1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Would Nebraska hire Matt Rhule if they knew how year three would go?: December 30, 11:25am

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

If you could look into the future back in year one of the Matt Rhule Era...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome back one-on-one live from Las Vegas. Viva. Las Vegas. Bach, can you actually say the words Viva Las Vegas without doing an Elvis impersonation? Is it, is it tied together so much? I'm old. Anybody you say Viva, Las Vegas, you kind of have to, you kind of have to elvice this thing out. That's probably fair enough. I mean, when you say that, I definitely, the song comes.

to my head and I just want to start screaming it but yeah I felt like such a goof I was like you know I'm walking I'm walking through the casino and black casino life are you a Vegas guy are you a Vegas guy?

I did a few times yeah okay so Vegas has a certain vibe for the new years and I saw a couple things in play one tons of Huskers here Husker fans, several conversations with Husker players, and again, as I said in the first segment,

I get the impression that they really think. They really feel good about how things are going to line up for them. They feel better. The word that's constantly thrown about is free, that there's freedom to play fast and physical. And they like this. They like the word, the workouts and the drills and the coaches have been supportive but as you walk through Vegas and we were walking from one casino

to another and just in a 30 minute walk I counted seven different languages and you forget like you think we're here in Vegas and it's a ball game and it's Utah and Nebraska and you keep thinking and then every now

then you know you go oh no Vegas is much more than the Vegas Bowl As a matter of fact, the bell captain at the casino that we're staying at didn't know who Nebraska This was a ball game That was kind of humbling

You know, you walk in kind of thinking Hey, you know We're going to take this joint over The people here We're kind of like, so what brings you to town? It's like a bowl game You know, where'd you come from? ask you wow

Vegas why are you why are you here so it's it's been humbling yeah to be reminded that there's more to this thing than than just

the sea of rain again the Huskers have been in the black so there's a lot of a lot of really good looking Husker black gear that I need to now get my hands on along the way

from the text about a ring says this no Rocco no EJ no Singleton or Rayola plus who's going to be calling the defense I would imagine that Phil Stone has a lot of say so in this

Matt Rule getting his hands in the turf and being the de facto the line coach for this bowl game allows for some different conversations now remember that Utah is also going through a transition and that not having Kyle's presence,

we're talking about the entire vacuum being Kyle Winningham. Like for all of Morgan's experience in history and knowledge, being the top guy on the headphones, that means that everybody has to slide a chair and not all chairs are the same size, nor do they fit everybody. Morgan moves up to the top headset, and you got to have a coordinator,

And I, you know, I would imagine that Morgan will still resort to some of his norm in defensive play calling. But the reality is, I mean, in his mind, he's done the dance, the mental dance, that I'm the head coach. And he's been preparing for this for two years now. So it is fluid all over the place that both sidelines will have some adjustments. Both coaching boots will look and sound different than they have recent. And then for the players, because they're different voices. There are different voices in the play call and in the sequence and the chain of command. Who do you go to? Who do you turn to?

When you come off the field, who handles what, who said, who does the reset, who does the recap of what we just went through? And then resets for the next drive, who's going to do that, who's get all of that changes. And I think for both programs, it's an interesting day. to the text line. I wanted to get to this one, because I thought, I can't ask. He says,

I think tomorrow, tomorrow after the ball game, I'll have answers in a couple of spots on the field as long as this is Cupsker. Sorry. I'll have answers

at a couple of spots on the field as long as they don't leave. I'm not on my chips on red, expecting everybody that may shine tomorrow will stay. That is just the state of affairs. That

And this was, this was pitched to me here in Vegas that if you're one of the four running backs who will be in the rotation for Nebraska to get reps, the assumption can't be that whoever, if somebody has a big, a breakout day, right? Let's say Quentin Ives goes off. There's no guarantee that Quentin Ice states. remember he's already been he's been talking all year but he's he's he's had a nod towards the portal all year because you're not getting looks you're not right and you finally get it and you go okay well i've been telling these folks that i'm a dude and then he gets an opportunity and then emitt showed last year and he show flashes and then i'll get in the portal to set my value so i know what i can get from Nebraska. And the same happens for running back 1B and 1C or 2A. All of that is in play.

