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Matt Rhule cites Nebraska’s turnover margin as ‘absolutely stupid’ in spite of 4-3 record
By Paul Harvey
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Matt Rhule is happy Nebraska is 4-3. However, he’s less thrilled with some aspects of the team on its path to get there.
Speaking to the media Thursday, Rhule said he tries to avoid thinking of certain performances as good vs. bad. The head coach knows there is a standard, and the play of the Cornhuskers either hits that mark or it doesn’t.
“To me, the thing that I want them to understand… I don’t try to think good and bad, I try to think what was up to our standard and what was not,” said Rhule.
Rhule went on to identify the dangers of a team starting to believe it can win regardless of whether or not the players hit the standard:
“The danger… When you don’t play at the level you want to play at — when you don’t play well and win — sometimes you start to think I can just win. That’s why you’ll hear me say I don’t care about the score all the time,” Rhule explained. “Obviously I want to win but I care about how we play. There’s a standard.”
As for this season, Rhule says it’s “absolutely stupid” that Nebraska is 4-3 yet losing the turnover battle by a wide margin.
“We’re -8 (in turnovers) and we’re 4-3. That’s stupid. That’s absolutely stupid. And you’re gonna say ‘Oh, you were -6 those first two weeks.’ That means we were -2 the last — so we got to get corrected,” Rhule said. “And that’s both sides. Take the ball away!”
During the most recent win over Northwestern, Nebraska went -1 in the turnover battle while hanging on to win 17-9. This weekend, the Huskers will get a shot to play up to their standard and turn things around against Purdue.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.