Matt Rhule isn’t buying the school of thought that Nebraska is somehow cursed or unlucky, even as the Huskers continue to struggle to reach 6 wins in a season.

On Saturday, the Huskers suffered an 8-point loss to USC, bringing up many feelings of past seasons. Rhule is still winless in November with the Huskers, and he is now 2-9 in one-score games with the program.

In spite of those numbers and same-old feeling, Rhule was adamant at his Monday press conference that Nebraska had its chances to beat USC but suffered some letdowns from the secondary in key moments.

“That’s a veteran secondary that didn’t play very well in key moments. I think they would be the first to tell you they are really upset with themselves,” said Rhule. “The deep touchdown to No. 2, that should never be a touchdown. Those are all simple, day 1 routes. We had every opportunity.”

Rhule went on to say the message to the team is to play better and eliminate the plays that should happen. If guys play the defense that is called, the result could be much different.

“My point to our guys is this… Do you feel snakebit? No, I expect our cover-2 safety to play cover-2, and I expect our cover-3 corner to stay deep and if we had done that in that game, those plays would have been eliminated,” explained Rhule.

“… We’re not snakebit, we’re not unlucky, there’s no curse. You’ve got to play the defense called.”

We’ll see how that translates into the final 2 games of the season, but it’s beginning to feel like another late-season letdown for the Huskers. Nebraska has 2 more chances to punch its ticket to the postseason, but Rhule is currently 0-8 with the Huskers in games that would clinch a trip to the postseason.