What Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said about Penn State football, Terry Smith, Joe Paterno

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Matt Rhule will be at home, in a sense, during Saturday night’s game in Beaver Stadium.

The Nebraska head coach played for Penn State football under Joe Paterno in the 1990s − just like Nittany Lion interim coach Terry Smith.

The ties are strong. Rhule coached with Smith at Temple. He’s good friends with Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft.

And he appeared to be an early candidate for PSU’s open head coaching position before signing a recent extension at Nebraska.

He will be coaching Nebraska (7-3, 4-3 Big Ten) for the first time against the Lions (4-6, 1-6).

Here’s what he said about Penn State in his weekly press conference:

Matt Rhule on playing Penn State football, Terry Smith

“We’re obviously excited to go play an excellent Penn State team. Despite being 4-6 they’ve outscored their opponents by 93 points this year and they’re doing a great job right now under Coach Smith. Terry was on my first staff. I hired him out of Gateway High School, and he was on my first staff at Temple. I have a lot of respect for him.”

Matt Rhule on the Nebraska defense vs. Penn State running game

“We are one of the top pass defenses in the country … but we struggle vs. the run. And they are going to come out and run the football. I look at it as what a wonderful opportunity for our guys to go out there and conquer things that have bothered them. We can defend the run, they’re just very good at it, too. … It will come down to our ability late in the game to defend the run.”

Matt Rhule on the emotions of playing at Penn State, his alma mater

“I don’t have very many at all, to be honest with you. I spoke earlier to you guys about how much I loved my time there, but it’s just different for me because I’ve been back so many times. The only things I feel is my grandfather had season tickets at Penn State and he’s no longer living. My grandmother’s no longer living. Just the people who poured into me and meant a lot to me in my life, they won’t be there for this.

“When we beat Penn State at Temple in 2015, I have a great picture with my uncle … who’s in the Pennsylvania high school coaches hall of fame, and he runs up and is getting ready to hug me, but he’s no longer living. I probably will think about a lot of people who would have been at that game who aren’t here.”

Matt Rhule on arriving at Penn State in the early 1990s

“I was not recruited at all by anyone except maybe Division III schools and a few Division II schools, so I walked on at Penn State. I got hurt. I had a bad shoulder, I failed the physical, so I had to go be the student equipment manager. … (But) after a few weeks I said, ‘I don’t want to do this,’ so I was going to try and rehab and come back in the spring. Eventually, they said you can come back on the team, but you have to be the scout team center. So, I literally was a 230-pound scout team center the entire year. Fast forward a couple of years later and I find a way to get on the field. But I did all of it (because I wanted) to be a coach.”

Matt Rhule on playing for Joe Paterno

“In terms of Coach Paterno, he didn’t speak to us very often. He knew how to pick his spots. But when he spoke the man’s charisma and ability to enchant and capture a room was amazing.

“The core thing Coach Paterno did, besides that you had to go to class, you had to get an education, he cared about who you as a person … the core value I learned from him is he held his best players the most accountable. And as I got into college football, I saw the opposite. It was, ‘Hey, if you made plays you could do whatever you want.’ Not there. You’re sitting there on a bowl trip, and you see him send a starter home because he’s late? You’re like, ‘I’m never going to be late.’ That’s kind of carried over for me and hopefully I uphold that ethos.”

Matt Rhule on Penn State running backs Kaytron Allen, Nick Singleton

“They’re great. They’ve got long speed. They can catch the ball, they pick up blitzes they can run downhill, they can run outside. They play them both together. They’ve been great since they were freshmen. I can’t minimize how good their offensive line is. I love the center. He’s a really good player. At their best, they find a way to run the football.”

Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at  fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: What Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule said about Penn State football

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