2025-26 #PortalSZN Thread

[DrinkItIn]

I’m just hoping that the extra element to defend (legit QB running threat) will help us take the lid off the defense now and then. Would be nice to watch an offense that can score from anywhere on something other than a WR tunnel screen.

I hope so, because I’m beyond tired of watching us get a lead and then immediately go vanilla. That’s been my biggest gripe with Rhule so far — the moment NU goes up, I feel like he crawls into a shell instead of stepping on someone’s throat and try putting the game away.

 

[Flabio]

I hope so, because I’m beyond tired of watching us get a lead and then immediately go vanilla. That’s been my biggest gripe with Rhule so far — the moment NU goes up, I feel like he crawls into a shell instead of stepping on someone’s throat and try putting the game away.

I guess if we had a killer defense then it could make sense. Get a good lead and then just field position them or turn them over to death.

 

[Herbie]

Nice that dom Raiola is gone and Holgs isn’t handcuffed by a mid qb and his dad

 

[nja13]

It’s just entirely unpersuasive to say that you are going to lose the guy responsible for the turnaround - a guy that you wanted to make one of top 2 highest paid ST coaches in the country - but do nothing to replace him, and yet you will be better on special teams.

I don't really see it that way. They are saying they liked the guy so much and thought so highly of his process that they are going to have the guys who worked closely with Ek continue that process. Hiring a new guy from the outside would be throwing everything Ek did out the window and starting over. Who knows how that would go.

Yeah, maybe the key ingredient here is Ek himself and his former assistants won't be able to replicate his success, but I understand what they are trying to do. They're not "not replacing him," they are replacing him with the guy(s) who worked the closest to him and know his methods.

And yeah, saying it will be "better" is probably a little hyperbolic, but I hope it can at least maintain the level of play.

 

[SlumpBuster]

View attachment 65987

I've never understood this narrative. Rhule is a very CEO like coach and the most HANDS OFF head coach that's ever walked the sideline in Lincoln

 

[nja13]

This is interesting on the portal.

Back away from the camera a bit, Josh. I don't need to see your pores.

 

[Seaofred92]

I don't really see it that way. They are saying they liked the guy so much and thought so highly of his process that they are going to have the guys who worked closely with Ek continue that process. Hiring a new guy from the outside would be throwing everything Ek did out the window and starting over. Who knows how that would go.

Yeah, maybe the key ingredient here is Ek himself and his former assistants won't be able to replicate his success, but I understand what they are trying to do. They're not "not replacing him," they are replacing him with the guy(s) who worked the closest to him and know his methods.

And yeah, saying it will be "better" is probably a little hyperbolic, but I hope it can at least maintain the level of play.

Ironically, this will mean Rhule would’ve hired a coordinator at each phase to run someone else’s system:

Holgorsen to run Satterfield’s

Butler to run White’s

Martin to run Ekeler’s

 

[Fargo Husker]

Rob Aurich and Roy Manning, please pick up the red courtesy phone.

 

[RedSavage]

Rob Aurich and Roy Manning, please pick up the red courtesy phone.

 

[HCFord1]

Post in thread 'Are we going to be aggressive on offense and defense in 2026?'

Jan 12, 2026

We have an OC who is known for high tempo offenses that score a lot of points. We've got a dual threat YOLO QB now and some good WRs.

-Matt Rhule is the boss. Rhule's history at Nebraska dictates the offense will be at the bottom of the tempo rankings. Nebraska has ranked 100+ in FBS in Seconds per play each year he's been head coach.

-Dana at Houston never was above 47th in the same metric. You'd have to go back to about 2018 for him to crack the top 25. So, 5.5 years of offense since he's called anything that's resembled high tempo over a season.

-Dana hasn’t been a...

• Kinish

• 

Would be a hilariously different philosophy than what history has shown.

Only reason Dana still is the OC is cause can't fire both OC and DC in same season. Well, maybe Pastor Matt could with his buyout.

What would be a hilariously different philosophy than what history has shown? I don’t understand this response to me saying that I think Dana would choose to leave if he wasn’t being allowed to run the offense the way he wants given the personnel available.

 

[HCFord1]

Rhule has ran out of things to point to so it’s the new excuse. What happened to all that bring in a ton of young guys and develop? The young ones who did play were terrible. Rex, RVP, etc. Plus all the “good” development coaches were sent packing. It is what it is.

All season we heard about how Dylan was the check down king and was afraid to throw deep, etc. People complained about it incessantly.

Now all of the sudden talking about potential change in the offense, with a gun slinging playmaker at QB who can actually run, is an excuse to cover up for the lack of development?

I don’t understand this place. We want Dylan gone because he’s not aggressive enough and is too slow. We bring in a fast playmaking QB and suddenly it’s insane to think the offense might look different.

 

[HashtagGBR]

All season we heard about how Dylan was the check down king and was afraid to throw deep, etc. People complained about it incessantly.

Now all of the sudden talking about potential change in the offense, with a gun slinging playmaker at QB who can actually run, is an excuse to cover up for the lack of development?

I don’t understand this place. We want Dylan gone because he’s not aggressive enough and is too slow. We bring in a fast playmaking QB and suddenly it’s insane to think the offense might look different.

Some people are “special” myself included sometimes.

