Notes From Matt Rhule's Monday Availability to Open Ohio Week

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LINCOLN — Game week is finally here for Nebraska football.

Head coach Matt Rhule met with the media ahead of Monday's practice. Here is what he had to say.

Season Opener vs. Ohio

Reaching the first game brings with it excitement. The team finally gets to battle someone who isn't a teammate, and the fans get to fill Memorial Stadium again.

"Excited to get back in Memorial Stadium and play in front of our fans," Rhule said.

Of course, this game is also a meeting of the two programs that each once had College Football Hall of Famer Frank Solich as their head coach. Solich led Nebraska from 1998-2003, before taking over Ohio from 2005-2020.

"I don't think you can talk about a Nebraska-Ohio football game without talking about Coach Solich. It was my first spring here, (former athletics director Trev Alberts) and I talked to Coach and back into Memorial Stadium, into the fold," Rhule said.

Solich was honored in 2023 with the Frank Solich Locker Room for the Nebraska football team. He also made his first trip back inside Memorial Stadium in 20 years that spring.

Solich became the winningest coach in MAC history, leading the Bobcats to 11 bowl games and 12 winning seasons. Rhule said Solich's fingerprints are still all over that program.

"They still retain his DNA of being a tough, physical football team," Rhule said.

That toughness was on display in their bowl game, which saw Ohio beat a UNLV team quarterbacked by new Nebraska starter Anthony Colandrea.

"(Colandrea) certainly remembers that game," Rhule said.

Preparing for Week 1

Going into the first week of the season always provides a clean slate in the scouting department. A new year means starters may have changed, but in the free transfer era, that also means a completely new roster may need to be looked at without having recent game film to rely on.

"The roster turnover is significant in all of college football," Rhule said. "You're looking at five new receivers coming in. You're looking at five new offensive linemen coming in."

Rhule pointed out the quarterback position. Nick Poulos was named the starter, which had the staff already looking at his tape from last year with Ohio, as well as his time at El Camino Junior College.

Regardless of who is lining up on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage, Rhule wants an internal focus.

"I think in first games, you have to really focus more on yourself than the opponent," Rhule said.   

Rhule said first games are usually won or lost in four areas:

  • Special teams blunders
  • Penalties
  • Turnovers
  • Bad tackling

Expectations for the Defense

Saturday will mark a new era for the Blackshirts, with Rhule's third defensive coordinator in four years at Nebraska. Rob Aurich will be coaching in Memorial Stadium for the first time, but Rhule liked what he felt from that side of the ball throughout the preseason.

"It feels right. It looks right," Rhule said.

Rhule said what feels and looks right is the connectedness of the defense. That includes communication when the stadium is loud.

"When we're at our best in that stadium, you can't even hear the play call in the headset," Rhule said.

Crowd noise and music have been staples at practices to make communication difficult for the defense, including the coaches relaying calls to the field.

"We're not playing in front of 15,000 people where you can yell the check out," Rhule said. 

Plan for Running Backs

The plan for the running backs is still in progress. That's not hyperbole; Rhule alluded to that fluidity on Monday.

"We have three backs that we feel like all are in that upper realm of playing," Rhule said. "We'll play all of them. A lot of that has to do with this week.

"Our plan is not yet even established."

Those top three are Mekhi Nelson, Isaiah Mozee, and Jamal Rule. Rhule added that Kwinten Ives, the oldest player in the running back room, will also have a role.

Other Notes

  • Congratulated volleyball for their dominant weekend.
  • No injury news entering game week.
  • The team has chosen leaders who lead, not by popularity. Doing game captains and not permanent season captains.
  • Planning to release single-digits and Blackshirts on Saturday. Justin Evans got a record number of votes for an offensive lineman, but he can't wear a single-digit jersey at that position.
  • Defensive lineman David Höffken has put on 50 pounds in two years.
  • Both offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen and defensive coordinator Rob Aurich will be on the sideline and not in the booth.
  • Anthony Colandrea's personality is similar to that of Baker Mayfield, whom Matt Rhule coached in the NFL.
  • Moving practices to the afternoons has helped both the players and coaches.
  • Typically a depth chart is released for the Monday media availability. However, one is not out yet.

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