Shatel: Matt Rhule's Big Ten Media Days message shows swagger, belief in Nebraska (2024)

No voodoo.

No predictions.

No doubt.

Matt Rhule walked the high-wire of Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday. It’s a fine balance of talking about winning for a program that doesn’t yet know how to win.

The Nebraska coach, who knows his way around a press conference, did a masterful job of promising progress without making predictions.

But wait. Did you catch it?

The veteran coach slipped in one during a question about his team’s academics. Maybe he thought folks weren’t paying attention to a coach talking about grade points and graduates.

He said, “We’re proud of the players. We have 20 graduates heading into the season. We’ll have 10 more in December. So when we go to our bowl game, we’ll have 30 graduates on our team.”

When they go to their bowl game.

This is not exactly headline stuff. The majority of Nebraska fans expect a bowl game — at least 6-6 — this season. But they’ve expected it before the last six years and haven’t tasted a drop.

The Big Ten media types expect it, too, having selected NU to finish in the top half of the league, at eighth.

Rhule said a lot about expectations on Wednesday, but none of it was intended for the rest of the Big Ten. Frankly, the league has heard enough hype and bluster out of Nebraska. The Huskers enter these media days — and this season — under the radar.

Rhule’s carefully-selected words were directed at Nebraskans. Husker fans, yes. But moreover, those young men in Rhule’s locker room, the ones in helmets and pads.

Wednesday’s message was meant for his players.

That message: Belief.

Rhule brings an understated swagger to every room he enters. He’s a builder and a winner, in three-year periods. He did it at Temple. And at Baylor.

By his own admission, Rhule says the big stuff doesn’t usually happen until the third year. But the coach didn’t have this kind of talent, quarterback or depth at Temple and Baylor — where he went 6-6 and 7-6 in second seasons before breaking into double digits the third season.

So he’s opened this second season to any possibility.

Rhule is the builder who gives frequent updates on the structure. And he gave another one on Wednesday for those paying attention.

How do you take the step from losing to winning? The answer was in every comment the coach gave. And he no doubt hopes his team was listening.

Belief.

Confidence.

Rhule believes in his team. And he wants them to believe.

Asked what he would consider a successful season in 2024, Rhule said:

“I expect us to be good. I expect us to win. I expect us to be relevant in the conference.

“I won’t say 10-2 is good or 8-4 is good because I’m sitting here telling you we’re going to lose four games. I want to say we’re going to try to win every game because that seems right to me.

“I expect us to be a really good team. I expect us to be competitive. I expect us to be in the mix of this conference. But there’s a lot of things we have to do to get that done.

“But 5-7 again, that’s not going to be good enough. What does that mean? I don’t really live that way, other than, I’m telling you, I’m confident in this team. I think this will be a good team. I think we have the depth to withstand injuries. I think we have players who can make plays. We’ll play it out and see what happens.”

That expectation is not necessarily a great leap. Nebraska was competitive last year. The Huskers were in the mix in most games. They lost four Big Ten games by three points, and a fifth by seven point in overtime on the road.

They went 5-7 with average-to-below average quarterback play, too many injuries and too little depth and a nasty habit of mistakes (-17 turnover margin).

Optimism comes in an older, stout defense, an experienced and deeper offensive line, a five-star quarterback and more skill talent than last year. Speed and playmaking erase mistakes.

And there’s a head coach who considers himself more savvy of the ways of the Big Ten weather and northern winds and avoiding the same mistakes twice.

But the master builder already sees something that he considers a good sign: the body language of his players as they walk around the football building.

He said he sees confidence. A confident team. A hungry team.

Belief. Confidence. Rhule sent the message, over and over.

And then there was one final message, when Rhule was asked how to correct the turnover issues.

“We don’t have to do an overhaul,” Rhule said. “We don’t have to fire a bunch of coaches. We don’t have to change the offense and defense. We really just have to win the turnover battle.”

There’s no secret formula to winning. It’s flipping the turnover rate by practicing. As Rhule said, by “allocating playing time based on who protects the ball but also who takes it away.”

It's an astute message for Nebraska, which has fired coach after coach, and a fan base that focuses on scheme and coordinators. Execution. Belief. Confidence.

The more the coach spoke, the more it seemed Rhule was talking to an audience back at the Osborne Legacy Complex.

“Close losses at Nebraska are not an affliction,” Rhule said. “We don’t need to get out a voodoo doll. We need to hold the ball properly and knock it out, make one more catch, have a little more confidence, go make one more play and win a couple games, and all of a sudden, we’ll be talking in a different tone.”

Sounds like a prediction you can believe.