AMIE JUST Lincoln Journal Star
If you listen to Nebraska coach Matt Rhule speak, he often shares a coach-ism from someone he admires.
This week — ahead of Nebraska’s first true road game of the season at Maryland — was no different, as he shared a sentiment from Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, a four-time Super Bowl champion over his assistant and head coaching career.
“All great teams do \[four\] things,” Rhule said, crediting Reid. “They eliminate distractions. They create their own energy. They fear nothing and attack everything.”
Now, Reid's precise quote from August 2012 — a press conference he gave a day after the funeral of his son, Garrett — is this:
"I always tell the players that there are four things that you go about in life and how you approach it. The first is eliminating distractions, another is to create energy, you fear nothing, and then you attack everything.
"That's how you have to go about life. Life is going to throw you some curveballs, all of us, and you're not going to bail. You're going to stand in there and you're going to keep swinging. I think that's very important."
All four pillars of that piece of wisdom are applicable this week against Maryland (4-1).
ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS
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Nebraska hasn’t played a true road game yet this season, and “eliminating distractions” in this case also means eliminating potential complaints or potential snafus.
Sure, technically, the Cincinnati game was a road contest, but was it really? Let’s not kid ourselves here. That was a Nebraska home game that didn’t count as such. It was a home environment in Kansas City, and Nebraska wasn’t bound by the normal road game restrictions, such as travel roster limits.
But with the first true road game of the season on the horizon, there are some changes to the operation. Especially with that road game being on the East Coast.
Usually, Nebraska flies out to games on Fridays. But not this week. Nebraska was slated to fly to Baltimore/Washington International Airport on Thursday. Why?
“The nature of being on the East Coast and traveling in those areas,” Rhule said, noting that Maryland’s opponent last week, Washington, didn’t arrive until around 1 a.m. Thursday night. “We’ll take advantage of Friday as a day to — when I talk about the brotherhood of the team — just spend some time together. Take the day to build, lock in and get focused for the game.”
Rhule admitted earlier this week that he’s “so high maintenance” when it comes to travel. (Who among us isn’t?) And being late frustrates him to no end. He shared a story of when one of his Temple teams took a bus to Connecticut ahead of the UConn game to save money, and what was supposed to be a three-hour drive turned into a six-and-a-half-hour drive.
Rhule thinks of that day when he thinks of how Nebraska travels now.
“What we’re allowed to do, just in terms of the resources we have available to us, is elite,” Rhule said. “What Kristin (Coggin) does, I don’t even have to think about the meals. We actually take our own chefs from the training table and they show up there and they make our omelets for us.
“There’s nothing like showing up and being like, ‘I don’t eat this. I don’t eat that.’ We have a couple guys with really restrictive gluten allergies. She goes a day ahead. She makes sure everything’s perfect. The food is important, right?”
The food is important, and so is the movie the team picks to watch the night before the game.
While the food is in a good spot, Rhule said the movies haven’t been the best choices.
“We’ve seen some horrific movies,” Rhule said. “I’ve just given up on that.”
It’s unclear as to which movies Nebraska has watched lately, but maybe ask Ceyair Wright, you know, the cast member of “Space Jam: A New Legacy” and “Grown-ish,” for his insight. Surely, he knows better movies.
Either way, they’re building their brotherhood.
“If I just say one thing, it’s probably no distractions,” Rhule said. “I love going on the road. I love the feeling of just being in the hotel with the guys for 24 hours, like sequestered in.”
CREATE THEIR OWN ENERGY
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Not every stadium has the atmosphere of Memorial Stadium.
Sometimes, atmospheres are dead — like Purdue last year or Maryland in 2019 or any venue that didn’t allow fans in 2020. Sometimes, atmospheres are raucous, but not for you — like Minnesota and Colorado in 2023.
Either way, regardless of what road teams are stepping into, it’s imperative that Nebraska brings its own fire to SECU Stadium.
“You have to create your own energy,” Rhule said. “It has to come from brotherhood and caring about each other and the love of watching your teammate make a play and cheering each other on. That juice has to come from us.”
The environment at SECU Stadium might not be as quiet as it was when Nebraska played there in 2019. Last week, Maryland sold out the game against Washington when the Terrapins were undefeated at 4-0. Washington, though, scored 24 unanswered points in the second half to win, 24-20.
FEAR NOTHING AND ATTACK EVERYTHING
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Nebraska showed that it’s taking steps in the right direction in this regard with the win over Michigan State.
Michigan State’s punter Ryan Eckley is a two-time All-Big Ten punter and was a freshman All-American in 2023. And yet, Nebraska’s fearless punt block team attacked with Jamir Conn flying in for the block and Carter Nelson snagging the scoop-and-score touchdown.
Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles had only thrown one interception all season compared to his nine touchdown passes. But Nebraska’s secondary — the best in the nation statistically in pass defense — limited him to zero passing touchdowns, and DeShon Singleton picked him off twice.
Heading toward the DMV, Nebraska appears ready to face this next challenge.
“They respect the heck out of the team that we’re facing,” Rhule said. “They know the battle that it’s going to be. We’re going on the road to face a 4-1 team at their place. That’s Big Ten football.
“... Coach Eck’s gonna call this. Coach Holg’s gonna call this. Coach Butler’s gonna call this. Hey, we gotta bring it to life and not have it just be lines on a paper, but all of our 11 guys out there bringing their own personalities to it and blending them. That, to me, is the message. I think our guys have gotten it loud and clear.”
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