Latest / Return to Glory - Nebraska / Episode 52 | Matt Rhule

Transcript

Episode 52 | Matt Rhule · Return to Glory - Nebraska

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Nebraska lost to Oregon.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: 17-14 for the second straight Saturday. We led a very
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: good team into the fourth quarter and walked away with
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: a three-point loss. That's the context for everything I'm about
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: to say today about Matt Rule. I do not think
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: he's a bad coach. In fact, I think he's a
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: good coach. He's done meaningful work here. But I also
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: can't watch the end of this game and see where
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: we're at at the end of Indiana. and tell you
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: with confidence that he's the guy that's going to take
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: us all the way to the next level and return
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: us to glory. This is not a call for me
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: to fire him tomorrow, but it is going to be
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: an honest question and discussion about what kind of coach
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: he is, what he's built, and whether the thing that's
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: been missing from this program is something he can learn
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: and supply. There is room to give him credit for
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: bringing us back from where we were, but still be
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: deeply unsatisfied. If the conversation can't hold both truths, as
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: he's said multiple times in this press conference, we're not
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: evaluating football anymore, we're just defending a side, and I
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: don't know that's necessarily what we want to be doing
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: here as a program. So, Saturday night, what Rule said
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: immediately after Oregon gives postgame its full weight, he described
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: a devastated team and called the defensive effort one of
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: the finer ones he's seen. His point was that the
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: defense played through short fields, a little offensive help, wore down,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: and then credited Oregon to this run game. Yada, yada, yada.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: The Nebraska needed a fourth down stop, one more big play.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: We've heard that story before. On offense, very direct. We
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: couldn't win up front again, and that goes into a
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: larger conversation with the offensive line. Said Calandri was under
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: much pressure throughout the game, and Oregon's defensive front dictated
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: a lot of that. I talked about the injuries as well.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: And then you look at the scoreboard, you look at
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: the stats and all of that. Talked about how, you know,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: third down conversion rate, we went seven for 17, Oregon
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: went three for 17. And so, you know, you look
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: at that stat, the one that was the two leading
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: defensive third down teams, both, especially we did very well
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: again on that. It just goes to question, You know,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: where are things at? And if you listen to Husker
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Online postgame show, they got ripped into asking real, not
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: asking real hard questions and being soft on him by
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: a lot of the callers and people that shot messages
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: in there. And that led to Monday's press conference. So
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I'm just recapping here the last couple of days before
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I get into a lot of my thoughts on rule.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: The long press conference on Monday, It was nearly 40
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: minutes long. I'm not a fan of that. The opening statement, guys,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: was eight minutes before he even answered a question. He
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: called Saturday a game that Nebraska should have won. Yep,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: we've been there before. Called the two losses unacceptable. Yep,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: we've been there before. Said he has failed himself and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: blames himself in both. And yep, we've heard that before.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: and said Nebraska's probably two plays away from a top
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: 10 team. Yep, so is Frost. So I hear the accountability.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I also hear the tension, and I also think this
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: could be true too. We're close to top 10 potential.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Like we're 5-2. Someone told me yesterday, they said, if
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: you had told me coming into the year, hey, we're
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: 5-2 heading into our bye week, I said, oh, okay,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: that's pretty dang good, right? And so we get beat
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: by Oregon and Indiana by about 10 to 20 points. Actually, no,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: we lost by three and should have won the game. Like,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: no one awards the almost, that's for sure. But you
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: say that, you're going, huh, we're sitting in a good spot.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: So it just doesn't feel that way, though, with how
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: those games went because of the potential, the expectations that
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: have been raised for a program like this. So Rule
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: explained his diagnosis earlier. He said in order to win
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: the game, we must win the fourth quarter. Yep. Control
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage on offense. Win third down. Yep.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Put ultimate responsibility on himself while insisting players who talk
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: about the pros and all of that must block pro
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: caliber opponents. So it's a pointed challenge to also his players.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: You know, he threw that out there, but he also
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: then followed that up with it's ultimately on him and everybody. Like,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: I think all of that is good, solid coach speak. Like,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I get it. And all of that stuff, it makes
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: you feel how it makes you feel. But the scoreboard
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: in winning these games is what matters. So, it's always
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: there to fall back on. You know, on offense, he
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: kind of echoed what he said Saturday. And doing, you know,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: winning the line of scrimmage up front, talked about the
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: running backs. He got very specific on special teams and explained, like,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: his thought process behind it. Uh, the other, the big
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: like thing I've seen a lot is the players dancing
