Nebraska Football: Matt Rhule press conference after beating Colorado (Sept. 7, 2024)

uh L like we came out pretty healthy um you know first of all I hope that Shiloh and shador are okay look like you know both of them look like shador could have maybe I don't know if he could have finished or not but Shiloh got taken and was out so hopefully hopefully they're both okay I think they're great players great competitors and um you know wish them the best but uh really proud of our team um you know defense scored second week in a row uh we got some contributions my kind of game we won the game there's still a lot to improve so I get to be the coach and be happy at the same time for a night so with that I'll see what questions you have what did you uh what did you think of the atmosphere inside the stadium was it what you hoped it would be uh it was more it was electric you know I mean again the crowd noise was fantastic um the energy was fantastic um I think our players fed off that and uh you know I think it's you know in this in this modern era of communication all that it's really hard to it's really hard to play in an atmosphere like that so thank you to the student section they were there early thank you to our fans it was uh it was really a special night after last year's loss in and coming back this year and just making a statement with this win what does that mean for like the rest of the season then um I don't think it's like I said I don't think it's a referendum um you know I think uh last year had to happen so that this year Could Happen um I think that's a lesson for that I take with me all the time you know sometimes uh sometimes bad things have to happen to you uh so that the old you can die and a new one can be born so um a lot of guys that you know chose to come back and play play with us this year go through the the struggle they came back a lot of young guys didn't have a chance to really play you know we want to turn over battle for the second week in a row I don't know that we turned the ball over we know had to block punt which obviously isn't good enough but um you know uh um so we have to keep getting better right but this was a this was a big moment you know so it was really big for us to show up and not back down from their stars because we're a little different um our team is our star right and I know Dylan's getting a lot of publicity and we have a lot of guys who could be Stars our defense is a star so everyone kept talking about this guy that guy that guy and I kept saying hey they're forgetting our defense they're forgetting the black shirts and had we not had that block punt you know lean to that field position and then that tough targeting call um they wouldn't have score today and so um you even at the end we know we chose to take a knee so um it was just kind of an overall win but hey we got to play again next week we got a lot to do I know that you brought some pressure in the second half on Shor but a lot of what you guys were able to do he did with three and fourman pressures how proud were you of your defensive front tonight and the relentlessness and passion yeah there was and even the pressur we brought sometimes we're bringing like we're dropping a guy and bringing one so still really like a fourman rush Ian we had a couple like he brought all out pressures in um he brought one like the fourth and one but for the most part like we just played coverage uh we trusted our big guys and really the times they made plays were they got outside of us you know so if you we were coaching the guys hard tonight coaching them the whole way through the game I mean this we have to learn how to play with a lead you know that that game wasn't it really wasn't much of a contest in the second half and so you're sitting there like you know hey we just just not turn the ball over we have to find that middle place of aggression you know and so we still working through a lot of that right um but uh um I thought the I thought the defensive line came to play I mean they had a really good week of practice but as importantly there was no one running free you know they didn't have any Free Runners they hit one seam ball they were going empty but I thought a lot of guys and even will Scot in at the end gets a sack fumble so uh big day for him how important do you think it was to your guys to set the tone physically from the start yeah I me we have three goals win the turnover battle be the most physical team on the field and have a culture of execution there was a ton of penalties you know just a ton of penalties and I you know we have the iPads now I mean I looked at a lot of them I mean you know we'll wait and see I mean I I was disappointed you know we didn't get many calls going our way it's a big 12 crew so I can't get fined by them I don't think so I'll say that um but um you know uh so there's a lot of things to fix but but I thought we were really physical you know and I thought even that first run again I hate that Shiloh got hurt but you know I thought Dowell set the tone with his physicality running the football and um yeah but we are a physical team you know we might have some areas that we have to improve on but we are a physical team you say about just Ty Robinson and he blocked a field goal um kind of sack on the first series just his his impact yeah well I mean sometime honestly sometimes I want to say I told you so like I I kept saying how good he was and everybody say well stats I'm like I'm just telling you and so like he's a