Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule Pre-Wisconsin Press Conference

On Wisconsin firing its offensive coordinator
“I thought last year, Phil Longo had the best gameplan against our defense of anyone that we faced. Sometimes we refer to it as the Wisconsin game plan when people use elements of things they did last year. With him being gone, you don’t know exactly what you’re going to see. Obviously, Coach (Luke) Fickell is a great head coach. They’re going to play great defense. They want to run the football and take shots down the field. We have a general idea of who they are and what they do, but you have a whole other element that you have to prepare for. Best thing we can do is just focus on ourselves and try to fix some of the issues we had last week that prevented us from winning.”

On the hallmarks of Phil Longo’s game
“They did a nice job of the quarterback draw against us last year, Tanner Mordecai broke out the quarterback draw last year. They ran some outside zones and some tempo. They tried to push the ball down the field. Because we don’t match man, they would motion to (Will) Pauling to number three and have him run option routes against our safety. They would show us one formation of motion to another because they know Tony’s (White) signal. He signals late or has someone else signal for him late. There’s for or five things that are pretty creative. People have copied it since.”

On parallels between Nebraska and Wisconsin in recent seasons
“Just the fact that we’re in the same position as we were last year, both 5-5, trying to win one more game. They beat us last year in overtime, then won another game and got a chance to go to a bowl game. I know it’s a lot of years of going to a bowl game in a row. I 100% believe in the impact that has on your program and your development overtime. We’re right back in the same spot with a chance for us to win the game and extend the season and watch the development for our young players. Coach (Fickell) took over that job. He’s trying to get them to break through. We are where we are right now, we’re trying to break through. It’s not happened yet for us which can be frustrating, but also energizing in that we’re at the point where we could and closer to getting to that point. Instead of taking a big picture look, I just try to narrow my focus down, and just keep chopping, hitting the same spot.”

On seniors that decided to come back
“First of all, I love and respect the seniors. Anytime you’re trying to be the first to do something, obviously there’s been great history here, but it’s always hard to be the first. It’s hard to break the four-minute mile and let it get broken a month later or whatever it was. It’s hard to be the first, the guys after them will see it. Ty Robinson went from probably a sixth or seventh round pick last year to having East/West invites, he has senior bowl invites, he’s going to get a combine invite, he’s rising on people’s boards. That will be an expectation for Keona (Davis) and those guys. I was with two scout team guys last week and Ty got into a fistfight with the scout team o-lineman, which I don’t love the fight, but he has that much intensity. He’s also going to be a doctor, he’s great in school. I think there’s been great examples. I have a special place in my heart for all of them. I think we’ll have 29 or 30 guys go through. We have a couple guys that don’t know if they want to come back, so we always encourage them to go through senior day and if they want to come back, come back. There’s six guys that are fifth year seniors, there’s five guys that are sixth year seniors at Nebraska only. You think about an offense Bryce Benhart, Rahmir Johnson, Javin Wright, John Bullock, and Ty Robinson and all the different journeys that they’ve taken. Think of all the fifth year seniors, guys like Isaac Gifford, other guys that transferred in. I would certainly love to end their career, not just with a win, but with them being the ones to break through. There’s a big difference. Not getting a win, but going to get the plays. We absolutely could’ve won the game last week. The shoulda, coulda, woulda gets you nowhere. You gotta go do it. I want them to be able to walk off the field with their heads held high, knowing they got it done. I expect everyone in our program, every coach, every player, to give everything they have to help our seniors go make that happen. I don’t want to underestimate the impact of seeing it happen, like Jamari (Butler), Marques (Buford Jr.) asked me if they could come back for another year. The fact they want to stay in the program another year is great, but I think they also see what happens to Ty. They see the acceleration of his career and want to do the same thing. I could not be more grateful to those guys that came back and what they’ve shown the younger players.” 

