Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule knows 55 minutes of good football isn't enough.
It might be against some teams, but not most. As the Huskers look to bounce back from a three-point loss to defending national champion Indiana, Rhule and his staff are making that a point of emphasis for the entire team. At the same time, Rhule is willing to bet on his quarterback to get the job done.
Meeting with the media Monday, Rhule reiterated that message and shed light on the Big Red's preparations for its Week 7 road game against the Oregon Ducks.
Here's everything he had to say.
NU led for much of the game Saturday afternoon, yet the Hoosiers came crawling back. Even when Indiana took the lead late in the fourth quarter, Rhule was still willing to bet on Colandrea to make a play.
Asked about going for it on fourth-and-nine, the head coach pointed to what the analytics said: Go for it. It didn't work out this time, but he said he'd do it again.
“I just felt like I was going to follow the analytics and put the ball in Anthony’s hands,” Rhule said. “We had holes that we thought were open and felt like, if we wanted to win that game, that ball and that field position, when you needed about 20 yards to kick a field goal, I’m going to put it in Colandrea's hands.”
“I don’t always follow the analytics,” he continued. “I felt like our defense would get the stop, but more importantly, I just felt like I needed to put this ball in my guys' hands. I will ride or die with Anthony Colandrea all day, every day.”
There's no shame in losing to perhaps the best coach in college football in 2026. Still, Nebraska had the Hoosiers on the ropes and failed to put them away.
Rhule knows the Huskers need to be better in a few key moments, like that fourth-and-nine, but he doesn't believe the team needs to overhaul much.
“When we watched the tape on Sunday, I think you have a team that is angry, who knows they let one get away,” he said. “We’re certainly disappointed, but not discouraged. We also understand that that is what it looks like. You have to not play really well for 55 minutes, you have to play well for 60.”
“I think each and every one of us: coaches, staff, players, knows that we have to be one or two plays better,” he continued. “I’ve encouraged the guys to take this time to be one or two plays better, every one of us, so that we can win that game when it comes back in the future.”
The offense wasn't the only unit that missed an opportunity to make a play. Nebraska's special teams failed to convert a 40-yard field goal late in the first half, a miss that proved costly in the three-point loss.
Even so, Rhule still has confidence in his specialists. NU is just 3-for-7 on field-goal attempts in 2026, but the Huskers' head coach said a strong week of practice would influence his decision to trust the kicking game moving forward.
“I don’t know if it was perfect, but that’s one we should make,” said Rhule. “I think we’ve had our share of issues so far… We had a missed extra point against Maryland. We had a bad snap against Maryland… I can’t live in a world of confident (or) not confident. I have to err on the side of going for it.”
“If we have a great week of practice, then I’ll lean towards that (kicking),” he continued. “But with Anthony, we basically have been like, ‘Hey, we’re going to try to play four downs’. Not because we don’t trust our field goal game, but because we believe in the weapons we have on offense… But yeah, it’s just something we’ve got to get cleaned up this week before we go to Oregon.”
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball) October 12, 2026
Nebraska's game at Oregon will feature the latest kickoff time Rhule has ever coached, with the game certain to extend into the early hours of Sunday morning Central time.
To prepare for that, NU is pushing its practices back a two hours and asking players to adjust their sleep schedules.
“I had read some of the things that P.J. Fleck had done, I had read some of the things that Charles Huff at Memphis had done, and a lot of it just goes into sleep,” he said. “We’re really asking our guys to go to bed a little bit later each night this week.”
“We’re going to finish this game at 2 a.m. our time,” he continued. “Your circadian rhythm starts to shut down, so we’re really just trying, as best as we can, to make 2 a.m. become 12 a.m., make 12 a.m. become 10 p.m. in terms of our bodies this week.”
Having a veteran team likely helps, but so does having a quarterback who sets the tone for the entire team. Colandrea, who carried the ball 17 times for 47 yards and a touchdown Saturday, is one player Rhule probably won't have to worry about getting ready to play.
Despite Colandrea's heavy workload in Week 6, Rhule maintained his stance on trusting the quarterback to remain productive while making smart decisions to protect his health.
"I want him to play," said Rhule. "Dante (Moore, Oregon's quarterback) got hurt sliding, you know? Other guys are getting hurt sliding as well. Would I like Anthony to run the ball out of bounds? Certainly, but he's also cutting back on the zone read and making that game 17-6."
"If you have a Porsche, you better let it drive 180," he continued. "I know everything I say gets blown into a little tidbit; I'm not saying he's a Porsche; I'm just saying I think it would be unwise to have a player like Anthony and not let him play to his full ability."
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