dominant player every Scout that comes in I'm like I'm just telling you guys he's a dominant dominant dominant foot football player they can play four positions and he plays hard he about broke my neck walking down the thing cuz he was so happy that we won you know he grabbed me and cuz he's one of the guys who came back I love him I'm proud of him so um you know that's why I'm not doing a big know referendum on to me this was like this was like my guys you know I said something on on on on Tuesday or Wednesday Tuesday press conference that no one really picked up on I said hey you think Sam asked me about shadur shur saying what he said about me and I really didn't care me I had a great visit with some of those guys before the game but I said hey you know what he's defending his father my son with to and I said I think my you know I got some guys in there I think will too and uh I love Tai I love Jamari I love those guys this has been the best this has been one of the best experiences of my life coaching these guys so I'm happy they had a chance to get a win and they're going to come in on Monday and they're going to think it's the worst game they ever played by the time we're done and we'll get ready for next week what did Dante and rier show you that allowed them to get the bulk of the carries that they did tonight yeah thought we had some I thought we had some Flash plays early and so I just kind of stayed with them um even ramir has that long run at the end but you know um this is a game you know this is a game that you know we just kind of went with even across the board we didn't do a ton of rotating you know we just kind of played the guys that on defense we played most of the older guys and um just a unique game got up early and but uh yeah um there no referendum on those other two Gabe and EMT will have play a ton of football as we move forward but I thought early on Dante set the tone and uh romir did some good things so we kind of just stuck with them how' you feel like Dylan played and then in the second half were you guys trying to make sure that he didn't put it in hars away was something yeah wasn't really about him it was just you know like honestly the heart I mean you're not going to have a lot of games like that in the Big 10 where you're like hey they can't score so if they can't score what do you do right you know so again we and I was pushing us on offense to be aggressive you know again you take away some of those penalties and we are pretty aggressive right you know and we had some mistakes right we call a counter the guard doesn't pull or something happens wrong and we get hit for a loss and you know we still have we have to get a lot better than the field goal game like I should be able to kick those field goals and then and so we have a lot of work to do snap still aren't you know we have some things to work on and that's not calling anybody out that's just coming out of game like game Flow hey let's just add three points here let's add three points there but a lot of those penalties really hurt us that have been a 3 400 yard rushing game for that long run all that cuz I think we finished with 185 so um um I for I'm sorry Sam I forgot what you said I'm pretty excited right now played Oh I thought trying to you know make sure he didn't throw an interception no I no I mean we we um you know they were bringing a ton of heat we were having a hard time picking up they were they were bringing everybody right and uh um you know we just you know we got some dpis and we took a couple shots you we were just you know think think back to the one he goes off you Thomas' hands one goes off jaylen's hands you know we hit Jaylen on the one so we let him let it rip um um but hit the seam ball you know backed up we're backed up at second and 20 we throw a seam ball to borer like we're so I didn't think we we just overall um just kept just trying to find because we we got up to 75 yards rushing right off the bat and then they just changed everything when Shiloh went out they started playing some cover to they started bringing some different pressures and and um defense scored and just felt like we got a little discombobulated maybe but I I I'm going to put the ball in Dylan's hands I trust him your guys have even started to talk about complimentary football and you had the moment last last week after the safety after bush down to the two big six you know how much of that is the kind of stuff you've been preaching to them for a year and a half and how big of a moment momentum you think that that was a huge moment you know I was really happy for Brian and uh you know a couple times I said to the guys on the field you know even like when we start talking to the other team I said we've been trained like we know you know we like like we botched we botched the two-minute warning like we we could have milked the clock down to 1 second and gotten the ball to the two-minute warning so we gave the ball back to them which is a just an was not good enough now luckily we got the ball back and then we went down scor it's two weeks in a row now Dylan and the offense have gone down in two minute right before the half and put the ball in the end zone but um yeah I think so I think the complimentary football's there and um um our guys are understanding it and I think the coaches are doing a good job preaching it hey coach uh this is a team that you played tonight that brought in an entire new offensive line and your front seven seemed to not have much of an issue