11th in the conference seems about right. Not good for year four of the Rhule turnaround. What these polls indicate, inaccurate as they usually are, is that the national perception is that Rhule has not brought in top tier talent to Lincoln. I think that perception is correct.
Sad to say, but the key to our season is making sure we beat MSU, Maryland and Rutgers. If we lose to any one of those teams we will end up with a losing record. I never thought I would live to see the day when our once mighty Huskers are reduced to hoping we can beat the bottom feeder teams.
If Rhule goes 5-7 or 4-8 does he get fired? Can we afford to fire him? Can we afford not to fire him? And if we do fire him, who do we get? Certainly there is no hope for a “splash” hire. A big name. Our best hope would be to search for that up and coming non P4 conference coach. But even there, other schools who have fired their coach will be trying to get that coach too.
And no matter who we get, they will have to contend with our lack of big time NIL money. So in the end we might just stick with Rhule for the sake of stability and hope that he can turn things around if given the time. Deneen was doing more than holding off PSU with that extension. He was rolling the dice on stability being a positive factor in a sport that chews up coaches these days at a record pace. Time will tell if that strategy will pay off.
We need to realize who we are now and set aside nostalgia. We need to realize what we are up against. And it isn’t pretty. Money money money money. That is the engine driving this train. And we need more of it.