On Deshon Singleton having another year
“I think even if he could, he’ll probably go pro. He’s probably going to get some invites, he’s racing up people’s boards right now. Everyone is asking me about him. What happened with Deshon is obviously he went to junior college and then came here and played four games, and then one play against Michigan. I petitioned to the NCAA because obviously, everything that happened against Michigan last year seems like there is some cloak of whatever. He got cracked on a run play. Did they know it was a run play? Or is that game going to count in a couple of years, so I thought he shouldn’t have gotten penalized for one play in a game in my mind that’s not even a real game. The NCAA disagreed, so he did not get that year back. With that being said, I think Deshon would probably have that year and say, ‘Coach, thanks a lot I’m going to take my talents to the next level’ because I think he’s doing a really good job, but I wanted him to do that. Academically he could use that year to finish his degree so I thought he deserved that but the NCAA disagreed.”

On the run game against USC
“It was the offensive line’s best game of the year. They blocked really, really well. We had some nice runs, we also left a ton of yards out there. A couple of times we got to the safety and got tackled. A couple of times we kind of missed the hole, so the guys played hard, but we left a lot out there. We could’ve run the ball for a lot more yards than what we got. The 20-yard gain could’ve been 80, just a block here, so definitely some improvement but there needs to be more.”

On Emmett Johnson getting more snaps against USC
“Rahmir (Johnson) was out, and Dante (Dowdell) was hurt during the week. He got stepped on during a rep on Tuesday. So then on Wednesday, he didn’t play as much, so it wasn’t anything necessarily other than that. We’re kind of going back and forth between those two guys, and then Gabe (Ervin) got a play. Then the two minute was Emmett. Was probably more the depth chart than anything else. Had Rahmir been healthy, he would’ve had a significant role in that game.”

On the offense making improvements from Dana Holgorsen’s week one to week two
“I just think we get better and better and better. As I pointed out to the guys, there’s no new plays. The touchdown to Emmett (Johnson) was drive-pout which we’ve thrown. It was the first down we threw against Colorado last year that Nate (Boerkircher) caught the backside dig. It’s the same play. We threw the check down to Emmett. I think Dana has done a really great job with coming in and telling the guys this is what we’re going to do and we’re going to practice them this way. We left a lot out there offensively. There weren’t a lot of big plays, there could’ve been more big plays. There were field goals in the red zone, not touchdowns. We had some opportunities for guys to score in the red zone, but we just didn’t make it happen. I’m encouraged by how much cleaner it looked, but also expect more. We’re going to have to score more points to win games.”

On how many coaches Dylan Raiola reviews games with
“I’m not involved in that, he’s watching it with Glenn (Thomas) and Dana (Holgorsen). They’re doing their thing.”

On the in-game communication against USC
“Just to put into context what Dana did, it would be like you guys having to write this on  a deadline in Italian with a translator next to you. It’d be hard. This is all new language. I thought Glenn, Satt (Marcus Satterfield), and Garret (McGuire) did a great job of helping. Dana prepared at a really high level. That will only get better and better and better. I left that game feeling encouraged that the offense is at some point here going to take off with the direction we’re headed.”

On the defensive response to film
“The three touchdowns, the first play, it’s cover three. The guy comes around and gets behind Tommi (Hill). The touchdown overtop of Malcolm’s (Hartzog) head, it’s cover two with a safety that chases a route. It’s a veteran secondary that didn’t play very well in those key moments. I think they would be the first to tell you that they’re really upset with themselves. The deep touchdown to number two, that should never be a touchdown. Those are all simple day-one routes. We had every opportunity. I’m always very careful what to call out and what not to but my point to our guys is this. After the game you guys asked me if I felt snakebit. No, I expect our cover two safety to play cover two, and I expect our cover three corner to stay deep. If we had done that in that game, those plays would have been eliminated. That young man was running away from MJ (Sherman), I expect us to sack them on the first play down the sideline. I’m not so sure he wasn’t just trying to throw the ball away, and it just got caught. We’re not snakebit, we’re not unlucky, there’s no curse. You gotta play what the defense called. If it’s cover three, play cover three, you don’t guess, and play cover four. There weren’t a lot of times where it was like we can’t cover this guy, it wasn’t that. Those near misses are all of our own doing. I want to flip that, their run game was elite. Going into the game I said it was elite, number four was elite. We have to be better. Those big plays never should’ve happened. We were giving up about 13 points per game down the stretch last year, and we’re giving up a touchdown or two more now because of some of those types of plays and we can’t give them up.” 

