Matt Rhule points to Big Ten weather as an edge for defensive units

Matt Rhule knows a thing about the weather challenges throughout the B1G. In particular, the winds have a tendency to wreak havoc and the temperatures throughout the Midwest are bound to drop further in the coming weeks.

At his Monday press conference, Rhule was asked about the majority of B1G defenses being ahead of the offenses of the conference. The head coach admitted the impacts of the weather give a slight edge to the defensive side of the ball.

“I don’t think people understand or value the impact of the weather in some of these games and the winds,” said Rhule. “Like those winds, the ball Tommi (Hill) picked off — Tommi’s gonna want to fight me — but they threw that one into the wind… Those winds are severe.

“I think the wind and the elements are a real factor… I think those are some of the things that are there. Other than that, I don’t know.”

Asked to compare the Big Ten to Rhule’s Big 12 days at Baylor, the head coach said the heat was the only weather factor in the Big 12:

“There was never a game where the elements ever affected us other than the heat. You’d be crazy to be in the Big 12 and not be a tempo team,” Rhule explained. “We played a game at Baylor, it was an 11 o’clock game, where they had to remove the cheerleaders from the game because it was unsafe. Our DL coach’s shoes melted into the turf. So go tempo, run 100 plays, and play against the other team’s 3’s. So is that going to work here?”

So far this season, Nebraska is 4-1 at home. Nebraska also gets 2 more home games in November, and we’ll see if the elements are an even bigger factor as things begin to turn colder down the road.

Paul Harvey

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.