1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Matt Rhule Reacts to the Penn State Rumors: October 13th, 11:25am

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Matt Rhule Reacts to the Penn State RumorsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to one-on-one with DP. Brought you by Canopy Street Market on 93-7 the ticket and the ticketfm.com. We are back here on one-on-one on 93-7, The Ticket. Very interesting stuff coming from the Matt Ruhle Press conference. As of course, the first question is about the Penn State opening. And Matt Ruhl give a very long response to it, kind of deflecting a little bit about the question about the opening. sounds i mean he answered it as well as is maybe as you could i mean as other than just shutting it down pretty quickly did say that he was all but born in a penn state shirt he loves pat craft yeah uh but

it did obviously he finished that up with saying he loves nebraska has a great relationship with the ad here and they're going to build uh trying to build a beast here but it sounded like uh to me a guy and we'll play the response here in a second a guy that is is is keeping his options open a little bit as as we get to it i just it wasn't very reassuring. No. Like I think, I think Nebraska fans were going to,

naturally, we're going to pick apart his response. But in addition to that, it was, Husker fans were searching for reassurances. And you didn't get a ton. Now, part of it is

Matt Rul knew he was going to get that question. He knew it. And we'll, see what happens. Who knows? He talked about, I think, once again, I think both things can be true. You can love it here. You can also love it somewhere else. Just because, and, and vice versa, just because he loves it at Penn State, he might love it here enough to where he stays. Who knows what happens? I wanted to get to this text before we play it. C. Mundin said, why are we talking like Nebraska isn't a Blue Blood program? Nebraska is not a stepping stone school,

and Matt Ruhle even said that. We have some of the best facilities in college football and our team is getting better. Why leave? I understand historically, Nebraska is a blue blood. But in the last 10 years, Nebraska has 49 wins. That is not top echelon program football. In the last three years, Nebraska has 17 of those wins. So in the previous seven, you had 30,000. You had 30,000. You had 30,000. You had 32 wins from 2016 to 2022. That is not a nationally relevant program. Matt Ruhl came here, as he just said, and you'll hear it in just a moment,

to build Nebraska into a beast. That is what he said. Just a couple of minutes ago in the press conference. Nebraska historically still a blue blood. Still on the charts is one of the most winningest programs of all time. still on the charts for the best fan experience, the best fan base in the country, still high on the charts for the, I should say, for the investment in college football. But when it comes down to winning and success and national championships, 30 years removed,

30 years removed. You're about to be in 2009, 30 years removed from your last conference championship. Nebraska shouldn't be a stepping stone job, but because of the way that they've performed the last 20, 25 years, they are probably viewed as a stepping stone job. And if Matt Ruhl ends up leaving, we have to acknowledge what it is, that he used it as a stepping stone job,

the same way he used Temple, the same way he used Baylor to then use that as a stepping stone to the NFL. Somebody on the text line also said that he hadn't been anywhere long enough to see him fall. that's 100% accurate. We don't know what Matt Rule looks like past year three or year four. We don't know what year six at a college football program Matt Rule looks like. It could be a national championship contending coach.

We don't know. And so is Nebraska, when I put them in a stepping stone conversation, no. What I put them as a top three job in college football? Also no. The fan investment and everything there can only do so much. you have to be a strong coach to be able to take Nebraska back to that, in my opinion. Everything else around it, the fans, the investments, the facilities,

it's all there. But it's also been there since 2015. It's also been there since 2005. And they've had the wrong people in charge. So to say it's a blue blood in today's day and age of college football, I don't, I'm sorry, I don't get behind that. Well, I think it's a blue blood because of the historical relevance of that name. But as far as are they a play, like you said,

I mean, I think you're talking about a top 25 job compared to Penn State. That's a top 10 job. We're talking about facilities. All those top 10 jobs are going to have facilities. Penn State's pouring money into that. Penn State has 45 players in the NFL right now. Nebraska has 12, I think. I mean, so, I mean, there's all these different ways that we could show you.

Penn State is right now a better job than Nebraska. And I think the biggest one is they were a game in a few plays away from playing the national title when Nebraska celebrated getting to their first bowl game since 2016 and nearly a decade. So, I mean, there's clear stark differences there. Let's go ahead and get to the response. This is going to be played and replayed throughout the week here. But this is Matt Rule's response to the Penn State opening. I love Penn State.

My wife there is my alma mater, fan since I was born. I was born. I think probably had a Penn State shirt where I was born. I love Pat Craft. And really sad, really sad to see. Coach Franklin go, you know, when you think about what he did for my own mater, you know, the program was in peril, right? I mean, though, the players, if people remember, like the historic sanctions, you could transfer out, you could do whatever you want. Bill

O'Brien comes in, stabilizes it for two years. James takes over a program in disarray and gives stability, excellence, and to see, you know, see videos of people. like yelling at his kids and like I just don't understand why in our country like well now like coaches are villains like you know how hard I worked in Carolina and the things that were said to me are you know how hard I work here and some of the things that are said you know our coaches working out how hard sat work last year so I just really sad about that part of it and people say well you make a lot of money make a lot of money doesn't make a kid feel good when they're hearing that you know make a lot of

it's nice to make a lot of money don't give you wrong but still people so I really respect James Franklin um Troy and I are an unbelievable relationship too. And Troy and I are in constant, constant, constant communication about this program and where we're headed. You know, I came here for two reasons. I love the community here and wanted to live here. And I wanted to rebuild Nebraska football. And, you know, Troy and I understand the steps that you need to take to make us big 10 champions and national champions. This place is elite. And I want to be a great father and I want to be a great college football coach. And so, you know, I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to talk a lot about job openings when they come.