On his explanation for the missed defensive plays
“I think you’re playing, anything I say right now will sound like an excuse so I have to be very careful, I think we’re playing better teams and bigger moments, more complex offenses. These Pac 12 offenses are more complex than what we saw last year. Some of the offenses we saw last year were some inside zones, some RPOs and a couple drop back passes. When you're facing really talented players with a complex offense, one mistake can be a touchdown. At the same time, I also expect our players to regroup and play it better.”

On the Nebraska fans traveling to USC
“I kept telling our guys like ‘Hey, we aren’t going to need a silent count.’ We knew our fans would travel. People I’ve talked to said they were going to be out there. It was awesome. I was just disappointed we couldn’t get the win for them because they travel and they support. They made that feel like a home game. It was really an advantage in that atmosphere. As always grateful for that support.” 

On Wisconsin’s winning streak in the series
“I might address that in passing. I mean, just as the opportunity is right. It’s a rematch game from last year. It’s that pain of walking off the field in overtime. It’s an opportunity to come back from that and to end the streak that’s been a long time. There’s a lot of opportunities. It comes down to playing cover two, you play cover two. If you get to the safety, make him miss. It comes down to doing your assignment plan really hard. Not being distracted. I can’t say not being distracted enough. Don’t get distracted and unfocused. To me, if there’s any outside element for me this week, it’s those seniors. Just how I felt last year walking off the field with Grant Tagge, Nick (Henrich), Luke (Reimer), all those guys after the Iowa game. Just how I felt for them. We’ve had such a unique season and we’ve had some really, really great moments. I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to recapture the feeling of beating Colorado and the pick six in that game. And then to now being in the tough spot that we’re in you’re just looking for everyone to rally together and push us through. I don’t want to be in the offseason talking to Jimari (Butler) and Marques (Buford Jr.) who come back about learning how to break through. We are in the same spot as last year. You’ve got to push through so that there’s something next year that you are going for. That’s what the end of the year is about to me. It’s not about optics, it’s not about hope it’s about actions. It’s about doing things. We had every right to win the game last week and we didn’t get it done. Another close one in three straight games – Ohio State and UCLA - that the game comes down to the last drive. We have the ball, we’re gonna have to go down at some point and win the game. Wisconsin just played a great game against Oregon. They played a great game against Penn State. They are talented. It will probably come down to the last drive. I want our seniors to win one of those so I’ll do everything I can and I expect our staff and players to do so too.” 

On how the team felt about the last play of the USC game
“I haven’t talked to them about that. I sat up here two weeks ago and said, ‘Hey no more apologies’ hopefully, there’s no more apologies. I’ve taken the tactic I tried to take. I don’t know what else to say. I sat here this time last year, talking with the head of officials with an apology about ‘Hey Matt, we blew the instant replay against Iowa, sorry you guys aren’t going to a bowl game’ I can’t tell you how many times this year I've gotten those calls. Troy’s (Dannen) on it, I’m just going to focus on us playing better and not worry about those things. Whether it was the one down by the goal line or that one. We saw last week, BYU and Utah came down to a play like that. I don’t know what else to say other than I’ll let Troy handle that, and I’ll do the best I can to make sure we play better football.”

On all of Wisconsin’s coaches calling plays
“It’s probably a lot like us last week, you can’t change the core plays of what you do. They’ve probably all been collaborating with them all year long, so I think you have to get in the game and recognize, ‘Hey here’s how they’re calling it today.’ They’ve got one of the best wideouts in the Big Ten in (Will) Pauling. I know he went down in the last game, so I don’t know his status. (Braedyn) Locke has done a really nice job for them. They’ve got big powerful backs and a great O-line. At the end of the day for us, if we stop the run on defense, we play pretty well. If we don’t give up big plays, we play pretty well. If you go back to Ohio State or this past game, when you’re facing skill guys like those teams have, just one simple mistake in the secondary can result in a big play. When you’re facing teams that aren’t as talented maybe you come off and make a tackle for a 20-yard gain. Wisconsin’s got skill, they’ve got guys on the outside who can run. We’ll have to eliminate the big plays, try to stop the run, try to contain the quarterback, and just kind of get into the game and see how they’re playing. We were a little bit more this past game offensively of probably getting the ball out of our hand quicker, that was our change. We’ll see what their change is.” 

