In Hiring Dana Holgorsen, Matt Rhule Shows He's Not Messing Around

Author

TJ Birkel
November 14, 2024

By bringing in Dana Holgorsen to take over as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator with three games left in the 2024 season, head coach Matt Rhule has shown once again he’ll do whatever it takes to build a winner in Lincoln. More on that in a moment. 

Coming into this week, I had an idea for a column titled “The Defense is Not the Problem.” The crux was essentially going to be, yes everyone is frustrated with the direction Nebraska’s season has taken, and every part of the operation owns the fact that the team is on a three game losing streak, but the defense has been the furthest thing from the problem for this team. I was going to drill down in detail about the failures of the special teams units and, especially, the offense. 

Now that we have the Dana Holgorsen news, it’s clear Coach Rhule agrees the offense has been a major problem, so we don’t need to belabor the point. That said, it is worth taking a brief look at some numbers in order to get a glimpse of just how bad things have been and why a change was necessary. The Huskers currently rank 99th nationally in scoring offense, 96th in total offense, 101st in rushing offense (something Rhule has repeatedly said he wants the Huskers to do well), and 66th in passing offense. This after being 123rd, 117th, 39th, and 129th in those respective categories a season ago. Nebraska’s offense is averaging 22.3 points per game in 2024, good for 96th nationally (after averaging 18 points per game, ranked 120th nationally, in 2023). There’s not enough improvement to be found, and the ineptitude on offense has cost Nebraska multiple games at this point in the Rhule era. 

On our most recent episode of the Common Fan Podcast, we discussed whether or not this move by Coach Rhule was one of desperation. It’s certainly not common to bring in a new offensive coordinator from outside the program nine games into the season. It’s also a clear sign that…

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