with that is that more the players executing or is that something you saw in film I I think we have good players I think we I just think we have really good players you know I have to and I haven't seen the tape yet so it's hard for me to say what happened but we have really good players um they execute a really difficult scheme that requires a lot of a lot of thought a lot of teaching and um um you know we we think we have five or six or seven starters on the front D line I think MJ and Prince world are interchangeable we put Willis in at the end he gets a sack fumble I mean we got really good players it's a credit to the guys how happy were you for uh you know Tommy to have that moment how hard he's worked the last year that the pick six yeah I mean everyone kept talking about the other team's Corners I kept saying like tomy's a first-rounder and uh you know um he went to the other side and Travis is a great player I'm not saying anything about Travis saying but Tommy's a good player too like and that's why I kept telling our guys at halftime like it we have to I didn't want to make this game about the other team because I think we have good players I want to make it about us I think we have good players and Tommy's an excellent player and he he broke and he didn't jump something he he played his technique he broke he saw it he went and got the ball intercepted it and and then he you he went out and play the next drive so I think Tommy is one of the best players in the country you talked about playing with a lead now now that you've got some momentum how do you how do you coach these guys to to to prepare and play game after game with that kind of momentum and belief that the fan base has yeah like we our preparation will not be our issue our guys our guys work their butts off I mean we practiced really hard and our guys worked their butts off um I think just you know again learning how to finish you know we still haven't solved the close game thing because we haven't been in that and I think probably a lot of people thought this would be a close game I'll be honest with you we we we expected this score like we expected this to be like this um we have a good team and we we felt like we were going to play really well tonight um so um we're going to keep we're going to go right back to work and treat this like a game that we lost you know um uh that's what we did last week like I told you guys correct the correctables and and that's a really good football team like they'll they'll they'll make a ton of noise in the Big 12 guarding number five and guarding number 12 and guardan number two those are as those are as good a players as you know you you'll play against and and on the defensive side they're's active and violent a defense as we'll see so um we're we're just going to work and I think the biggest thing is we have great competition a lot of guys want to play jakori keeps making plays Jaylen now we got Jaylen involved again this game Thomas made a big patch down the middle so we just have a lot more I think we have to get done with the defense playing as well as it has and then you have Dylan off platform throw across the field down to the two on national TV just out Outsider you as a coach and out Outsider should your fan base be right now uh well I okay um and that just the play by Dylan was great that that that's a rooll throwback that's a great call Great play design they said they had it and they it was covered too Jaylen did a great job just I mean the ability by Jaylen to come back and get that ball was was fantastic and Dylan trusting him but I think the biggest thing about Dylan is you know we again we didn't turn the ball over you know what I mean like we're protecting the ball still being aggressive and we've had we've had a good defense the defense just needed some help we have a lot of work to do on special teams right we got a pump block miss a field goal kick we got give up a 70 yard kickoff for return so there there's a lot of those things in terms of the fan base what I would say is let's just take it one game at a time let's just where our players will get in trouble and every won't get in troubles we'll start zipping ahead to like four weeks from now five weeks from now um we have not earned that right we have not earned the right to start looking ahead like all we going to do is we're gonna like even when we lost to Colorado I mean I remember with Trev I said I said just give it a year Trev I said I we'll play these guys next year and it'll be different but that was just day by day by day work and so we're going to come in this week and we're going to prepare like crazy for Northern Iowa and I hope our fans I hope our fans you know come out and next week sounds just like this week cuz it's really hard I mean I want the fans to know I don't know how well we would play in that atmosphere if we were the visitor it is so hard and so if they can just do that every week I'm telling you it's an advantage um yeah so um I don't know if I answered your question but I think people should be pretty excited I I'm me tell you something don't mistake my stoic look I'm fired up okay I'm fired up I'm fired up but I'm fired up for the guys cuz those are my guys and uh you know and then uh Bud Crawford you know came in talked to the team last night and let us out tonight gave him a game ball and uh you we wanted our guys to know that you know we have we have celebrities here in Nebraska too they care about us good anybody else all right thank you guys