I’ll apologize right from the start if the title of this piece bothers you. But I wanted to make a point. When I played high school football in Texas in the mid-seventies this was part of a chant our cheerleaders used during games. “Hit ‘em again, hit ‘em again, harder, harder, blood makes the grass grow”. Of course, things have changed since then and this cheer is no longer used.
But while the chant may be gone and there are several things about the game of football that have changed over the years, there is one thing that hasn’t changed. Football is a contact sport, it’s violent and was meant to be so. In the words of Pittsburgh Steeler’s head coach Mike Tomlin, “The more violent team wins.” I couldn’t agree more.
Why am I talking about blood and violence as part of football? Because it allows me to say, Nebraska’s head coach Matt Rhule is too soft. Now, before you go off, hear me out. I’ll be the first to admit you won’t find a more competitive coach in the B1G than Rhule. And it’s obvious he coaches his players to be hitters, but if there is one thing missing from Rhule’s coaching arsenal, it’s the fact that he lacks a killing instinct.
Do you honestly believe Rhule would beat a team by 40 to 50 plus points if he could? I’m not suggesting Rhule should run up scores, but one of the reasons Rhule’s teams have had so many one score losses is that they don’t have nor have they learned to have a killing instinct. Granted they haven’t been good enough to score those kinds of points on most teams, but they haven’t done so when they could have either.
Teams take on the personality of their coach and Rhule’s teams have had his. Rhule tends to let up on teams rather than teaching his players to put a foot on the throat of their opponents. Last season the Huskers could have put more points on UTEP, and they let up on Colorado, not scoring a single point in the second half. They beat Northern Iowa by 31, but didn’t it feel like they should have scored more?
I blame Rhule’s softness on his past, taking over floundering programs like Temple, Baylor and now Nebraska. He knows what it feels like to be on the losing end and being humiliated. Because of that he’s reluctant to make opposing coaches and teams feel the pain he and his team felt. But did it stop Michigan from scoring 45 in 2023 or Indiana to hang 56 points on the Huskers last season?
Part of Nebraska’s and Osborne’s success was never shying away from putting up points, not to run up scores, but to make a statement. Being beaten by 30 to 40 points is demoralizing and something every team on your schedule becomes aware of. Teams worried about just keeping it close rather than winning. Osborne beat Nick Saban’s Michigan State team 50-10 in 1995, and then told him, “You aren’t as bad as you think.” Rhule needs to get to that point.
The killing instinct needs to start this season in game one against Cincinnati. Nebraska shouldn’t take the Bearcats lightly. They are a good team. But Rhule and the Huskers need to go into that game thinking that if they can put 70 on Cincy then they need to. Rhule needs to forget Scott Satterfield is on the hotseat and coaching to keep his job. Nebraska needs to come out hot in game one and set the tone for the season.
This is year three. Rhule needs to show not only is this team different, but he’s different, and there won’t be any letting up.
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