 

[JerryBones5]

What would be a hilariously different philosophy than what history has shown? I don’t understand this response to me saying that I think Dana would choose to leave if he wasn’t being allowed to run the offense the way he wants given the personnel available.

I believe Holgs took this job and kept Satt's pro style scheme because he wanted to use this gig to eventually get an NFL OC role, a rumor that's been around for a while. Dylan was the perfect QB to do it with. In my opinion, that ship has sailed.

I believe he's now at the point of trying to not look like a shitty OC and tarnish his legacy before he retires. I think we will see a lot more of old Holgs schematically next year hence moving to a scrambling QB. I could also be flat-out wrong on this.

 

[Milo-of-Croton]

I’m pretty sure there were doubts the kid was gonna academically qualify

Yes indeed. I believe there is an academic reason he went the JUCO route coming out of high school.

 

[Kinish]

Now all of the sudden talking about potential change in the offense, with a gun slinging playmaker at QB who can actually run, is an excuse to cover up for the lack of development?

I believe he's now at the point of trying to not look like a shitty OC and tarnish his legacy before he retires. I think we will see a lot more of old Holgs schematically next year hence moving to a scrambling QB. I could also be flat-out wrong on this.

Why do you think this?

And you can't say "Well Pastor Matt said it in an interview"

Nebraska paying top 15 money for a top 50 team for years now. He's a shit show who lost his special sauce. (good timing and a crew of assistants who worked well with each other)

Expecting Rhule and now Dana to magically change themselves after 3 and 1.5 years on the job is just buying into the bullshit again.

But hey. We can see how the spring goes... But until then, or any proof.. they are blowing smoke up our ass.

 

[slattimer]

I believe Holgs took this job and kept Satt's pro style scheme because he wanted to use this gig to eventually get an NFL OC role, a rumor that's been around for a while. Dylan was the perfect QB to do it with. In my opinion, that ship has sailed.

I believe he's now at the point of trying to not look like a shitty OC and tarnish his legacy before he retires. I think we will see a lot more of old Holgs schematically next year hence moving to a scrambling QB. I could also be flat-out wrong on this.

IMO...

He kept what they've mostly been doing for continuity...plus...it's the style that Rhule has said he wants to hang their hat on and how "Nebraska needs/should play" in order to win. Which I've said over and over, it's dumb and grinds the fuck out of my gears.

If Grok is correct, then he's literally had one QB that has rushed for over 500 yards in a season with that being the Houston kid in 2019. If we see "old" Holgs, then I'd expect to see more traditional Air Raid concepts more frequently than we've seen the last two years. They've ran mesh, and ran it quite a bit actually.

I'm hopeful it becomes more concept based, and not specific passes designed to get dudes the ball. They've run a lot screens, TE leak, and shallow screens to get guys the ball in absence of a real passing game outside of mesh and curl/flat. Mostly IMO, because they couldn't protect well enough to run more 4 verts and Y-Cross.

I hope they incorporate more read game with the QB, and not the RPO world, but true Q read game, and inverted veer game....but I'm not holding my breath on that.

 

[Milo-of-Croton]

IMO...

He kept what they've mostly been doing for continuity...plus...it's the style that Rhule has said he wants to hang their hat on and how "Nebraska needs/should play" in order to win. Which I've said over and over, it's dumb and grinds the fuck out of my gears.

If Grok is correct, then he's literally had one QB that has rushed for over 500 yards in a season with that being the Houston kid in 2019. If we see "old" Holgs, then I'd expect to see more traditional Air Raid concepts more frequently than we've seen the last two years. They've ran mesh, and ran it quite a bit actually.

I'm hopeful it becomes more concept based, and not specific passes designed to get dudes the ball. They've run a lot screens, TE leak, and shallow screens to get guys the ball in absence of a real passing game outside of mesh and curl/flat. Mostly IMO, because they couldn't protect well enough to run more 4 verts and Y-Cross.

I hope they incorporate more read game with the QB, and not the RPO world, but true Q read game, and inverted veer game....but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Has Holgs run an inverted veer in the past?

 

[Milo-of-Croton]

Back away from the camera a bit, Josh. I don't need to see your pores.

He specializes in extreme close-ups, allegedly once saying to an interviewer, “has anyone ever told you I have beautiful eyes?”

According to Greg Peterson, Huskeronline podcast is considering these sorts of close-ups with Callahan and Sipple because “female fans demand it…”

 

[slattimer]

Has Holgs run an inverted veer in the past?

Without a mobile QB. It’s doubtful. But I don’t know what he ran a lot of at Houston. But don’t think he has at WVU

 

[Flabio]

All season we heard about how Dylan was the check down king and was afraid to throw deep, etc. People complained about it incessantly.

Now all of the sudden talking about potential change in the offense, with a gun slinging playmaker at QB who can actually run, is an excuse to cover up for the lack of development?

I don’t understand this place. We want Dylan gone because he’s not aggressive enough and is too slow. We bring in a fast playmaking QB and suddenly it’s insane to think the offense might look different.

The QB room heading into year 4 was TJ who has durability issues and needs a ton of work in the passing game and that’s it. So I do not really see much of a QB room they put together. Understand DR left but seems like a pretty barren room this far into it Rhule’s tenure. That was the point however could be wrong and a bunch of P2 programs are setup this way. It just feels like we shouldn’t be this desperate with that room this far in.