I'll spell it out for you: Rhule knew by HT of the 2nd game he royally fucked up by hitching his wagon to Sims. We were 0-2 and Rhule knew at that point the season was fucked. He also knew that we didn't have the QBs on the roster to get us 6-4 in the last 10 games.I just don’t think he knows or cares how the fans care.
He tried by taking an H-back at QB and installing the option offense on the spot. That worked until the H-back almost died on the field from taking too many hits. Then he went to the 3rd string QB and that semi worked but he was rusty after getting no reps in practice and only showed slightly less propensity for being loose w the ball than the first two guys.
My read is that Rhule was trying like hell to get the team to 6-6 but he knows he largely fucked it up by picking Sims. The rest of the season after that was a long shot & they got close but couldn't eek it over the finish line.
There is the chance, like you point out, that Rhule wasn't aware that the NU fans desperately wanted a bowl game this year. Maybe Rhule would have coached harder if he only knew the NU fans wanted a bowl this year. Now you tell him!