November woes continue to haunt Matt Rhule’s tenure at Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. — After a 24-point home loss to Iowa Friday, there’s no denying that Matt Rhule’s third year with Nebraska isn’t sitting well with Big Red Nation for many reasons.

Rhule’s Husker teams are showing a trend of starting out the season strong, and then crumbling down the stretch. It’s no mystery that he’s 17-8 in games prior to November as Nebraska’s coach, but struggles mightily navigating through the Big Ten gauntlet. Following the Huskers’ 40-16 beatdown by the hands of the Hawkeyes, Rhule is now 2-10 in the month of November, and it’s raising several eyebrows.

Nebraska showed heart, and battled in losses to Michigan and USC. However, the debacles at Minnesota and Penn State were flat-out embarrassing. Iowa’s seventh-straight victory in Lincoln was arguably the worst of Rhule’s five losses this season. Not only was it the Hawkeyes’ largest margin of victory in the Heroes Game since 2017, but there was also a mass exodus of Husker fans before the start of the fourth quarter, and Rhule took notice of their frustration.

“I sure understand how that feels to all of the great fans that we have, the student section is full, and people come to the game and I understand their disappointment,” Rhule said. “I understand our teams’ disappointment, and I think when you end the season the way we have the last two games, it has to rest solely on me.”

Nebraska got off to a fast start against Iowa, and drew first blood with a touchdown on its’ second drive of the game, which included a 70-yard burst from running back Emmett Johnson. The Hawkeyes responded with a 51-yard kickoff return from Special Teams demon Kaden Wetjen, which put their offense in good field position. On top of that, kicker John Hohl was flagged for a facemask on Wetjen, and Iowa was deep in Nebraska’s territory.

The Blackshirts anchored down, kept the Hawkeyes out of the endzone, and kicker Drew Stevens put the Hawkeyes on the board with a 41-yard field goal. Nebraska’s secondary was later slipping out in coverage, and Iowa took its’ first lead of the game after quarterback Mark Gronowski connected with tight end DJ Vonnahme for a 35-yard touchdown.

Quarterback TJ Lateef put together two promising drives, but both ended with field goals, and the way Iowa’s offense was moving the ball on the Blackshirts, Rhule needed touchdowns instead. Gronowski orchestrated two 75-yard touchdown drives to put the Hawkeyes ahead 24-16 at the halftime, and Rhule knew nothing was going to come easy for his team.

Lateef even limped around at times due to a hamstring injury, and that limited the offense as a whole the remainder of the afternoon. It’s mind-boggling that the Huskers rushed for 186 yard in the first half, including 177 from Johnson, and were still down by more than a touchdown at halftime.

Rhule didn’t put much thought into it because he had confidence that his players would battle through adversity, especially the Blackshirts. Most importantly, Rhule understood that he had to adjust on the fly.

“I didn’t mind being down by eight, we thought this was how the game was going to go,” he said. “I found disappointment in our pass defense, we played man to stop the run and they kind of beat us in the passing game, so we were going to play more zone.”

Iowa (8-4) dominated the second half on both sides of the ball, and it was like an avalanche with how everything went down for Nebraska the remainder of the contest. The Hawkeyes’ defense stacked the box to stop Johnson, and forced Lateef to beat them with his arm, but his receivers dropped several balls, including a couple by Dane Key.

Wideout Jacory Barney muffed a punt return, picked the ball up and fumbled it into the endzone after a big hit, which resulted in a safety for Iowa. That completely shifted the momentum to the Hawkeyes’ side, and they smelled blood in the water. The crowd of 86,410 fell completely silent.

Gronowski took over the game, and led the offense on additional touchdown drives. Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Iowa led 40-16 and a lot of boos came from the crowd because the fans couldn’t bare to watch. The Huskers had plenty of opportunities, but couldn’t punch it in the endzone, and Rhule couldn’t believe his eyes. Iowa outscored Nebraska 16-0 in the second half.

It was a rough final 30 minutes for Rhule, his staff, the players and Big Red Nation. Once the smoke cleared, the Hawkeyes led the Huskers in total offense, passing yards, yards per play, first downs, third down efficiency, plays, and time of possession. Iowa also won the turnover battle. That’s a recipe for disaster in Rhule’s eyes, and the numbers don’t lie.

Johnson was the only bright spot for the offense. He rushed for a career-high, 217 yards and a touchdown. Lateef struggled to throw the ball, and only completed nine of his 25 passes for 69 yards. No Husker had more than 22 receiving yards. Still, Rhule doesn’t want fans to blame Lateef for the offensive shortcomings, knowing the true freshman played through an injury.

“I encouraged TJ to play, I never want to see him get hurt,” the 50-year old said. “As a quarterback you have to learn how to play when you’re not 100 percent, and I thought he tried.”

The Blackshirts didn’t do their part either, gave up several explosive plays and couldn’t get off the field when it mattered the most. Nebraska’s defense didn’t generate any sacks, or cause any turnovers. Although Donovan Jones, and Javin Wright led the team with nine tackles apiece, the performance by the defense was atrocious and Husker fans were livid.

Ending the regular season of year three with five losses is a major disappointment, but Rhule feels he got the right pieces in place to take that next step. Despite finishing with a losing record in Big Ten play for a third-straight season, and no wins over ranked opponents, Rhule just wants patience from Nebraska fans, because he can see light at the end of the tunnel, and eager to redeem himself in the upcoming bowl game.

“I’m going to work as hard as I can, for as long as I can, and I’m going to surround myself with really positive people, not toxic people, and just try to continue to move this program forward.”