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: along to the Oregon shout before the fourth quarter rule
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: said he ultimately allowed it and that it would not
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: happen again. And he called it, it was embarrassing. Uh,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: what's weird about that whole situation is why, like, it
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: sounded like he maybe didn't know it was going to
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: happen and didn't address it. And then as it was happening, he,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Kind of tried to pull his players in, but didn't
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: try very hard, and then just kind of let them
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: do it and let it go. I also think this
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: is one of these catch-22s, because if you win this game,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: and like UCLA did last week in dance and did
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: the same shit, you think it's genius because of letting
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: the players play loose, and that's why teams do it now,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: and the media spins it that way, and social media
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: spins it all that way, that it's... the right thing
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: to do if you win the game. I obviously don't
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: think it is. And we lost the game. I'm not
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: saying that's the ultimate reason why we lost the game,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: but it definitely contributed. He also talked about his timeout
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: decisions and went into great, great detail explaining that thought process,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: which again, it was a good answer. But I just
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: think all this stuff, it leads to... saying why do
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: you feel like you have to explain everything to everybody? Like,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: I get the Nebraska media and it's a big part
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: of it because it also goes both ways here. It
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: does in this sense. The media should ask and has
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: the right to ask tough questions and make the coach answer.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: But as a coach, your contract just states you got
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: to show up and answer. You don't got to explain everything.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: And part of the reason why I think he's explaining
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: everything is because he doesn't truly know exactly deep down
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: what he believes. He thinks he believes in this stuff,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: but he has to verbally say it out loud to
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: everybody to show that, nope, this is what I believe
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: in and what I'm trying to do. So I think
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: there's a little bit of sense of insecurity about yourself.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: I've always said that about people that post a ton
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: on social media and have to get their comments and
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: thoughts out there on Facebook groups. And like, you're doing
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: that because you're insecure about what you think's happening. Yeah. Like, it's, yeah,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: you want to poke, but you want people to reinforce
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: what you're sharing. You want people to agree with or
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: even disagree with. You want attention. You want commentary on it.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I feel like that's part of what Rule is doing
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: every time he feels like he has to explain himself. Now,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: guess what? This offseason, he didn't. That's why I was
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: so encouraged. It was so quiet. We kept our mouths shut.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: We went down the door. We didn't have to over-explain anything.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: We just said, we're going to do what we think is,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: write and move on. So anyways, a little rant there. Um,
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: here's my evaluation on, on overall role. Like this is
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: where I land. I think he's a good coach. Like,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: I think he understands the game pretty well. Like I'm
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: not excellent, but I think he understands the game. He's
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: made progress. He's has stabilized a program that needed stability here. Uh,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: you looked at where we've come from, where he's been,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: like it's gone somewhere. And I think expectations have been raised,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: whether you want to admit it or not, as a
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: fan base. He did what he did at Temple and Baylor.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: And here at Nebraska, we're at five wins, seven wins,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: seven wins. And now we're five and two on our
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: way to hopefully get to seven or eight. And those
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: don't just happen. I mean, this is supposed to be
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: a tough schedule. I know it's not right there. But
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: it's definitely stabilizing where we were at. But what I
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: don't know, I don't think he's a killer. And when
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: I say killer, I don't mean like this angry macho
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: man humiliating your players. I mean a coach who knows
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: how to get his team to seize the moment when
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: an opportunity is given to yourself on a platter. The
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: last two games are perfect examples of that. We have
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: the opportunities to go out and win those games and
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: the circumstances fell into our favor. Even some calls fell
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: into our favor. Balls bouncing into our chest in our favor.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: It's not this snake bitten team anymore of like unlucky
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: bounces and unlucky calls. I just truly don't know if
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: we'll ever win a big one and get to quote
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: unquote glory with Matt rules. I hope I'm wrong. I'd
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: love to be wrong and be able to do that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: But I just don't know that we'll ever get there
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: because of that mentality. I think, you know, that 2019
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Baylor team got 11 wins and lost in overtime in
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: the Big 12 championship game. Like, that's his only example
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: of playing in a championship game like that. But I just,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know that he's, I don't know. I just
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: don't know that, you know, when it comes to winning
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: close games and, and closing the door on those. We
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: obviously haven't really shown to do it now. It's been better,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: but those we've, we've done it against Maryland and last year.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: And then this year, Maryland and Michigan state, guess what?
