Rhule says Nebraska likely a top-10 team if not for 4th-quarter breakdowns against Hoosiers, Ducks

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule delivered a rambling seven-minute monologue to the media Monday, demanding accountability from players and coaches in the wake of blown fourth-quarter leads the last two weeks but also saying the Cornhuskers are talented enough to compete with the best teams in the country.

The Huskers lost 20-17 to then-No. 7 Indiana at home after leading 17-6 with 12 minutes to play Oct. 10, and they were up 14-6 midway through the fourth at Oregon and lost 17-14 on Saturday as their former quarterback, Dylan Raiola, led the Ducks’ comeback.

“You can see the possibility and see the opportunity that’s there, that, hey, we’re a play each game away from probably being a top-10 team versus two excellent opponents,” Rhule said before he took questions from the media. “At the same time we have failed, I have failed, in each of those last two games. Both are true. All I know is to go back to work and just try to find a way.”

The Huskers, whose next game is Oct. 31 at home against Washington, have had a knack for losing games they led in the final quarter. Last season it was against Southern California, a defeat that began a season-ending stretch of four losses in five games. In 2024, they squandered fourth-quarter leads against Illinois in a Top 25 matchup, at a top-five Ohio State and at Iowa.

Rhule, talking a bit faster than usual, said, “Hopefully you can sense my energy. I’ve watched the last couple years and it’s, ‘Man, Coach Rhule, you don’t win down the stretch.’ Well, I ain’t the one out there playing. Like, players, you want to win down the stretch, you go win down the stretch.”

The Huskers held Indiana and Oregon to two field goals each through the first three quarters but gave up 14 points to the Hoosiers and 11 to the Ducks in the fourth.

Against Indiana, the Huskers allowed a 75-yard TD the play after they had taken a 17-6 lead and got burnt for having the wrong defensive personnel on the field when the Hoosiers turned a fourth-and-1 into a 44-yard game-winning touchdown. Against Oregon, they surrendered scoring drives of 17 and 20 plays and allowed Raiola to convert a fourth-and-3 when he hit his receiver on a crossing pattern the Huskers were expecting.

“Saturday’s a game we could have won. To be honest, Saturday is a game we should have won,” Rhule said. “I give credit to Oregon for finding a way to win that game.”

Rhule said he, his staff and players need to look inward when assessing what’s happened the last two weeks. The losses were self-inflicted, he said.

“I’ll take the bullets for my guys all day long,” Rhule said. “I just want everybody in the building to be like, ‘I called the wrong personnel and we gave up a touchdown because of it.’ I want someone else to be like, ‘I’m running out of bounds when I should be cutting back.’ Someone else, ‘I’m not blocking a defensive end in pass (protection) that I should be able to block.’ I want everybody doing that. Nothing happened to us. There aren’t going to be any victims.”

Hanging over the Huskers is their 31-game losing streak against Top 25 opponents and Rhule’s personal 21-game skid against the Top 25 over a combined seven seasons at Baylor and Nebraska.

Still, Rhule emphasized he likes his team and its potential.

“I expect us to have a chance to win every game moving forward,” he said. “I think we are a really, really good team. We have to be great in the important moments.”

Rhule also said Nebraska isn’t the only team in the country kicking itself over losses. He pointed out LSU, for example, is 5-2 after a potential game-tying drive against Mississippi ended with an interception in the end zone with a minute left and they lost to Kentucky on a 2-point conversion in overtime. LSU is ranked No. 18 this week.

“They get the benefit of the doubt,” Rhule said. “We don’t get the benefit of the doubt because we haven’t earned it yet, we haven’t taken it, and we’re fine with that. But we’re a really good team that has to be better, and that’s the message in our room.”

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