The Nebraska Cornhuskers are now maintaining a streak. No, not anything to brag about. They are now in choppy water with their three back-to-back losses. Yes, by now their HC Matt Rhule must have thought ‘enough is enough.’ He can’t see his quarterback, Dylan Raiola, suffer any longer. That’s natural! What was not natural was Rhule coming with a bold move. Straightaway he dived to shake up his coaching roster. Well, that’s a daring decision, right? But looks like this move has impressed the NFL veteran, who gave Rhule a big thumbs up. However, ultimately, will this last-minute swap promise better results?  

A stretch of disappointing feats, a struggling offense—by now Rhule must be leaning against the wall, giving up every hope. His signal-caller Raiola, as per Pro Football Focus, has been pressured on 32.2% of his dropbacks this season and sacked 18 times. But folks, it’s Rhule! The Nebraska HC is all set to get back on track. So, he had to make the call and came up with a split-second decision to demote his offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield to tight ends coach. Well, it would not have been possible without any name in mind. Rhule soon declared that Dana Holgorsen would be taking over as OC for the last season. But looks like the HC had already planned for it since he had hired the ex-Houston Cougars HC as a consultant last week. And here Nebraska Hall of Famer and NFL veteran Adam Carriker had something to say: “I feel better now than I did yesterday before this decision was made because it shows me he’s capable of making these decisions.”

Only a month is left in the season. But who cares? Not Rhule at least. That’s what restored Carriker’s faith in the Cornhuskers HC; as he said, “Bringing in a head coach to come in and analyze your a former head coach, to come in and analyze your offense and you know like a month left in the season, that’s very rare.” Does this remind you of something? If not, the NFL veteran’s podcast will help you out. Back in 2022, the interim HC of the Huskers, Mickey Joseph, removed Erik Chinander and placed Bill Busch as the DC. As Carriker tagged these situations as “unique anomalies,” will this serve Rhule any good? 

Matt Rhule is seizing the moment

To many, it might look like a last-minute decision. But Rhule is not quite interested in the timeframe. To him, “This isn’t about next season. This is about seizing the present moment and providing our players with the best opportunity to win against USC.” Now he must have something planned in his mind that he now counts on Holgorsen. Definitely! Time to look for the stats.

Nebraska’s offense through nine games averages just 129 rushing yards per game, placing them 101st in college football. But will Holgorsen be able to stop the Huskers’ boat from drowning? To break your bubble, please don’t expect any dramatic improvement. During five seasons as the Houston HC, his offense ranked near the top 50 for just one time in 2019, when his program averaged 188 yards per game. In the other years, the ranks were either 76 or went as low as 86. But when it comes to scoring, things might turn out for the better.

Under Marcus Satterfield, Nebraska averaged under 15 points per game. But under Dana Holgorsen, the Cougars had elite offenses through his stint as the HC, scoring over 36 points per game in 2022. Let’s see whether Matt Rhule’s bold move scores big or is a big oopsie!