On the downfield passing game
“I don’t know that we took a ton of those shots. We threw a goal ball on the first play of the game. I was arguing for a defensive hold on that play. I don’t think you get it early on, it is what it is. They played a lot of man against us. I thought we were efficient. We recognized we were going to have to get the ball out of our hands. We had to go through progressions. There were not a ton of explosive plays. It was a lot of pushing the ball down the field type of plays until we got to the two minute. We’ll have to continue to work as a group on getting off press and defeating man. Sometimes you talk to players, you talk to their parents, who you’re featuring. There’s really not a lot of featuring of people in man. One thing about Dana’s (Holgorsen) offense is that he’s going to throw to the guy that’s open. We called some down the field. We just didn’t necessarily win down the field like I would’ve liked to. I don’t think any of that is representative of the offensive line. I thought the offensive line protected and won their one on ones, except for the one before the half where we snapped it and it was supposed to be on two, but it was on one. We gave up a sack on one and four. I would be remissive if I didn’t say that I Janiran Bonner played one heck of a game. When you have a wideout that you can throw to on third and ten and go get a first down on a screen and come in and crack the defensive end and run the ball. He’s a special player. Sometimes as a player you don’t think they’re giving you a chance or they don’t see what I can do. When you have a new coach that comes in and sees what you can do, it’s pretty cool. For all the young players I was able to point out Janiran Bonner. He never complains, he played fullback last year. He runs now on kickoff. He plays on punt. He plays on punt return. He plays on kick return. He’s a type of player that we’re going to continue to find and build around. Tough, competitive, strong, physical. He can make plays. I think Dana had a good plan of getting the ball in the hands of players sometimes and seeing what they could do. I think we called some down the field shots and just didn’t quite win on them the way we wanted to.”

On senior day with the transfer portal
“The way I’ve always looked at it, once you play for me, you’ve played for me for life. I’ve had guys that call and text me to this day that I had to throw off a team. ‘Hey, you’re not allowed to be here any longer. Doesn’t mean I don’t love you.’ I talked to Marcus Washington last week. I coached him for six months out of the year. So, it’s a little different, but at the end of the day, they all made the decision to come here. They wanted to be here. I do think there is something special for the guys who were there for four years, five years or six years. There’s no doubt that for the last however many years this has been a tough time for Nebraska football. I’m going on my second year and I certainly feel the weight of it. I certainly feel like as you’re trying to break through, how hard and difficult it is. I’m 49 years old and I've done this twice before. I am encouraged by those things. To think of the guts and the courage of Gif (Isaac Gifford), of Ty (Robinson), of Nash (Hutmacher) and all those guys. I don’t want to forget anybody but you get the point. To think of the courage of Javin (Wright). They could’ve just gone somewhere else. ‘Hey, I want to go experience this,’ or they could have left and gone to the NFL, but for them just keep on coming back. That’s why I want to win so badly for them. I hope history looks back on them. In the bible, they talk about those who stand in the gap. I won’t get too religious on everybody, but they’ve stood in the gap here. They’ve taken some shots for it too and they are still here. They are still standing. That’s why I say what I say like this so our young players hear it. We will break through and we will win. We will win at a high level. A lot of guys will come in here, they will be a little bit more entitled, and they will be more concerned about what number they wear, their NIL deals and what car they are driving. That wasn’t Gif, that wasn’t Nash or Ty. The thing about Nash is he goes out and wrestles, comes back out and plays football. He has a bum knee right now and he’s out there competing. I absolutely love and respect these guys. The success we will have will be built off of their backs and the backs of the guys before. That’s why this week is a really, really important week for me.”

