Nebraska rebuild under Matt Rhule looks stuck in neutral despite Ohio win

Nebraska managed to avoid pulling a “Rutgers” to win the Frank Solich Bowl in the school's season-opening home tilt.

But as the Cornhuskers enter their fourth season under Matt Rhule, they didn’t appear much closer than Greg Schiano’s Rutgers program to even contending for a Big Ten title.

Scoring the game’s final 21 points, Nebraska pulled away after a scare from Ohio – which was paid $1.6 million for the game, per terms of the contract reviewed by USA TODAY Sports – in an 49-21 win. Solich, who served as head coach at both Nebraska and Ohio, was honored by the Cornhuskers with the Legends Award; he won 173 games as a head coach, 58 at Nebraska.

“I truly believe, and I’ll probably get fried for saying this; we needed some of those things to happen,” said Rhule, who was agreed to a lucrative contract extension last October amidst purported interest from Penn State. “We didn’t need 70-0. I didn’t want to give up a 75-yard touchdown play but I wanted a battle. This was great scheduling to be quite honest, the heat and cramping and all those things.”

The Cornhuskers lost four of their last six games in 2025…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/