Matt Rhule didn’t just leave Saturday’s loss to Washington with another bruising result on the schedule. He left having to defend his family.
After Nebraska’s 17-10 defeat, the Huskers coach said a fan confronted his 13-year-old daughter and hurled profanity at her because of Rhule’s job. Rhule described the exchange bluntly: "A guy walked up to my 13-year-old daughter and was like, 'F-U and F your dad.' I'm not going to keep coaching if it means my kids grow up screwed up," Rhule said, according to The Athletic's Mitch Sherman.
The episode landed in the middle of a rough slide for Nebraska, which started the season 5-0 but has now lost three straight in Big Ten play. The Huskers fell to No.
7 Indiana and Oregon before Saturday’s loss to Washington, and each one came with Nebraska holding a fourth-quarter lead. That’s the part that has made the stretch sting even more: the close calls have turned into losses, and the late-game finish hasn’t been there.
Rhule, though, made it clear he isn’t walking away from the job.
"I'm not leaving. I'm not quitting. I'm fighting for those people," Rhule said about his players.
Nebraska’s next chance to stop the skid comes Friday against Illinois. The road doesn’t get much easier from there. After the trip to Champaign, the Huskers still have Rutgers, Ohio State and Iowa left on the schedule, leaving little margin for error as they try to keep bowl hopes alive.
In Other News...
Former Nebraska Assistants Just Added To Matt Rhule Pressure
Florida States decision to fire defensive coordinator Tony White and safeties coach Evan Cooper after the loss to Clemson added another layer to a rough stretch for a pair of former Nebraska assistants. Both were in their second year with the Seminoles, and their exit comes amid a disappointing start that has already turned up the heat around the program.
For Nebraska fans, the timing is hard to ignore. The Cornhuskers are in the middle of a three-game losing streak, and the frustration has started to spill over toward Matt Rhule and Dana Holgorsen, making every coaching development elsewhere feel a little more personal. When former staffers are getting swept into changes at a major program, it only sharpens the scrutiny back in Lincoln. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Gets Nebraska At The Perfect Time After Another Collapse
Nebraska heads into its trip to Illinois carrying the weight of three straight losses that all followed fourth-quarter leads, a brutal stretch that has turned what once looked like a promising season into a scramble to steady things. The Cornhuskers are 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten, and after watching Indiana, Oregon and Washington all slip away late, the margin for error around this team has all but disappeared.
Illinois, meanwhile, comes in with momentum after beating Maryland, and the rest of the Big Ten weekend only added to Nebraskas frustration as Rutgers fell just short against Michigan and Iowa handled Wisconsin. The bigger picture is even harsher for the Cornhuskers, whose College Football Playoff hopes have been pushed into the background, leaving them to fight for something simpler but no less urgent: stopping the slide before it gets any worse. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Has A Chance To Reset As Three Big Storylines Collide
Nebraskas fall sports picture is suddenly crowded with momentum, frustration and a little bit of unfinished business. The football team is trying to regroup after a loss to Washington, even as the defense has continued to show up well enough in multiple games to keep the conversation from turning entirely bleak. Around the same time, both basketball programs are opening the 2026-27 season with familiar pieces back in place and some new lineup combinations to sort through.
Volleyball has given the Huskers the cleanest storyline of all, staying perfect with recent wins over Michigan and Michigan State and keeping the standard as high as ever. Put together, the three programs offer Nebraska a rare reset point, with each one carrying a different kind of pressure and possibility into the stretch ahead. The next few weeks should reveal whether the football team can turn strong defensive stretches into something more, and whether the other two sports can keep their early-season footing as expectations rise. [Read more 🡒]