On roster limits
“The roster limits are a real factor. I can’t imagine what’s going to happen in the next six months. If you’re a coach who really cares about people, you’re going to have to tell guys at the end of the season, ‘there’s no spot for you here next year,’ so that guys can go find somewhere else to go. You have some players, probably, who aren’t touching the ball enough or are like ‘I’m not happy. I’m going to go in the portal,’ and you think about the effect that’s about to happen. The portal is already flooded. We have 150 and we have to go to 105. That’s 45 guys. I know there’s some seniors, but we’ll add some guys. Just think about 20-30 guys from every school having to go into the portal and the effect that it’s going to have on FCS, Division II, NAIA, Division III. When Marques (Buford Jr.) and Jimari (Butler) say that they want to come back, that’s two more people now that can’t be here next year. It’s going to be really unique. It’s going to be a challenge. What do you do? Do you not tell kids until next fall that they don’t have a spot in the 105? I can’t imagine what it’s going to look like this year. It’s going to be overrun with lots of really good kids. We have some kids on our team that all they want to do is go out and be a Husker and practice and help the team. I’ve talked a lot about the guys who have done all these different things here. There’s a lot of guys that are going to walk on senior day – some of them are going to change the world. Grant (Buda) is a 3.9 student, made his way in the camp because of the work he did this summer, made the elite list every week, and is going to be a doctor. He wants to be an NFL orthopedic surgeon. In the future, that kid won’t be able to be here. Or I’ll have to tell that kid, ‘hey, you can’t be here anymore.’ For a guy that’s wired like me, that’s absolutely heartbreaking. It is what it is. You deal with it. It’s impeding. The reason I sound like this is because it’s impending. It’s not ‘next fall, the roster limit is 105.’ Troy (Dannen) has asked all of us to be honest with everybody so that they can find a place. You’re going to have some really good kids that aren’t going to have a place and it’s going to be really, really hard.”

On how roster limits affect players that step into a large role later in their careers
“That’s exactly right. I don’t know what that means for them anymore. When Ted Carter and Trev Alberts offered me this job, they said to me, ‘we want you to build a program built on player development.’ They said that was the ethos of Nebraska – Tom Osborne, getting players here, a walk-on from western Nebraska, a scholarship player from somewhere – get them here, develop them, teach them, train them. College football now, you see some teams that are winning with a lot of transfer portal guys. The pressure goes on you to be like ‘I need to get some transfer portal guys if I want to win and keep my job.’ It’s not really the ethos of what I want to do and who we are. And then, there are those stories. Hasson Reddick is one of the highest-paid players in the NFL. He was a walk-on for us at Temple. He was a seventh-round pick, probably, going into his senior year, then he ended up a first-round pick. He kind of did what Ty (Robinson) did. We’ll have to pick and choose our spots. We’ll have to pick and choose our places. It’s really going to be hard. It might really benefit some FCS and Division II schools. There’s going to be some great players coming out, but I don’t know what’s going to happen with the John Bullocks moving forward. I don’t know what’s going to happen with some of the guys who develop later in their career. We’ll do the best we can to be honest and do things the right way. That’s why this senior day, for some guys, they graduate. Other guys might have to go find another place. Hopefully, everyone really embraces this moment, because it’s kind of the end of an era. If you really think about it, we’ve out-legislated true walk-on programs in college football. This is really the last group of kids that will do that. Some of you guys cover recruiting. How many guys have you seen announce that they’ve been offered a preferred walk-on at the University of Nebraska? Probably haven’t seen many of those this year, have you? I don’t want to make a promise I can’t keep. For me, as a former walk-on, my strength coach as a former walk-on, Satt (Marcus Satterfield) was a former walk-on — I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t been able to walk on at Penn State University. I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t played for Joe Paterno and gotten my butt kicked by those guys every day. I’m probably waxing too poetic. This Saturday – there’s kids that love this place, that this will be the last time they put their pads on to go be a Husker. All settled in a courtroom somewhere. It’s a shame. It’s a real shame. That’s why, for me, this is one of the biggest weeks of my coaching career. I want to honor all those kids.”