By james art LINCOLN — Life moves pretty fast, Ferris Bueller said on the screen. A college football season flies like a receiver in full sprint.
Not two full months have passed on the calendar, and Nebraska’s 2024 campaign is two-thirds over before it plays UCLA on Saturday.
Like last season — coach Matt Rule’s first Big Ten in November — NU stands at 5-3.
Unlike last year, when the Big Ten had divisions, the Huskers have little chance to advance to the conference title game. The College Football Playoff is an impossible dream before the first set of rankings drop on Election Day.
But a bowl berth — Nebraska’s first since 2016 — is one win away. New Year’s cup place probably takes at least three wins.
“We talk to our guys — college football is about November, December and January, right?” Rhule said Monday, two days after NU took No. 4 Ohio State to the wire before losing 21-17. Those Husker efforts, Ruhl said, include a “championship mindset” on offense, defense and special teams. Nebraska also had the motivation to cleanse its soul from a 56-7 loss to Indiana
“We learned a lot, a lot, a lot the last two weeks,” Ruhl said. Sweet and sour lessons.
But the coach held off – perhaps until the second bye week – when asked how his team was doing after eight games. What the Huskers hang their hat on. Rhule could have pointed to NU’s defensive defense — 12th nationally — its 23 sacks or his strategy for the Big Ten’s best time of possession. But he didn’t.
“It’s a lot easier to focus on what we’re not good at than what we’re good at,” Rule said. “I think the best thing for me is just to focus on UCLA right now. Honestly, I think this week will show us where we are after the last two weeks.”
Rhule offered a line from his college coach, Penn State’s Joe Paterno.
“Wake up every day running scared,” Ruhl said. Find the weaknesses. Support them. In a game where 22 men — 11 to a side — line up in close proximity to each other, weaknesses are usually exposed in stark, catastrophic fashion, a cracked fuselage at 30,000 feet.
“In our offices, I only focus on what we’re not good at — not what we’re good at,” Ruhl said. “It’s in there, ‘we’ve got to fix this, we’ve got to fix this, we’ve got to fix that.'” Just hope it gets less and less over time.
And that Nebraska ignores opponents’ logos and records while trying to improve the craft. The Bruins (2-5, 1-4) arrive at Nebraska after a bye week that followed the program’s first Big Ten win, 35-32 over Rutgers. UCLA, with new coach Deshaun Foster, boasts a strong defense, Rhule said, that attacks aggressively against the pass — a combo that has given the Huskers offense.
Ruhl called the Bruins’ offense “complex.” Coached by former Colorado running back and NFL assistant Eric Biniemi, he struggled most of the season before enjoying his best performance of the year against Rutgers.
Still, UCLA’s record and struggles — especially in road games — suggest Nebraska has a chance to win a sixth and make a bowl appearance. In this way, the Bruins mirror Michigan State in 2023. The Spartans limped into their game against Nebraska, scored first and pulled off a 20-17 upset. NU never won again in 2023.
“We were 5-3 last year and we played Michigan State and we lost, and then we lost the rest of them,” Ruhl said. “So we were after something. For me, we came out against Indiana, we were 5-1, I felt like the guys were maybe chasing something a little bit.”
It’s time for Nebraska to play straight. No chase. The season moves quickly enough without NU’s reach exceeding its reach.
“Sometimes young people have to work it out on their own before they learn, ‘OK, this is true,'” Ruhl said. “We are at that stage. And we didn’t panic after Indiana. We won’t panic now. We’re going to try to beat UCLA.”