Nebraska Football: The Business of Selling Hope
The Profizer muses about Nebraska's fourth straight loss, staff shakeups and what is left ahead for this 2026 Husker Football Team
Four straight losses. Four increasingly creative ways to make the entire state of Nebraska question why we continue investing our Saturday’s into this program. 5-0 seems like a lifetime ago. A childhood before the real world slaps you in the face. Now we are watching the wheels fall off this thing in real time, with the inevitability that only true Nebraska fans can fathom.
Illinois did exactly what I told you all they would do. Exactly what has worked for Bret Bielema against us for years. They sat around and waited for us to make mistakes. And when we inevitably did, they capitalized.
Another opponent outgained. Another opponent out rushed. All undone by missed field goals, penalties, and head scratching coaching decisions.
There’s not much more to say about it. We can all see it happening in slow motion. The snowball that started rolling during the fourth-quarter collapse against Indiana has become an avalanche. And once again, Nebraska has proven itself powerless to stop it.
The 2026 season collapse has officially claimed its first victim. Farewell, Dana Holgorsen. Another offensive coordinator’s scalp to add to the Matt Rhule collection. Just days after being praised as one of the greatest offensive minds in the game, Dana apparently forgot how to coach. Funny how fast things can change.
An offense that seemingly has the ability to move the ball but has the uncanny ability to never score points is hard to defend. So, I agree, Holgorsen had to go. He was paid to score and we didn’t score, simple as that, right?
But what the hell is really going on down in Lincoln? We’re now on to the 3rd coordinator in four years for Rhule. Why does it seem to not matter who is calling the plays? We just can’t score consistently. The more you piece things together, the more it seems like Rhule is a micromanager. The only common denominator in all of this is him. Is Rhule putting himself in the middle of decisions he hired others to make? Or is his ever-evolving crisis of what he wants this team’s identity to be hard to coach to? It would seem to me that at some point we will have to stop blaming the guy holding the clipboard and start looking at the man handing them out.
I know, I know. Easier said than done when you’re staring down the barrel of a near $70M buyout.
But what do I know? I’m just a guy.
One thing is clear though. Whoever Rhule hires next, he needs to hand over the keys and let the man do the job he was hired to do.
T
he heat on Rhule’s seat has never been hotter, and I have my doubts whether he can win this fanbase back over again. But I for one would be shocked if he isn’t retained for the 2027 season. And locking down Aurich with a contract extension this week, I believe, is a signal to the fanbase that, currently, that is the plan.
Rhule will either live long enough to see himself become a hero or become the sacrificial lamb of the odd 2027 season.
Think of it. 2027 will be a season played to a reduced crowd, at discount prices. Maybe he brings in an OC that can light the world on fire. Spark an immediate turnaround, and with Aurich still at the reins on defense, spark a run into the newly created 24-team playoff that debuts next year. Doubtful, but a guy can dream.
On the other hand, the more likely scenario, based solely on past coaching records, the wins don’t flow. The circle completes itself, and we are right back to where we are now. Rhule gets fired.
Either Matt Rhule figures out how to sell tickets by winning football games, or Troy Dannen figures out how to sell tickets by firing Matt Rhule. Either way, somebody is going to have to convince 80,000+ people to open their wallets again for the reseated Memorial Stadium, and selling hope can only generate so much more revenue for the Athletic Department.
As with everything in life, only time will tell what happens. Right now, this fanbase is exhausted. Tired of losing. Tired of being fed the same lines over and over again, while watching the likes of UCLA turn everything around in one season. Tired of constantly taking one step forward and two steps back.
It all brings us to Piscataway, New Jersey. A place where Nebraska has absolutely no business losing a football game. But the again, we’ve spent the better part of the last decade proving that having no business losing a football game has absolutely no bearing on whether the Huskers actually lose it.
This team has three more chances left this year. The Huskers have successfully played themselves out of any more meaningful football this year. All that’s left to play for at this point is pride. You can’t change the past, but you can write your future.
So, what does Nebraska need to do this week to avoid yet another collapse? Can Glenn Thomas right this offensive shipwreck?
The Profizer is keeping it simple this week folks. There are no keys. Just get back to playing football. Rutgers is a bad team. There is no need to sugar coat it. Nebraska must just find its love of football again this week.
Quit overthinking it. Stop pressing. Just play. The team has nothing to lose. Dispatch of one of the worst teams in the B1G just like you are supposed to. Then you can line it up in the last two games of the year and see what you’re made of.
I don’t know if we have seen the last of the changes that this season will bring. But speaking for the true Husker fans out there, we want to see nothing more than good ol’ Nebraska U be successful, regardless of who is at the helm. This state bleeds Scarlet and Cream.
Nebraska 30 – Rutgers 10
GBR
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