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: They were weren't one score games because we're maybe better
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: than those two programs, which again, big positive. So yeah,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: this is now against Oregon, Indiana, two of the preseason
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: top three teams and we couldn't get it done. But
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: the opportunity was there, especially against Oregon in the season
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: they're having to go out and win that game. So
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Matt rules, big 10 records, 12 and 19. So, I mean, say,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: say that what it is. It's now year four. Right. And, and,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: and we'll, we'll see where we end up. Um, And
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: what I give him credit for, right, is his great
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: contribution to getting him back, getting us back to consistent
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: eight and nine win seasons. Like, I think that is
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: serious progress. And if we can sustain that here, one,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: get there this year, but then sustain that for the
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: next few years, I think that's huge. And I think
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: that is why we'll keep him around. And I think
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: that is worthy of keeping him around. But then at
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: that point, Eventually, and now this whole 2014 playoff throws
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: in a whole new wrench into the story, but at
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: what point then does that become stale and you want
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: to take the next step? And I know people are
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: going to say, we can't fire a coach that wins
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: eight or nine games or whatever because look what happened
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: after both. Well, guess what? If you hire the right
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: guy and you evaluate it appropriately, your eight or nine
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: win season becomes then the next step in winning 11
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: games if it works out right. So, Anyways, going to
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: the next topic, and I've mentioned it already, but I'm
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: going back to the press conferences, and I know he's
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: got a professional and contractual obligation to face the media.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I get it. I just want a coach who answers
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: the hard questions to the point, but doesn't have to
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: be a whole map of what's going on, everything inside
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: your head. Monday was like 40 minutes long, eight minutes
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: before even the first question was answered. We got literally
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: everything and it had to give an explanation for everything.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: It wasn't like the media was like overly pushing for
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: these answers. He just has to explain everything to them. Honestly,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I loved Dana Holgerson's bluntness in a press conference. I
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: mentioned that before. He gets to the point, tells you
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: what failed. You can argue with him, but he's going
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: to say what it is. This is what I'm doing
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: and move on. But I feel like rules explanation has
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: to become its own event, right? I get the media
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: wants this stuff. You don't need to do that stuff.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Just say it what it is. And then let Saturday
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: on the field do the talking and winning the games
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: versus having to try to get everything out there. And
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: my personal read, and I want to be fair, you
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: don't know what he's thinking. It just sounds like he's
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: working out his own answer in a public setting and
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: just saying his internal debate of what he's trying to balance.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: That's why he always says it's a two-sides thing. He
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: says it out loud in looking for confirmation that what
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: he's decision is right. And maybe that's his simple way
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: of processing. Maybe it's supposed to help his players and
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: staff hearing that. But after a week with two very
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: agonizing losses, or two plays from top 10, maybe sincerely meant.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: But as a fan, if you're hearing that, You just say, well,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: then why don't we win the game? Then why can't
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: we go out and win the game? So, I mean,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the length itself isn't the sin. The real issue is
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: whether all these words... Whether all these words actually go
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: into the lack of belief and identity in what he wants.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: And maybe not what he wants, but how he wants
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: to get things done. And how are you going to make...
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: you know, get a stop on fourth down? How are
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: you going to have a drive that doesn't stall in
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: the fourth quarter? How are you going to make sure
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: you use your timeouts appropriately? Like, those are the things
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: that I think he just, it just isn't quite there. So,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: and if you do some of those things, obviously you're
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: going to win games. So to close here, I'm not
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: really asking any listeners to say, like, Rule's the best
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: coach ever, we need to keep him, or Rule has failed.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Fire him. I'm not asking you to do that, but
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: just soak everything in on holding these ideas at once
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: and know that, yes, he's moved us forward, and we
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: can appreciate that because it is a lot more fun
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: this season than it has been in a long time
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: because of what Matt Rule has done with this program.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: And he may still be the coach that gets us
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: to this eight or nine wins consistently, and I really
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: hope and actually think he probably will. But I also
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: just question... When it comes to these better teams, and again,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: going back to that killer mentality, does he have the
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: ability to take that next leap? Just haven't seen it
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: ever in his career anywhere he's been at, which again,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: puts him as he's a good coach, but I don't
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: think he's great. And so what would change my mind
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: with all this? Late game possession against a quality team
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: that has a purpose. Stopping a team on fourth down
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: like it last two weeks. you know, are obviously an
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: improved offensive line to where our talent just is, is
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: clearly better. It's obviously gotten a lot better than what
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: it has been, but last two games, I mean, I
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: think it was pretty evident that we're not, we can't
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: run inside runs because up front we were in comparison
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: with Indiana and Oregon, which again, are we expected to be?
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Like that'd be a huge jump from
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: where we were at last year, but we're, we're getting
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: there again with, with, With better performance comes higher expectations,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: and that's never going to change until probably we win
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: a natty. Special teams, just, I don't even, I don't know.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Just sounds like we're bouncing around there with changing coordinators
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: and all that. And then, just again, just keep your
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: mouth shut. Like, I get it. You're trying to explain
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: everything because people want to hear it, but you don't
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: need to. You don't owe anything to anybody. Just keep
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: your head down and go to work like we did
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: this offseason. It worked out well. Pretty damn well here
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: as we started the season. So I think that we
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: are still a good team. Nebraska, we are still a
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: good team for this year. And by doing the things
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: that we've done and we don't change anything drastically, which
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: he did explain that, which I'm happy that things aren't
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: going to change drastically, we should be able to defeat
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Washington and Rutgers and Illinois and help. Ohio State, all
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: these teams have backup quarterbacks playing for them. Then we
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: play Iowa. Like, this season is still right there for
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: the taking. If you take it one game at a
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: time and find a way. But, you know, you get
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: a bye week. You get some time to regroup, get
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: guys healthy, get locked in then for Washington, which is
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: a very, very big game that dictates a lot of
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: the rest of the year. So, anyways, that's my Matt
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Rule discussion here right now. Wacky Dacky Wednesday tomorrow. Go
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Big Red. The headlines change, but the mission stays.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: From Memorial Stadium to PBA days. Football Saturdays, basketball nights.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Every story chasing red and white. Recruiting buzz, big time commits.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: Camp battles, coaching hits.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Transfer moves and rising stars. The road to glory's never far.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: This is Return to Glory. Where every headline tells the story.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Big red pride every season husker nation's got a reason
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: from touchdowns dunks and championship dreams we'll be back with
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the latest from every team until next time keep the
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: faith keep believing.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Because the return
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: To glory is just beginning go big red see you
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: next episode