Matt Rhule didn’t sound interested in dialing back Nebraska’s quarterback run game. If anything, he leaned the other way Monday.
Talking about Anthony Colandrea, Rhule made it clear the Huskers should keep leaning into the zone read, not treating it like a problem to be solved. Nebraska’s quarterback gives defenses a hard choice every snap, and Rhule said that decision-making is exactly the point.
"I just think at the end of the day, the way people are playing us, they're trying to take him away," Rhule said during his Monday press conference. "But some of those plays, they're zone reads.
We run the zone read, we hand the ball off, Mozee gets 20 yards. The next time they bend, he pulls the ball.
I look at it like, 'Let's run more zone reads, guys.' Like not, 'Oh, gosh, we have to run zone read.'"
Nebraska’s offense didn’t pile up much on the ground Saturday night, finishing with 78 net rushing yards. Of the 133 positive yards the Huskers produced, 73 came from Colandrea himself.
Rhule also gave the Oregon defensive front a heavy dose of praise after what Nebraska faced up front.
"Those are four guys who should have gone to the NFL last year. They came back to win a national championship.
I wish they would've gone, they didn't. I respect the heck out of them," Rhule said.
"I don't think Anthony's doing too much. There were a couple times we called play actions and the guy wasn't open, he started scrambling, I wish he would've thrown the ball away."
He pushed back on the idea that teammates are simply standing around waiting for Colandrea to do everything.
"I just think, hey, we got to play better up front. Hey, sometimes the first progression is open and Anthony is waiting for the second one," Rhule said. "He'll be the first to say, 'Hey, just throw to the first progression.'"
One of Colandrea’s biggest moments came on the 6-yard touchdown run, when Nebraska used a naked bootleg and the play opened up in a way the staff expected. Rhule said the plan was for Quinn Clark to pop open, but a Duck stayed with Clark. Colandrea kept moving, dove for the end zone and got the ball to the pylon.
Rhule also pointed to the people around Colandrea, saying Nebraska has real help at the skill spots. He singled out Kwazi Gilmer and Luke Lindenmeyer as two of the more elite players at their positions in the league.
And then Rhule delivered the line that turned the conversation in another direction.
The quarterback has another year of eligibility available in 2027 because of the new 5-for-5 rule, and Rhule said the support around him needs to be recognized. More than that, he suggested there’s already outside interest.
"I don't think that's a good narrative to have out there that he doesn't have enough support. I don't think that's good for our players.
Certainly not good, because he's already got SEC schools calling him," Rhule said. "I don't want Nebraska people to start saying that (he doesn't support), because that's happened before here.
We don't need that now here."
In Other News...
Oregon Exposed A Nebraska Problem That May Get Worse
Nebraskas offense spent a long afternoon trying to find any kind of rhythm against Oregon and never really did. The Huskers managed 242 yards on 67 snaps, with quarterback Anthony Colandrea doing what he could to keep drives alive, finishing 18 of 33 for 164 yards and a touchdown while adding 38 rushing yards and another score on the ground. Even with that effort, the bigger picture was hard to miss: the run game never got rolling, the passing game lacked separation, and the offense as a whole looked stuck in place.
The issues went beyond one bad outing, too. Nebraskas top running backs were held to 58 yards on 18 carries, the offensive line gave up a sack and five pressures, and four penalties made an already uneven night even messier. Injuries along the line and at running back only added to the concern, while receivers struggled to create the kind of space that can help an offense recover when the ground game is bottled up, leaving a problem that could be even tougher to solve if the same limitations keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Left Wondering After Two Late Replay Moments Swung Everything
For much of the night, Nebraska had a chance to leave with a statement win before Oregon finally nudged in front with 28 seconds left. The finish came with the kind of replay drama that tends to stick with a team long after the final whistle, starting with a touchdown catch by Kwazi Gilmer that was upheld after officials said there was not enough clear evidence to overturn it.
Then came the other moment that had Nebraska wondering what might have been. A potential late fumble by Isaiah Mozee was not reviewed, and the Cornhuskers kept possession as the game tightened in its closing stretch. In a contest decided by the smallest of margins, those two replay decisions became part of the story almost as much as the score itself. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Fans Have One Brutal Debate After Another Late Collapse
Nebraskas recent stretch has left fans stuck in an uncomfortable place: encouraged by how far the program has come, but frustrated by how often close games are slipping away late. The Cornhuskers dropped tight decisions to Indiana and Oregon after holding leads in both, a sequence that has sharpened the conversation around whether the progress under Matt Rhule is real enough to matter when the fourth quarter arrives.
Against Oregon, the offensive issues were impossible to ignore, with nine punts and little production on the ground, even as the defense did enough for three quarters to keep the game within reach. The broader picture still shows a team that has outperformed preseason expectations, but the debate now is whether thats enough when the same late-game breakdown keeps showing up in the toughest moments. [Read more 🡒]