UCLA Football Preview: Matt Rhule and the Nebraska Coaching Staff Have Huskers Playing Well
The Huskers have succeeded even though Rhule has had to change both his offensive and defensive coordinators since they played the Bruins last season.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule is now in his third season in Lincoln. Last year, he led the Cornhuskers to their first winning season since 2016 and their first bowl win since they beat UCLA in the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl.
After his team won six of their first eight games this season, Nebraska opted to extend Rhule’s contract by two years. More importantly, it upped Rhule’s buyout from $5 million to $15 million in order to prevent him from being poached by UCLA, Penn State or any the 93 other schools who have already fired their head coach.
Speaking of Rhule and UCLA, it’s worth reminding everyone that Rhule spent the 2001 season on Bob Toledo’s staff coaching the defensive line. It’s also worth noting that UCLA’s offensive coordinator that season was Kelly Skipper, the brother of the Bruins’ interim head coach.
Just because things are going well now for Rhule, it doesn’t mean that it’s been smooth sailing since he arrived in Lincoln. Last season, after the Huskers lost to the Bruins, offensive coordinator Marcus Sattterfield, who has been on Rhule’s staff for each team Rhule has coached, was demoted to tight ends coach. In his place, Rhule elevated former West Virginia and Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen from offensive consultant to offensive coordinator for the rest of the season and he has stayed in that position this season.
Meanwhile, last year’s defensive coordinator and former Bruin Tony White left Nebraska for Florida State. There is some speculation as to why that happened. White may have been forced out due to the presence of John Butler who signed on last year to coach the secondary.
Regardless of the reason, White is gone, and now, Butler is the Huskers’ defensive coordinator this year. There is one other big UCLA connection on the Huskers’ coaching staff and that is associate head coach Phil Snow. Snow was the Bob Toledo’s defensive coordinator in 2001 and 2002. In fact, he was the Bruins’ DC when Rhule coached the defensive line. So, the connection between the two of them began in Westwood.
Despite the changes in both the offense and the defense coordinators, there doesn’t appear to be significant schematic changes on either side of the ball. The Cornhusker offensive starters listed three receivers, a tight end and a running back last season and they have the same positions listed this year. Defensively, they ran a 3-3-5 last year and this year, they are running a similar defense. The team’s defensive starter list does change some of the terminology used, however. Instead of a nose tackle and two defensive ends, they are now referring to one of the ends as a defensive tackle. They have also changed the label for one of the safeties to nickel while keeping the rover listed as well.
So, those changes may mean they have changed what they are asking those players to do, but it could also mean that they just updated the label for those defenders. The bottom line is they are still running a 3-3-5 defense. So, I expect them to be very similar things on defense that they were doing last season.
Special Teams
Sophomore transfer Kyle Cunanan is the only Cornhusker to attempt a field goal this season. He’s made 12 of his 15 attempts and he’s been a perfect 37 of 37 on PATs. He seems to be best on field goals under 40 yards where he’s a perfect 10 for 10. He is only 2 for 5 on field goal attempt over 40 yards. So, that’s certainly worth keeping in mind.
Cunanan, who played two seasons at Charlotte and transferred to UC Berkeley last Spring before transferring again to Nebraska for the Fall, has also kicked off 18 times with an average of 59.5 yards per kickoff. Nine of his 18 kickoffs have gone for touchbacks.
That said, Cunanan hasn’t kicked off since the Huskers played Michigan State. Instead, John Hohl has been the kickoff specialist. For the season, Hohl has kicked off 37 times with 18 touchbacks and an average of 62.2 yards per kickoff. So, he’s getting almost three more yards per kickoff than Cunanan, which may be why he’s been the only one kicking off since Nebraska played Maryland a month ago.
Australian freshman Archie Wilson is Nebraska’s punter. He has averaged 40.8 yards per punt on his 24 punts this season. Nine of his punts have been fair caught while only one has gone into the end zone for a touchback. Five of his punts have gone for more than 50 yards and nine of them have landed inside the 20.
Sophomore receiver Jacory Barnery, Jr. has been the Huskers’ primary punt returner, returning 19 of the team 22 punt returns. While he’s only averaging 11.8 yards per return, his longest was a 57-yarder. So, he has the potential to be dangerous. Isaiah Mozee has returned a pair of punts with one for 38 yards and the other for just five yards and Jamir Conn’s one return was a 25-yarder.
Sophomore running back Kenneth Williams has returned 12 of Nebraska’s 16 kickoff returns. While he is averaging 32.9 yards per return, he did spring a 85-yard return against Maryland which gave the Huskers the ball on the Terps’ 10. Mozee has returned three kickoffs for an average of 23.3 yards per return with a long of 29. Redshirt freshman defensive back Caleb Benning has returned one kickoff for 25 yards.
Go Bruins!!!
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