Rhule to Penn State?

It's not a big leap. If we play Akron, we beat Akron. With the first game jitters out of the way, we beat a Colorado team we almost beat anyway. Maybe that carries over to Troy. It's the same team that would finish 4-2 with a close loss to #8 Ohio State, so 6-6 wouldn't have been unlikely and Frost would have met the minimum expectation of returning the Huskers to bowl worthiness. As it was, everyone was optimistic enough about that 4-2 finish to rank Frost's Huskers as a sleeper Top 25 team the next year. Now that you mention it, the trajectory probably wouldn't have changed at all.

Never heard that Kalen DeBoer would have seriously been considered in 2021, as Husker fans would have thought a coach with only two years at Fresno State was unworthy of our legacy and aspirations.

Biggest deal is if the Colorado chump doesn't intentional twist Martinez's knee, that game and the next couple look a lot different.

Frost had plenty of failings. But he also had about the worst luck of things (like the two talked about here) there were completely out of his control.
 
How did it look to your eye?

The game was decided on the big plays. They had three longs runs where they were untouched. Credit to them for making those plays but we also had safeties completely crap the bed on two of them. They would say the same thing about our Hail Mary.

Outside of those four plays, we had 299 yards of offense on 60 plays (4.98 yards per play). They had 225 yards of offense on 42 plays (5.35 yards per play). So we ran more plays and had more yards, though they were slightly more efficient. We also score a lot more points than they did in that scenario. So I'd say it's fair to say we were the better team on the majority of the plays, but they made the bigger plays that got them the win.
 
What gets my goat is the Indiana fans who think Cig won't leave them because they are the new powerhouse in college football
They already pay him amd his staff a lot and allegedly have $30 million to spend on the roster. This will come down to how much nebraska is will to spend on getting the best players possible, And by how many tackles they missed out on last off-season and getting out bid on the ndsu running we might already have the answer. If nebraska isn't capable or willing to spend the necessary amount of money to win in today's college football Rhule will leave.
 
I dont know, the internet at large doesn't seem to think he's an upgrade at Penn st.

Not a lot of wailing & gnashing going on in NE either.

The whole situation just feels weird.
 
I dont know, the internet at large doesn't seem to think he's an upgrade at Penn st.

Not a lot of wailing & gnashing going on in NE either.

The whole situation just feels weird.
There is a very real possibility (dare I say likelihood) that most of the Matt Rhule to PSU hype is being driven by low-hanging fruit group think and that it isn't actually anywhere close to what's going to happen.

But, it's easy.
 
I think we forget how rich these head coaches are by average peoples' standards. There's no way to know what kind of standard of living they bump up to; maybe they just plan on buying Lambo's and yachts when they retire and don't spend much while they're coaching because they're just too busy to even enjoy all of the toys & houses, etc.

They absolutely know they don't need any more money.

But I believe what does drive them once you get to Cignetti's level is going even further.

If he really believes he can win a national championship at Indiana, he'll probably stay.

But I think he also knows that no matter how good Indiana gets, there are more resources at Michigan and Penn State. And that's probably the thing that drives these guys to take the next job - they want to actually become the next Tom Osborne or Urban Meyer.

Pretty sure that "contentment" doesn't really exist for the overwhelming majority of them, just based off of the eye test.
 
There is a very real possibility (dare I say likelihood) that most of the Matt Rhule to PSU hype is being driven by low-hanging fruit group think and that it isn't actually anywhere close to what's going to happen.

But, it's easy.

Cornhusker fans being faced with a dilemma:
  • Saying that Penn State would never take Rhule because he's not actually good enough, which then implicates him as not being that great of a coach of our team.
Not saying that you said that at all, Enhance. But it's what I've been observing.

We can call Pat Kraft being Penn State's athletic director "low-hanging fruit," but we could also call it "an extremely logical reason that Matt winds up with the job via the 'buddy hire' system."

Right?
 
Cornhusker fans being faced with a dilemma:
  • Saying that Penn State would never take Rhule because he's not actually good enough, which then implicates him as not being that great of a coach of our team.
We can call Pat Kraft being Penn State's athletic director "low-hanging fruit," but we could also call it "an extremely logical reason that Matt winds up with the job via the 'buddy hire' system."

Right?
I think the narrative that Rhule isn't good enough is interesting. He hasn't stayed anywhere long enough to really know. My feeling is that he is doing the right things to build a championship level program. I believe if he had top 5 roster money, he would get it done here or at PSU. I'm hoping it's here.
 
