Look, Nebraska’s 7-6 season might look rough on paper, but Matt Rhule’s offseason moves in Lincoln are far more impressive than the record suggests. He’s completely overhauled the program, making key moves even during the season. We all saw how Rhule went all in with freshman QB Dylan Raiola last season. Trusting a rookie? That’s not something everyone does. Now he’s building Nebraska his way—no shortcuts, no fluff. And Adam Carriker is out there highlighting his behind-the-scenes work.

There’s a reason why Carriker Chronicles host Adam is making bold statements like, “Rhule is now building Nebraska football his way… And what I mean by that—Matt Rhule’s always been building it his way—but now he is absolutely doing what he believes is best versus what may be popular or easy.” Adam lays it out clearly that Matt Rhule isn’t afraid to take any tough decision that can turn out good for the program, even if it’s hard or not popular.

How can we forget this year’s biggest rant, “Cancel Spring Game”? It was Matt Rhule who started the entire spring game cancellation chaos after the NCAA’s spring portal banger. It was new, but Coach Rhule knew what he was fighting for, and he made it clear that he couldn’t lose any of his players to tampering. And said, “I don’t know anything; I just thought it was important that we at least started to broach that subject of it not being televised. At the same time, I do want to show off our players in some ways.”

Now, many think it’s harming the old tradition, taking away the only chance for fans to know their favorite players closely. But then? Teams like Texas, Ohio State, and USC all joined in and canceled their game. And that’s exactly what Adam is trying to explain: “No spring game. Boy, was this interesting when this first came out. And if he wasn’t the first coach to do this, he was one of the first, that’s for sure. He knew this was going to be an unpopular decision—probably a big deal… I will say this, okay? Other schools have now canceled more of their spring games as well, and now it’s a fairly common thing.” Then what is?

Here’s the kicker: there’s a high chance that spring games might return to their full potential. Yes, you read that correct. Adam makes this shocking revelation, saying, “Now I will throw this out there—there is a potential, a strong potential, for spring games to return. Because there are some rules and regulations that may be coming down sooner rather than later, hopefully. And one of those may be that the post-spring portal may go away.” 

Listen, the NCAA has already shortened the spring and winter transfer windows by 15 days for 2025, so players and coaches don’t get more stressed after looking at 3,309 players entering the portal. But now, as teams are backing out of completing spring practices, there is a chance that it might go away completely. But it might take time. Adam said, “Now I don’t know if it’s going to be by next year or a couple years from now, but most people expect it to go away. Well, if that portal goes away, the poaching problem goes away. Now you can have a spring game then.”

No wonder Matt Rhule loves stirring the pot pretty hard.

Matt Rhule’s bold moves are reshaping CFB momentum

Matt Rhule made sure he gave more than one massive headliner for this season, and another one among them is ‘Matt Rhule cancelling an upcoming home-and-home series against the Tennessee Volunteers’. And everyone went on trolling him after that. But Adam puts it perfectly, saying, “But just keep in mind—and this is something I tweeted out at the time—I said, ‘Troy Dannen actually did ask Tennessee if they’d move the series back, and Tennessee said no.’ Just remember: a few years ago, Tennessee asked Nebraska to move the series back, and Nebraska said yes. Now I kind of, you know, poked at Tennessee’s AD because he was taking shots at us at the time.” Look, there’s a reason why Matt Rhule made that tough call.

Nebraska’s game against Tennessee is on the schedule for a simple reason: It was arranged long ago, back in 2006. College football schedules non-conference games years in advance. At the time, Nebraska was in the Big 12, and the SEC was smaller.

But now times have changed. Both the Big Ten and SEC have expanded, perhaps excessively. This expansion has made conference play intensely competitive. Big Ten teams already play nine conference games, and the SEC may soon follow suit. Adding tough non-conference games only increases the season’s difficulty.

And Adam put it out with an example and said, “Look at Michigan—they played nobody two years ago. Ohio State—played nobody two years ago. Nobody cared. Won two national titles two years in a row. That’s what Troy Dannen and Coach Rhule saw, and that’s why they made the decision they made.” Even Rhule said the same thing: “Why in the world would a Big Ten team who’s already playing nine conference games, why would you ever play one of those games?” But only if people are up for a change. Now, with such a major change and a new vision, let’s just wait and see how this season turns out for Matt Rhule and the team.