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Matt Rhule says it’s hard to watch modern CFB due to player brands, excessive trash talking

Cory Nightingale

By Cory Nightingale

Published:

Matt Rhule had plenty of time to think about the current state of affairs in college football during Nebraska’s bye week, and in Monday’s press conference he wasn’t shy about telling the college football world exactly what he thought about it.

“If you have a team that actually cares about each other and really wants to see each other be successful, and is there for the team, then you have a chance to win on the road,” said the Cornhuskers 2nd-year head coach on Monday. “I watched a lot of football — one thing about college football, there’s a lot of guys out there and the whole time they’re playing, they’re playing for their personal brand. They could do something for the team, they could take a knee, they could step out of bounds, they could end the game.”

Rhule didn’t stop there though.

“Watching college football now is hard, it’s all trash-talking,” he said. “Really excessive trash-talking. You beat a team and you’re waving goodbye at them. Sometimes in rivalries, I get it. I don’t want to see our team do that. … I struggled with that a little bit this weekend watching college football. Every time a guy makes a play, it’s like he has to turn and tell the guy he made a play.”

Rhule’s team has been making a lot of plays this season — good ones, ones that have helped Nebraska get off to a 5-1 start going into Saturday’s Big Ten showdown at No. 16 Indiana, which is undefeated and one of the surprises of the college football season. The game is in FOX’s prime noon ET slot.

Cory Nightingale