I think the narrative that Rhule isn't good enough is interesting. He hasn't stayed anywhere long enough to really know. My feeling is that he is doing the right things to build a championship level program. I believe if he had top 5 roster money, he would get it done here or at PSU. I'm hoping it's here.

100% agree. I've said it since his first season here: I think he's just as likely as any other middle aged head coach that hasn't won at least a conference title yet to get to that level and even to the level of winning a national championship.

He's an amazing leader, he's great at pulling in resources, he's great at building the psychology of a team (he's got a masters in educational psychology after all), willing to demote his buddies as soon as he recognizes things are going south, and he seems to also be pretty good at building out schemes that work for the conference he's playing in.

Great football CEO-style coach, and clearly towards the top of the curve at navigating the new wave of college football with stuff like NIL and the transfer portal.
 
Cornhusker fans being faced with a dilemma:
  • Saying that Penn State would never take Rhule because he's not actually good enough, which then implicates him as not being that great of a coach of our team.
Not saying that you said that at all, Enhance. But it's what I've been observing.

We can call Pat Kraft being Penn State's athletic director "low-hanging fruit," but we could also call it "an extremely logical reason that Matt winds up with the job via the 'buddy hire' system."

Right?
I'd personally push back on that characterization because the implications are coming more from Penn St's side of the fence.

They fired a coach with a 70% winning percentage, consistent top 12 finishes, several New Year's Six bowl wins, a conference title, and a CFP semi-final appearance. That move signals a desire to go beyond just being very good and clearly feeling like they should be winning national titles.

The idea they'd turn to a coach who hasn't shown sustained success at any stop and has an abysmal record against ranked teams doesn't align with that ambition. Rhule's ties to Kraft and PSU aren't enough to override the expectations that just cost Franklin his job IMO.

So, it isn't really that some Husker fans are being insecure or implying Rhule isn't that good of a coach for Nebraska. It's because the hype feels built more upon convenience and lazy connections than on fit or logic. And I think the PSU fan base's overwhelmingly negative feelings toward Rhule's name being mentioned are indicative of this.
 
So, it isn't really that some Husker fans are being insecure or implying Rhule isn't that good of a coach for Nebraska. It's because the hype feels built more upon convenience and lazy connections than on fit or logic. And I think the PSU fan base's overwhelmingly negative feelings toward Rhule's name being mentioned are indicative of this.

Good stuff, good stuff.

I also think it's relatively likely that Penn State tries to back up a dump truck full of money to Curt Cignetti's door if he continues to tear through teams.

I'm not sure who the "sustained success at a Power 4/5 program" guy is that's available at the end of this year. I can throw names against the wall like Chris Petersen, Urban Meyer...could do that all day.
 
The game was decided on the big plays. They had three longs runs where they were untouched. Credit to them for making those plays but we also had safeties completely crap the bed on two of them. They would say the same thing about our Hail Mary.

Outside of those four plays, we had 299 yards of offense on 60 plays (4.98 yards per play). They had 225 yards of offense on 42 plays (5.35 yards per play). So we ran more plays and had more yards, though they were slightly more efficient. We also score a lot more points than they did in that scenario. So I'd say it's fair to say we were the better team on the majority of the plays, but they made the bigger plays that got them the win.

There's no stat for this, which is why I often go with guts and eye test, but the teams Nebraska has lost to going on four coaching administrations look like they can turn on a switch and secure a win in a way the Husker's can't. Some of that is efficiency. Some of it is avoiding stupid mistakes and turnovers. Teams that play from behind often put up big passing numbers in a losing effort.

If you had to put real money on a Nebraska vs. Michigan rematch, do you think Nebraska wins, or does Michigan win by more than 3? I liked our sense of urgency in the last few minutes, but I don't know anyone who would argue Michigan wasn't the better team.

That's what I liked about the Maryland, Michigan State and Cincinnati games. Nebraska looked like the better team, then found itself on the verge of losing, then flipped the switch like good teams do. We haven't done that in awhile.
 
Cigs is in an interesting spot

1. He is at a school that doesn't care about FB at all, not even a little bit. Out of all the P4 schools, it could very well be in the bottom 5 in terms of fans/media giving a crap at all.

2. His age, I know, I know, we are not supposed to define people by age or gender or height and everything is fluid, but since we are not letting people pick his age (shout out to not being fair), he is stuck at being 65. We can all like to pretend like 65 is young and that he could coach 10 more years, but more than likely, that is not happening.

3. I think he is pissed that he was passed over for so long and I think he is now in it for the money. He is going to make IU pay him and pay him big. And rightfully so. Take that cash.
 
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