Matt Rhule knows Nebraska has a lot to clean up coming out of a 20-17 loss against Michigan State. Despite hitting the road as a slim favorite, the Cornhuskers were inconsistent and struggled to hold onto the ball offensively.

After the game, Rhule was asked about the play of starting quarterback Heinrich Haarberg. Haarberg completed less than 50% of his passes in the game and was credited with 3 turnovers. As a result, the Spartans won the turnover battle and finished +3 in that area.

Rhule admitted he would have to watch the tape on the specific issues related to Haarberg’s performance but did say he liked how the QB competed and go the Huskers back in the game:

“I’d have to watch the tape to see Heinrich. I thought he ran the ball well at times, had some explosive plays. I know he competed, he brought us back. I’d have to go watch the tape,” said Rhule. “On the last two, the ball was knocked out of his hands. You guys probably have a better vantage point on the replay than I do from the field so I’d have go back to see what exactly that was and why those things happened.”

As a follow-up, Rhule was asked if he considered making a change in the game to try and find a spark. The head coach said that wasn’t a thought as he was in “the flow of the game.”

For Rhule, he was focused on getting his guys to play through some things while labeling Saturday’s matchup the type of game players should expect in the B1G:

“No, I didn’t consider that, I was just in the flow of the game. To me, that’s a Big Ten game, it was a 13-10 game. They come out, the punting game I think they had the field tilted toward them. We had been stopping them and then the kid makes the great catch down the right sideline to make it a 10-point game,” Rhule explained. “I thought we were moving the ball, took a shot down to Malachi (Coleman)… I was just trying to get our kids to play through it, this is kind of what Big Ten football is going to be like.”

Haarberg finished the game 12-for-28 passing the ball for 129 yards and 2 interceptions. He finished the game with 31 rushing yards and a touchdown but also had a lost fumble.

While Haarberg has done some nice things at QB, there’s no denying he needs to improve his efficiency and take care of the ball moving forward.