Nebraska entered 2024 with optimism surrounding the program, but after a three-game losing streak, Husker fans are left with an uncomfortable feeling as the season nears a close.
This year might end the same way as last.
Consider Nebraska’s most recent game. Their one-possession loss to a two-win UCLA meant the Huskers finished Week 10 a win shy of clinching a bowl game. The same thing happened last year: a one-possession loss to a two-win Michigan State meant the Huskers finished Week 10 a win shy of clinching a bowl game.
The last three games of the season could be reflections of last year’s as well. One game against a mediocre USC team followed by Wisconsin — a team Nebraska has bested just once since joining the Big Ten. If those games don’t swing the Huskers’ way, a bowl appearance would come down to the notoriously elusive rivalry game against Iowa, just as it did last season.
The alarm bells in Lincoln began sounding following the team’s disastrous overtime performance against Illinois on Sept 20. Now, following a scoreless first half against an abysmal Purdue, a sluggish one-score win over Rutgers, and an active three-game losing streak, the sirens have swelled to a deafening pitch. The pressure is on Rhule to deliver the single win needed to end Nebraska’s eight-year bowl drought, and the first piece to break was a big one.
On Monday, Nebraska announced that Dana Holgorsen, former West Virginia and Houston head coach, would replace Marcus Satterfield as the team’s offensive coordinator for the remainder of the season. Holgorsen was brought on as an “offensive consultant” just days beforehand, spelling trouble for the already vulnerable Satterfield.
“If you score 18 points a game, you’re going to be under fire. Me as the head coach. [Satterfield] as the OC. Everywhere,” Rhule said last Monday. “18.1 a game — there’s nothing you can say — it’s just not good enough.”
Points per game is not the only stat showing the Husker offense has struggled this year. The team is rushing for 52 fewer yards per game than last year — placing them solidly in the bottom half of the league. Even worse is Nebraska’s fourth down conversion percentage: 29.4%, second worst in the FBS.
The Huskers are also bottom ten in the nation in red zone offense at a .722 scoring percentage. Making it so close to the goal yet consistently falling short is a bit of an allegory for the team’s power conference-leading bowl game rut.
However, making a bowl game is not the only reason Rhule would want to end the season on the right foot, because December is when every losing program in the nation becomes incredibly vulnerable.
On Dec. 4, college football’s early signing period begins, allowing schools to officially lay claim to the very best of the 2025 class. If Nebraska can’t break its curse and stumbles out of Iowa City 5-7 once again, there is no telling what the recruiting repercussions would be. The Huskers still have their sights set on a handful of players currently committed to other schools, and faltering will do no favors in getting them to flip to Lincoln.
Five days later, a day after the first 12-team College Football Playoff bracket is finalized, the winter transfer portal will open, leaving Rhule in the same situation for players he already has. There is nothing more frustrating for a player than to represent a program that is stagnant year-over-year despite the tonnage of effort they’ve put into themselves and their team. That feeling is not lost on some of Nebraska’s stars.
“It’s hard. I’m a competitor. I want to win. This is why I decided to come here — was to win,” Raiola said following the loss to UCLA. “I know our whole team hates losing. And we put so much time and effort into going out and trying to win these games. It just sucks when things don’t happen.”
Anyone in Rhule’s position would be desperate to turn things around. Coming in to lead a floundering program is no easy task, but to do so for a program as historic as Nebraska makes it exponentially harder. But fans are panicking, players are frustrated, and time is running out.
“A lot of guys probably in the locker room are frustrated because they know we’re better than that,” Rhule said after the UCLA game. “But, we are where we are, and you have to just play yourself back into it. We have three more opportunities to go play football. We’ve got some great, great, great seniors that I know want to win one, if not two or three. And, that’s what we’ll have to do.”