As confirmed by multiple sources, Nebraska officially canceled its home-and-home series with Tennessee a couple weeks ago, reportedly due to planned renovations to Memorial Stadium.
This was a series scheduled nearly 20 years ago, but this is the modern age of college football where glory means nothing and being soft means everything.
Some recent statements from Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule during his appearance on the “Triple Option” podcast may tell the real story.
The coach has quite a blunt response when asked by former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer about playing high-level non-conference games.
“Why would you ever play one of those games?” Rhule said. “And we’re being completely honest, Coach Meyer, I’m at a lucky point in life where in my fourth job and after getting fired in the NFL, I kind of say what I feel nowadays, I could care less. Why in the world would a Big Ten team who’s already playing nine conference games, why would you ever play one of those games?”
“… I love the SEC, I’m not anti-SEC, but there’s some SEC teams last year that only played three away games in another team’s stadium. We’re in a league where some years you have five home Big Ten games, and some years you have five road. You go on the road five times in the Big Ten with no like, Florida-Georgia on a neutral site.”
If I were a Nebraska fan, I’d be questioning if Rhule was the man for the job because if Tom Osbourne or Bob Devaney said something like that, it would be doubtful they would be the national championship coaches that they are.
It is absolutely irreprehensible for a coach, who obviously has national title ambitions, to say something like that. It shows a lack of confidence in his ability and his team’s ability to win football games.
We are competing in an era where the national champion can have two losses, and yet that challenge seems too difficult for Rhule. Considering the state of his program, I would expect that Rhule would welcome such a challenge as an opportunity to score a marquee win.
A win that excites the fanbase, a win that the team can use to pitch recruits. Instead, Rhule’s message is loud and clear: he does not believe his team can beat anyone at any time and if that’s the mindset he’s willing to perpetuate throughout his program, why should any Nebraska fan believe Rhule is the man to lead them back to the promised land and why should any recruit believe Rhule is able to get them where they want to go.
Perhaps harsh, but I am so sick and tired of coaches who get paid millions, if not 10s of millions, of dollars to complain about why they can not accomplish what they’re getting paid to do.
This is why college football is dying. It’s not the portal, it’s not NIL, it’s the same reason it has always been. Fear. Fear spread by coaches who lack confidence.
College football is better when Nebraska is good and despite having the best QB the program has had this century, Rhule would rather not have him play on the biggest stage.
Congratulations. Mediocrity has won.
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