Matt Rhule walked into Big Ten Media Days and, as usual, managed to say a lot without exactly landing the plane. The Nebraska coach got plenty of attention for the line, “We didn't come to Nebraska to go 7-6.” But the real mess came later, when a question about Nebraska’s 2-10 road record turned into a strange attempt to rewrite Wisconsin history.
The question was straightforward: “Finishing stronger down the stretch, being 2-10 in on-the-road games as Nebraska's head coach, what kind of changes have you made for your team to prepare down the stretch?”
Rhule opened by saying, “I think sometimes we always think we have to change something.” That’s a curious place to start when the road record is 2-10, but the bigger problem came with the example he chose next.
“To me, you win in November by being the better football team,” Rhule said, “So two years ago we beat Wisconsin for the first time in 12 years in November to be bowl-eligible. On that day, we were just the better football team.”
That answer set off alarms for a reason. The game he was talking about was in Lincoln, Nebraska, not on the road.
He had been asked about Nebraska’s road issues and answered with a home game. And yes, Nebraska did beat Wisconsin for the first time in 12 years in 2024, 44-25.
Rhule also said after that game, “This will be the last time we ever celebrate six wins.”
He wasn’t wrong to say Nebraska was the better team that day. Wisconsin was overmatched, and Ben Barton said after the game, “We played really well against the No. 1 team in the country, and then we come out today - and I'm not saying Nebraska is not a good program, but they're not No. 1 in the country - and we gave up three times the points to Nebraska. This is on our defense today.”
Still, that doesn’t change the fact that Rhule dragged Wisconsin into a conversation where it didn’t belong. The Badgers were dealing with a rough situation of their own that week.
Tyler Van Dyke, the original starter for the season, was done for the year. Braeden Locke had taken over.
Will Pauling was injured and didn’t play against Nebraska, and star safety Hunter Wohler also missed the game. On top of that, Luke Fickell fired Phil Longo the week before the Nebraska matchup.
Rhule eventually moved away from Wisconsin and talked about Nebraska being older and more experienced, saying the team simply has to play better. He closed with, “I don't think it's necessarily something different. It's just doing what we do better than we did it before.”
But the Wisconsin example was the one that stuck, and for good reason. It was a wild answer, and one that tried to lean on a game Rhule described in a way that didn’t hold up.
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