Spin doctor Matt Rhule turns Nebraska insult into a positive for the Cornhuskers

Now in year two at Nebraska, Matt Rhule is desperately trying to turn the word "desperate" into something positive for the Cornhuskers. Admittedly, Nebraska was considerably better under Rhule last year than under any point of the disastrous Scott Frost tenure in Lincoln. While the wins weren't plentiful, the fiber is certainly there to be had for the ultimate spin doctor of major college football.

While appearing on The Joel Klatt Show, Rhule attempted to take the word "desperate" and tried to make it a positive. Not since the Barack Obama Administration have the Huskers even gone to a bowl game. Although Klatt knows how big Nebraska used to be, having quarterbacked at their old Big 12 rival Colorado for years, we're getting more sizzle than steak when it comes to Rhule. It is merely corn.

I get what he is trying to do here, but Rhule is lowering and raising expectations simultaneously here.

“I think that we’re desperate is not a bad word. I think it’s exactly the right word because people love their team. It’s like being in Texas and being in a one-school town. I mean, they love that team, and I think the thing is, for me, coming from the northeast, coming from all the places I’ve been, you get there and they’ve sold the crowd out for so long that maybe you take that for granted. Immediately, I didn’t want to take that for granted.”

He would then go on to say that Nebraska football means something, dating back to several generations of Husker glory as a rallying point for cultural pride. I would love nothing more than for Nebraska to be a relevant program again. Unfortunately, being relevant in the modern college football world does not mean winning national titles. It means being the Big Ten equivalent of Tennessee.

Here is the entire episode of The Joel Klatt Show in which Rhule appears to talk Nebraska football.

As long as Nebraska gets to a bowl game this season, everything is going to be fine in Lincoln.

Matt Rhule puts the ultimate spin on the word "desperate" at Nebraska

There are several things at play here with Rhule. The first is I do honestly trust him to be the one to turn Nebraska football around because if he can't, then no one can. He has won everywhere he has been before ... in college. His Carolina Panthers tenure was a disaster. It was as much his fault as it was meddling owner David Tepper's. Rhule is not in Lincoln if he didn't fail miserably over in Charlotte.

I applaud his newfound enthusiasm about this program, but we do have to keep in mind that this is only year two for him in Lincoln and not year three. See, in year three, Rhule either takes his program to new heights (Temple and Baylor) or gets fired mid-season (Carolina Panthers). I envision it will be closer to the former than it is to the latter. In year two at Temple and Baylor he won around six games apiece.

Ultimately, desperate times call for desperate measures, and how desperate is Nebraska football really? I would say that they think they really are. However, the NIL game was supposed to be the economic vessel to help bridge the gap into Nebraska being great again. Hearing new athletic director Troy Dannen complain about funds leads me to believe that there is still work to be done.

The way to know if Nebraska is on the way back from desperation is winning more one-score games.