Matt Rhule’s Nebraska track record has a couple of numbers that jump off the page, and they tell two very different stories.
The first is the good one: Rhule is 14-0 at Nebraska when his team scores at least 30 points. Zoom out to his full college coaching career, and he’s 41-5 when his offense reaches that mark, a total that includes his stops at Temple and Baylor.
The second number is the one that hangs over everything else. Rhule is 0-12 at Nebraska when his team is trailing at halftime. In other words, his winning percentage when Nebraska is behind at the break is the same as when it’s behind at the final whistle: .000.
That’s why the offensive side of this thing matters so much right now. Dana Holgorsen said a couple weeks ago that winning in the Big Ten can feel like a race to 21 points, and last week offered a reminder that the conference can still turn into a shootout. Seven Big Ten teams scored 28 points or more, and every one of them won except Purdue and Ohio State.
Yes, the Big Ten makes it hard to stack up enough possessions to live comfortably in the 30-point range. But for Rhule, the math is clear enough: when Nebraska gets there, it wins. When it falls behind at halftime, it doesn’t.
If I were Rhule, that would be reason enough to make sure this next offensive coordinator decision is handled carefully.
And that brings us to Glenn Thomas.
Over the next three games, there shouldn’t be any scenario in which Rhule decides Thomas has done enough to lock down the full-time offensive coordinator job going forward at Nebraska. That’s true even if the Huskers beat Rutgers, Ohio State and Iowa. It’s true even if the offense clears 30 points in all three games.
That’s just too small a sample to hand Thomas the job for a full season and beyond.
Look at the press conferences from Rob Aurich and then the most recent one from Glenn Thomas. The confidence level is not the same.
Aurich comes across as the steadier presence. Thomas, at least in that setting, does not.
That doesn’t mean he can’t become a strong offensive coordinator down the line, but the contrast is obvious.
The difference, at least as I’d read it, is experience. Aurich has run his system at different levels of football and has seen success.
He’s probably seen just about everything, and that kind of background tends to show up in how a coach carries himself. It also helps explain why he got the extension.
Meanwhile, Nebraska’s immediate football schedule keeps moving. The Huskers, now 5-4 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten, head to Piscataway, N.J., to play Rutgers on Saturday. Rutgers enters at 2-7 and 1-5 in conference play.
Ahead of that game, HuskerOnline spoke with Richie O’Leary of The Knight Report for his outlook and score prediction.
Elsewhere around Nebraska athletics, the volleyball team kept rolling. No.
1 Nebraska swept No. 25 Illinois at the John Cook Arena, winning 25-23, 25-20, 25-12 to claim the 2026 Big Ten regular-season title outright.
The Huskers improved to 26-0 overall and 15-0 in conference play, hit .483 as a team and held Illinois to .200. Teraya Sigler had 13 kills and hit .684 in one of the best matches of her career.
Nebraska basketball also added to its future. Dawson Battie and Ty Schlagel signed Thursday to join the program for the 2027-28 season.
Battie matches the highest recruiting ranking Nebraska has signed, while Schlagel brings the kind of shooting Fred Hoiberg likes to find room for. The two-player class is ranked No. 17 nationally by 247Sports.
Back with the football program, Rhule said Nebraska is in a “good place” even with the scrutiny that comes with a four-game losing streak. He also said defensive coordinator Rob Aurich has agreed to a two-year contract extension, coming two days after Rhule fired offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen.
And in MLB news, Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Houston Astros DH/OF Yordan Alvarez were named unanimous MVP winners in their respective leagues Thursday night. Crow-Armstrong received all 30 first-place votes in the National League after a huge season at the plate, on the bases and in the field, with Shohei Ohtani finishing second and Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang third.
In Other News...
Nebraska Just Got A Huge Opening In Its Bowl Push
Rutgers spent much of its recent news conference focused on Greg Schianos contract extension through 2027, but the conversation also turned quickly to the bigger picture for Saturdays matchup with Nebraska. The Scarlet Knights are trying to navigate a stretch that has already been complicated by injuries to key players, including top receiver KJ Duff and quarterback Dylan Longeran, and that changes the way this game looks for a Nebraska team still trying to strengthen its bowl case.
Matt Rhule has already made clear that Rutgers is not a soft landing spot, pointing to the Scarlet Knights running game and special teams as real concerns for the Cornhuskers. Even so, the injury situation gives Nebraska a chance to take advantage of a suddenly more fragile opponent, and in a late-season race where every opening matters, this one stands out as the kind of break a bowl hopeful needs to notice. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas Bowl Hopes Now Ride On One Huge Rutgers Gamble
Matt Rhule made a notable midstream change this week, firing Dana Holgorsen as Nebraskas offensive coordinator and turning the offense over to Glenn Thomas just ahead of the Rutgers game. It is the sort of move that signals urgency, especially with the Cornhuskers still trying to keep their postseason path alive and needing a cleaner offensive showing at exactly the right time.
The timing of the switch only sharpens the stakes because Rutgers will not be at full strength, with starting quarterback Dylan Lonergan and top wideout KJ Duff both unavailable. Nebraska now gets a chance to reset its offense against a shorthanded opponent, but the bigger question is whether the new setup can translate all the statistical promise into the kind of performance that actually keeps bowl hopes on track. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas Secondary Suddenly Has A Late-Season Problem
Nebraskas secondary took an unwelcome hit late in the season with Andrew Marshall undergoing foot surgery, a development that leaves the Cornhuskers without one of their most experienced defensive backs for the stretch run. Marshall had been a two-year starter, so his absence strips some stability from a unit that had already been counting on continuity as the schedule tightened up.
For a defense trying to hold together in November, losing a veteran presence in the back end is never simple, especially when the margin for error gets smaller every week. Nebraska now has to sort out how it wants to replace that experience and communication on the fly, with the timing of the injury making the challenge even more difficult. [Read more 🡒]