Receivers behind the big three, all of that's in play. All of that's in play. Like we don't know what Jacorri Barney's going to do next year. Defensively, you don't know. Are you in this are all players feeling like they're in the system, the best system for them to get the best result and have the best career going forward, right? Because the decision has to be, at the end of tomorrow's game, is Nebraska the best place for me going forward and up, right? There are people that are just, quite frankly, they're Huskers, right? Be very surprised that there's certain players, certain players were discussed for the

transfer portal. But every player on every bowl team is in play. that's just the way it works that's just the way it works now so we don't know who's going to come back we don't know who's coming

because again their eyes on every player in the bowl game and every player or not because the players who aren't in the bowl game right now are they're actively on their phone trying to find a place

so that next year this time they're playing in a bowl game rather than sitting at home right like they're there are folks that are practicing right now in eating it's it's going to be interesting uh can't ask that he says i know this is not a specific rule discussion if treb albert would have known after three years rule would be 19 and

19 same as mike riley would he have hired him i don't know can't let me be honest 100% honest with you and and everyone i have zero confidence in my knowledge of what's going on in the brain of treb alberts at any point in the last six years seven years no idea if you can find somebody bach is that a fair statement for you that we're not real sure about what what's going on in the brain of treb alberts yeah it's tough to follow from from day to day very much and especially from you know year to year yeah i don't want to speak for that guy uh let that guy speak for that guy I have listen if maybe a maybe a greater question would be if Husker fans four years ago three years ago at as Matt rule is being announced and said listen

here's quite frankly this is the way it's going to work Matt rule's going to be 19 and 19 three years would you be happy text line that that that that might be the easier question that that might be the more appropriate question that if we said three years ago that for three years the mat rule would be 19 and 19 going into going into today and and giving full inclusivity that 19 and 19 and in a in the Vegas bowl after the pen strike bowl most fans would have and and I don't want to speak for you all this is why I'm I'm opening this up to the text on. Three years ago, if it was

said to you that Matt Rule would be 19 and 19, would you be happy? And the text or answered right away, no, but not saying to fire him. No, I just think we would have gone

through the process differently. Maybe different expectations, right? Maybe a different level of acceptance. Maybe a different level of tolerance. And the perspective has changed, right? The perspective has changed.

I mean, new contract, the contract extension certainly plays into it. But we also know that, okay, now we can get to ball games and with NIL. You do have the opportunity to change your roster and get better. Like that's what the NI, that's what the transfer portal should be, is an opportunity for everybody to get better. And if you're really, if you're developing and training and recruiting properly, you can get better pretty quick.

Bach, is that also fair? That you, that this is set up now. We didn't know three years ago that this is what business would be, right? That in the transfer portal, in the way that it works, with everybody being on, and air quotes,

a balanced and fair and equitable finance plan. How would you grade this? How would you grade this? Bach? Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, that's obviously if you know the future, you might change some things about the past, right? So, I mean, it's all, it's a lot easier to do this in hindsight. I don't think you would make the higher, hoping that you would kind of be in that 500 record territory. Now, to be fair to Matt rule, by the way, 19 and 18, not 19 to 19 yet if they lose the Utah that would be the case. But yeah, I mean, I think obviously in hindsight, you know, okay, well, there's a guy Kurt Signetti over there. You know, so you can point to all these

different things. But I think it's, it's a powerful question because it speaks to how, where was Nebraska? I mean, you're talking about six years when they hired that rule of not going to a bowl game. So if you told me at that time, hey, in year two and year three, you're going to go to a bull game. you know, you'd at least say, okay, well, that's progress. That's step forward, you know, that's something. So you might still, you might be happy. You might make that decision. But like I said, I mean, your goal when you're hiring a coach is not to go 500 three years in. So that probably wouldn't be your first pick, but it would not. Or maybe, or maybe it was. Maybe it is. Yeah.

Listen, remember all the six and six people? Remember, all of the nerve that there would be all these six and six people that we would just be happy with being six and six just get me to six and six just get me to a below remember those folks oh yeah well at the time again i go back to jake sarson's tweet that says we're living in purgatory it's better than hell we were living in hell when you're below the 500 barrier purgatory sounds a little bit better doesn't it i'm just pointing out that the one third of the face was fully in, hey, just get me to a bowl game. And it's been done two years in a row.

I just want folks to remember who they are and what we're dealing with. It hasn't been all Skittles and rainbows. We'll go to another break. We'll come back. We'll get back to the text line here on one-on-one.