LINCOLN—Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule, as one would expect, is happy with the 68-0 win over Akron on Saturday.
Meeting with the media Monday to open Houston Christian week, Rhule gave his main takeaways.
“I thought we showed lots of improvement,” Rhule said. “It’s hard to get shutouts, because if you’re a decent human you want to put the twos and the threes in, and the fours and the guys that worked hard.
“Sometimes those guys go in there and they’re just not quite as prepared. I was really, really pleased with the level of play from our second, third, fourth team players.”
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Rhule gave his impression of HCU, who is 1-1 so far on the season.
“Excellent defense. They’ve only allowed one third-down conversion the entire year. Ranked in the top five in several defensive categories. Obviously, going to be a real challenge for us,” Rhule said.
Rhule continued…
“They’ve got excellent players,” Rhule said. “They’ve got some guys—FBS, Group of Five guys—who have transferred back. Really, really active on defense. They’re gonna challenge you with different looks.
“Offensively, I like what they do. They can both run the football and they have athletes on the outside. They have an excellent offensive line.”
Turner Corcoran got some run at left tackle against Akron, but he was also in on jumbo packages. That’s something Rhule liked getting to see in a game.
“We wanted to try to use some Jumbo 12, a big tight end in there with Luke (Lindenmeyer), so that we could try to take advantage of the edge,” Rhule said. “I think that’s one of the benefits of Turner: he’s so smart. He can be ready to play left tackle and play tight end and have it not affect him.”
As for how the offensive line performed as a whole, Rhule wanted more rushing yards.
“We ran duo once or twice and got the ball at the front side and got tackled by the safety,” Rhule said. “That’s one we should make the guy miss. I thought the offensive line played well.”
In the punt return game, Nebraska leads the Big Ten Conference in attempted punt returns. Rhule said they weren’t happy with the operation against Cincinnati, particularly with blocking the gunners. That was better against Akron, with the Big Red notching 92 return yards on Saturday.
“We had a plan to double the gunners and force big returns,” Rhule said. “They had three offensive lineman out there and a punter who wasn’t a runner, so we weren’t really afraid of the fake.
“We just have a special, special guy back there in Jacory (Barney Jr.).”
Nebraska did not punt against Akron, something that Rhule heard about from fans because that kept Australian sensation Archie Wilson off the field.
“I got some emails from some angry people that we didn’t punt on the last play of the game,” Rhule said. “That’s what I love about Archie, his family was in the facility, I think on Thursday or Friday, and they were like, ‘hopefully we don’t see him play.’ He’s a team guy.”
Rhule also discussed his team’s mentality, including a spirited halftime conversation.
“I went after them at halftime,” Rhule said. “I freaking lost it in the locker room. I was pissed that we let them drive the ball down right before the half, almost making a field goal. Where’s the killer instinct?
“I want us to be a football place. Football teams, you put away the teams you’re supposed to put away. You don’t let them have life.”
Rhule was happy with the response out the break.
“You play these teams, they want to come here; they want to play here. They’re supposed to never want to play here again,” Rhule said. “That’s what I was pleased about in the second half, that we didn’t let up. We went down and we scored again, scored again, scored again.”
You can watch the full media session from Monday below. Continue scrolling for more coverage.
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