Will Nebraska Football Make Special Teams Special Again?

Author

TJ Birkel
January 11, 2025

T.J. Birkel

In November of 2020, Matt Rhule gave a speech to the American Football Coaches Association during which he laid out five keys to winning football. The list is as follows: 1) Don’t beat ourselves. 2) Make special teams special. 3) Dominate the trenches. 4) Win the toxic battle (i.e. turnovers and explosive plays). 5) Great at situational football. After two years with Rhule as the head man in Lincoln, there is probably a whole series of articles (or at least a podcast episode) that could be done to assess how much progress Nebraska has or hasn’t made in each of those categories. But today I want to focus on special teams, which has been anything but special since Rhule’s arrival in Lincoln. 

Make sure to catch up on our other articles from this week, where we took a look at the big picture challenges Rhule faces as college football becomes more complex than ever, as well as the state of Nebraska’s offense and defense at the outset of a pivotal offseason. It’s never too early to start focusing on next season, fellow Common Fans. As we say on the Common Fan Podcast, all Husker football, all the time. 

The Third Phase. During the 2024 season, you could argue special teams cost Nebraska at least two games. The Huskers missed a field goal with roughly three minutes left in the game against Illinois, which would have given them the lead and the opportunity to avoid overtime (where things rapidly fell apart). And we all know what happened against Iowa. A missed field goal early in the 2nd half, and a muffed punt return that gave the Hawkeyes the ball in the red zone and ultimately led to a field goal were pretty much the difference in the game. 

Husker fans have seen this movie all too often going back over multiple coaching staffs. The 2021 game against Michigan State comes to mind, when a veteran Nebraska defense completely bottled up Kenneth Walker III and the Spartan offense, only to see Nebraska’s special teams give up a punt return touchdown and ultimately lose the game in overtime. The entire 2019 season was also an adventure, when the Big Red didn’t seem to have an answer at kicker going into the season, and at one point held open tryouts for anyone on campus to try for the job. That sounds more like something out of a bad movie than what you would expect from a college football blue blood. 

Special teams failures are particularly maddening because generations of Nebraska fans grew up watching well coached, disciplined teams under Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. Even for many years after TO’s retirement, special teams play was often very good, almost always at least serviceable, and rarely a liability. It’s something high school teams do well when they devote enough time to it, but unfortunately for Nebraska, it has been the difference in more close losses than Husker fans care to count. 

Mind Boggling Ineptitude. In 2024, the Big Red made just over 61% of their field goal attempts, which put them at 120th in the nation. In 2023, that number was exactly 60%, good for 119th nationally. The Huskers were DEAD LAST in the country when it came to blocked punts allowed in 2024, one of only two teams to give up four blocks. They were SECOND-TO-LAST in blocked kicks allowed with seven. I mean, what????

Let’s be clear…