This is, maybe it's been a while here, but this is what happens when you win. I've dealt with it. You know, we've won at Temple and I dealt with it all the time. I'm dealt with bailor. I'm not going to talk about those things ever. I'm not going to talk about my contract here. I'm going to talk about the team. But, yeah, I absolutely love it here.

And I just want to, I want us to continue to take the steps needed for us to turn this thing into a beast. And players all across the country want to come here with the best facilities. We have elite fans. and, you know, I'm just looking at the future. So, but again, I love that place. I love, I love Pat. I love James Franklin. Sad that that came to an end,

I wish him the absolute best, but I'm really happy here and excited to get going this week on Minnesota. So they have Matt Ruhl responding to the Penn State rumors that are out there. Again, it probably depends on what angle you're looking at that from. If you're a Penn State fan, you certainly listen to the first part of that answer and think, okay, well, you know, it could be out there, a possibility of bringing him back in. If you're a Nebraska fan, you might lean toward the second part of that answer where he was kind of building up to the things there at Nebraska. And that's why I say, I think the response is seemingly just a good response as far as staying in the middle and letting things kind of play out.

So I don't know if that's the necessary answer that you wanted for Matt Rule. You asked me, Nick, before we went to break, what would, what could he say to make me believe that he can completely shut down and take away the, the Penn State rumors. I didn't think there was anything that he necessarily could do. So it's going to be out there. It's going to be floating out there in Nebraska's next, the next thing for Nebraska to do this week is obviously you got that Minnesota game. Yeah.

It's try to keep any sort of speculation, any sort of side show piece to this, away from this football team, who again, I mean, that was the second question. He just started up with his opening statement was about, you know, some of these these games and three turn three you know uh being uh minus three in the turnover battle uh this past week you don't win too many games like that they've had to come back here in these last couple weeks to win these games so the minnesota game i don't expect anything except for a rock fight uh you know a tough game of maybe some more back and forth and um so the details are

going to be pretty important this week to be able to put that to the side it's all fascinating to see all of it right i mean if there is a move when would the move happen when, you know, what would that mean for Nebraska? We've got texts about Dana Holgerson being on staff. You know, he could certainly be a guy that could fill in if they needed him to interim-wise or long-term. So, I mean, there's a lot of different ways this can go here. But I would say as far as saying, the one that sticks with me is saying I was born in a Penn State shirt, that's hard to, it's basically hard to overlook.

And Matt has never, never shy. away for his love for and his in his close connection with Patcraft. He's never shied away. And his affinity for Penn State, just in general. I think, you know, here's what I would say. Unnamed Texer says this. I don't think he'd take it because what if he failed? Wouldn't he always want to be welcome back home?

Coaches, they never take jobs or they never view jobs as like, oh man, what if I fail? They're a lot of times, and this is, I don't mean this negatively. A lot of times they're arrogant. into where they feel like, hey, I can go anywhere and I can win. It better be. Right? And you have to, right? So we can't use that as a reason for him not to want to take it because if he failed,

he wouldn't have that on his, on his radar. You just don't. Nobody has it. You can say, okay, this job is hard, right? This job is going to be tougher than this previous job. But I also don't think it would be. I think Penn State would be easier place to win right now. in terms of recent or excuse me in terms of short-term success.

I don't know. There's a lot here, guys. Let's be 100% transparent here. And this is a moment of honesty that I'll provide here. There are reasons you can sit there and say that Rule creating his own podcast, going on the McAfee show every week. All of these little things are building Nebraska's brand. But you also know who it's given a better little.

into how he operates, Matt Rule. Matt Rule is building his brand. Oh, yeah. Whether that was for post-Nabrasca as a commentator, as a broadcaster, as a studio host, whether it's as a full-time podcaster after his time at Nebraska, or indirectly pitching himself to other jobs. It can be multifaceted.

And so, yeah, it can certainly provide insight to Nebraska, and it can certainly showcase, hey, this is what we're doing at Nebraska, but you also know who's the face of it? Matt Ruhl, the guy who's talking week after week to these programs and on his podcast and to all of this. There's so much more than just the surface level.

And there's so much more than even just, Nebraska's schedule is tougher next year than Penn States. Penn States is home. He has the relationship with Patcraft. There's so much more that people aren't even considering. But once again, it's what Nebraska's, it's what Nebraska, fans don't want to hear. And there's a chance. Matt Ruhl stays. There's a chance. He's a chance he's not off for the job.

Yes. There's a very good chance that he's not off for the job because of his record against ranked opponents that Penn State was the reason they fired James Franklin for. But ultimately, we have to acknowledge, don't get rose-colored glasses. You, we can't, Nebraska has not had, Nebraska fans cannot afford to get the rose-colored glasses because if you do, we sit here and be like, well, hold on, wait a minute. His wife has a business and he's creating a podcast strictly for Nebraska. He says he loves it here. What about raising his kids here?

His kid's a college student at Nebraska. You know where that free tuition can travel? Penn State. Yeah. Like there's those types of things. You can sell businesses. You can close up shop. Guess what?

It's easier to do that too and eat the expenses when you're $49 million richer because of what the buyout you got in Carolina. I just do not, do not be naive to the way business. works nowadays. And it sucks. It sucks. But that's the honest to God truth that everybody needs to acknowledge. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think there's reasons to stay. There's reasons to go, but I don't think any of them are concrete enough one way or the other that it makes the decision for them. So it's going to be weighing some things out there. Let's go ahead and take a quick break. We'll be back, finish things out on one-on-one, very busy one-on-one on 93-7 the ticket.