each year.

I think this is very well said, and a slant I hadn't realized prior to reading it. There's absolutely truth to it.

Now reconcile that with the primary thought that I've agreed with most often, and is peddled by DB: Nothing catches Rhule off guard. He has a plan for everything. Is that because there is no plan and we just ride the most recent wave with a level of competence?

 

[Alcaus]

I disagree somewhat regarding the offensive line. I think they're a good run blocking unit but poor in pass protect. Prichett is an obvious developmental player on the OL. Turner Corcoran was clearly improved this season. Obviously not a unit I expected to be so poor in passing situations, most likely a physical issue which points to recruiting/talent acquisition. My feel was pass protect improved towards the end of the season (maybe related to Lateef's mobility idk).

DL is a complete mystery to me. There's a lot of youth there but I don't feel like the defense as a whole is super physical or plays with their hair on fire which is just an attitude thing imo.

Rhule has utilized the portal since he arrived but didn't really embrace it until the 2025 class. I think that was a mistake knowing where NIL was headed and an obvious change in philosophy from what he proclaimed when he was first hired.

I do agree that Stewart has to be lights out if this 2026 recruiting strategy is going to pan out. Not that they could really do anything else, they're hamstrung by roster makeup which again was Rhule's decision early on.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

I disagree somewhat regarding the offensive line. I think they're a good run blocking unit but poor in pass protect. Prichett is an obvious developmental player on the OL. Turner Corcoran was clearly improved this season. Obviously not a unit I expected to be so poor in passing situations, most likely a physical issue which points to recruiting/talent acquisition. My feel was pass protect improved towards the end of the season (maybe related to Lateef's mobility idk).

DL is a complete mystery to me. There's a lot of youth there but I don't feel like the defense as a whole is super physical or plays with their hair on fire which is just an attitude thing imo.

Rhule has utilized the portal since he arrived but didn't really embrace it until the 2025 class. I think that was a mistake knowing where NIL was headed and an obvious change in philosophy from what he proclaimed when he was first hired.

I do agree that Stewart has to be lights out if this 2026 recruiting strategy is going to pan out. Not that they could really do anything else, they're hamstrung by roster makeup which again was Rhule's decision early on.

the hair on fire and attitude thing on defense is noticeable when you watch other teams. I watched the Iron Bowl for example and the amount of effort out of Auburns defenders was 10x ours.

 

[Alcaus]

the hair on fire and attitude thing on defense is noticeable when you watch other teams. I watched the Iron Bowl for example and the amount of effort out of Auburns defenders was 10x ours.

It really is. Even in the games we've played this season. Michigan and Cockeye knock the shit out of you. There's just an aggressive, violent attitude our team lacks comparatively.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

It really is. Even in the games we've played this season. Michigan and Cockeye knock the shit out of you. There's just an aggressive, violent attitude our team lacks comparatively.

I would gladly take Durkin at DC and have him bring a handful of Auburn defenders with him lol

 

[Kaladin]

It really is. Even in the games we've played this season. Michigan and Cockeye knock the shit out of you. There's just an aggressive, violent attitude our team lacks comparatively.

I think the lack of aggressiveness and attitude goes back to the d-line issue. Nasty d-lineman set the tone for the defense

 

[Alcaus]

I think the lack of aggressiveness and attitude goes back to the d-line issue. Nasty d-lineman set the tone for the defense

I mean I'd love to see a linebacker that looks like they want to hurt someone.

 

[Bootleg11]

I disagree somewhat regarding the offensive line. I think they're a good run blocking unit but poor in pass protect. Prichett is an obvious developmental player on the OL. Turner Corcoran was clearly improved this season. Obviously not a unit I expected to be so poor in passing situations, most likely a physical issue which points to recruiting/talent acquisition. My feel was pass protect improved towards the end of the season (maybe related to Lateef's mobility idk).

DL is a complete mystery to me. There's a lot of youth there but I don't feel like the defense as a whole is super physical or plays with their hair on fire which is just an attitude thing imo.

Rhule has utilized the portal since he arrived but didn't really embrace it until the 2025 class. I think that was a mistake knowing where NIL was headed and an obvious change in philosophy from what he proclaimed when he was first hired.

I do agree that Stewart has to be lights out if this 2026 recruiting strategy is going to pan out. Not that they could really do anything else, they're hamstrung by roster makeup which again was Rhule's decision early on.

I think there's probably 3 or 4 kids on that DL that were a year away from being full time guys...Nebraska didn't seem to recognize this and didn't backfill their DL with experienced big bodies. Just a huge miss by them.

 

[RedSavage]

It really is. Even in the games we've played this season. Michigan and Cockeye knock the shit out of you. There's just an aggressive, violent attitude our team lacks comparatively.

So true. I watch our guys get fucking wrekt out there by other teams with the hit stick and we can barely make a gd tackle half the time

 

[djw004]

I would gladly take Durkin at DC and have him bring a handful of Auburn defenders with him lol

Do we think DC is really going to come open after 1 year?

I will say - at several points throughout the year Rhule seemed pretty frustrated by JoBu. Not sure if it's enough to lead to a moving on...

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Rhule needs to hire a top 25 staff if he wants to be a top 25 team.

 

[Juro]

Its okay to be a developmental school, but you need developmental teachers/coaches/staff.

When you bring in coaches that have no real big experience and proof that they can develop certain positions, you only hurt yourself by having them teach and develop the roster.

-Butler had no real DC experience and proof that he could develop and run a defense at a P2 level.
-Bradden, while with some experience on the Chiefs DL, didn't have the proof that he could turn water into wine for a 3 man front.
-Dvoracek, while with some experience coaching LBers from the NFL, had no proof that he could get 3 coordinated in a 3-3-5.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Bringing in one or two unproven assistant coaches is fine, but only when you have a strong core and identity to help develop those coaches.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Do we think DC is really going to come open after 1 year?

I will say - at several points throughout the year Rhule seemed pretty frustrated by JoBu. Not sure if it's enough to lead to a moving on...

Nebraska should not be where guys learn to do jobs. That shit is cool at lower levels but not P2.

 

[herbsinator]

Do we think DC is really going to come open after 1 year?

I will say - at several points throughout the year Rhule seemed pretty frustrated by JoBu. Not sure if it's enough to lead to a moving on...

He did move on from his OC after 1.5 years, so not totally without precedent, but I’m guessing JoBu is back. Probably comes down to how Rhule views the issues this year (talent vs scheme)