By Rock Westfall
Last Saturday night was the best infomercial the Nebraska Cornhuskers could have possibly hoped for. On NBC prime time, Nebraska demolished Deion Sanders (exposed as a fraud), Shedeur and Shilo Sanders (knocked out of the game), and the entire hated Colorado Buffaloes house of cards program 28-10. The Big Red wowed a record TV audience by jumping out to a 28-0 halftime lead, mauling and busting the Buffs physically along the way.
The telecast showed that head coach Matt Rhule has Nebraska back on its way into the national conversation and as a potential destination for the nation’s top recruits, such as 5-star freshman sensation Dylan Raiola, who flipped from the mighty Georgia Bulldogs to Nebraska and is not looking back.
The visuals and sounds of the sea of red in Memorial Stadium were stunning and continue to be shared on social media. Nebraska won the weekend, and its fans won deliverance from evil.
But now comes the question: what will Nebraska do with its landmark win?
The Huskers begin the week with historic opportunities on multiple fronts.
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The Opportunity of The Millennium
With its prime-time win over Coach Prime, Nebraska has its greatest opportunity for success since the turn of the millennium—and it is an opportunity that it must not blow.
For too long, Nebraska and its fans have been told the football program is a relic of a past that cannot be duplicated. The days of Nebraska playing the only national TV game of the week and having significant advantages in facilities, nutrition, training, and development are long gone. So, too, is its ability to compensate for a lack of 5-star in-state talent on the recruiting trail.
Matt Rhule is defying the “experts” in a magnificent way. Rhule is restoring that old Nebraska magic with some serious dominance sauce. But one slip-up can put Nebraska right back where it was.
This Saturday night, Nebraska will face the unique challenge of playing against a good and ranked FCS team. The Northern Iowa Panthers are 2-0 and sit 21st in the FCS polls. Yes, Nebraska should comfortably win the game. But if the Huskers are caught reading their headlines and pregame dancing, Colorado style, they could be flirting with disaster.
Saturday’s game is an important opportunity for the Matt Rhule culture to prove itself. Rhule runs a tight ship that is disciplined, focused, determined, motivated, relentless, and accountable. Thus, he would seem to be the perfect coach to confront a good Northern Iowa program that will give Nebraska everything it has.
Rhule had better be.
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Time for 1890 Initiative to Make it Rain for NIL
Under former athletic director Trev Alberts, Nebraska’s NIL initiatives were stalled by Alberts’s power and ego plays, which blocked progress. But since Troy Dannen replaced Alberts, Nebraska has become bold and aggressive about NIL. Dannen brought what is known as 1890 Nebraska in-house, and the initiative quickly won rave reviews within the Big Ten.
“I would love it if all of us had the same amount because then you can really see who can recruit and coach,” Rhule said. “If you’re asking me to recruit against a team that’s got twice as much money to give players as I do, then I’m not going to win very often and that will then affect gameday.”
Although Rhule emphasizes recruiting and developing relationships, he is the first to admit that money matters and that Nebraska, while improving, has much more to do when it comes to NIL and standing among the nation’s elite.
“Make no mistake, we’re not at the level of those guys; we’ve got a long way to go,” Rhule said. “The truth is (that) we’re doing great, but we’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got to get a lot better. I’m pretty sure Oregon and Ohio State, LSU and the teams that have that type of money, they’re not sitting still now. They’re saying, ‘Hey, someone’s going to try and catch us.’ I think Nebraska is a great place and I think we should get the best players in the country and NIL’s one of the ways to do it.”
Last week one of the biggest and best groups of prospects were on hand to take in Nebraska’s big moment. These coveted players want everything Nebraska has to offer but will also want to be paid.
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Rhule delivered what fans and donors demanded by beating Colorado handily on national TV. The Huskers have program momentum and a sales pitch they lacked just one week ago. Previously, losing was an excuse for boosters not to empty their wallets. That excuse has ended. Nebraska just enjoyed its greatest 3-hour prime time commercial in a generation. The Big Red is on its way to restoring its glory. The time is now to capitalize on it.
There is little doubt that Dannen and Rhule are saying, Dear boosters, donors, and fans, IT IS TIME TO MAKE IT RAIN!
Indeed, it is.
If not now, when?
