Countdown to Kickoff Day 1: #50 Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska has mastered the art of losing over the past several years and that is the exact reason why they are bringing in Matt Rhule as their new head coach. The problem is, Rhule has taken up that same bad habit over the past three years, going 17-33 overall and being fired after a 1-4 start to the 2022 season as head coach of the Carolina Panthers. Don’t be fooled though, Matt Rhule is a terrific college football coach that is more than capable of winning and winning fast as he did with both Temple and Baylor.

Coach Rhule does want to redefine “fast” as he takes over in Lincoln though. In his first seasons at Temple and at Baylor, he went a combined 3-21, but he turned both programs into bowl-eligible teams the very next year. As the leader of the Cornhuskers, Ruhle “want(s) to win and want(s) to win right now,” and I believe he can with this team.

Experience and New Blood- Why do I have confidence in the football team that went 4-8 last year? Well they are returning a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, and Rhule is bringing in high-level skill from the transfer portal as well, namely former Georgia Tech quarterback Jeff Sims, and former UVA wideout Billy Kemp IV. These guys will help bring some explosiveness to this offense that also returns three of their top four rushing leaders from last year.

The Defense- Defense was a big struggle last year for this team. This year, things will change under new defensive coordinator, Tony White, who Nebraska fans should be very excited about. White was a great defensive coordinator at Syracuse for the past three years and will bring over his 3-3-5 defense that worked so well for him and the Orange over the past three years, but will shift to a 4-3-5 or a 4-3 to help dominate the line against the Big Ten teams that love to run the ball. White will also rank among the highest paid coordinators in the nation, making over 1 million dollars a year, with a number of potential performance bonuses…so he better be good.

The Schedule- Nebraska’s start to the season will, almost certainly, result in 4-0 or 3-1. They start the season with two road games against Minnesota and Colorado, but will win at least one of those. Then they play Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech at home the next two weeks, in which they will be double digit favorites in both. I see this team winning at least 6 games this year and the Cornhuskers and their fans will party like it is 2016 on their way back to a bowl game.

Prediction: 6-6