Matt Rhule fired the one person he could fire without looking in the mirror. Dana Holgorsen is out as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator after running the offense since late 2024, and ESPN’s Max Olson reported that Rhule made the move a day after a 24-13 loss at Illinois. The numbers say the problem lives somewhere that Holgorsen never had the keys to.
Start with the skid. Nebraska opened 5-0, then dropped four straight Big Ten games. Three of those losses, 20-17 to No. 7 Indiana, 17-14 to Oregon and 17-10 to Washington, came after the Huskers led entering the fourth quarter. A team that keeps holding leads and then handing them back has a closing problem, and nobody calls a closing problem a coordinator’s fault until the head coach needs a place to point.
Then there is Illinois. Nebraska piled up 426 total yards and scored 13 points. Over the four losses it averaged 13.5 points a game. Moving the ball and failing to cash it in is a pattern, and it shows up in the one place where game management, clock sense and nerve all meet.
The strongest objection is also the most obvious one: the offense really did fail. Thirteen points on 426 yards is bad playcalling by any standard, and Rhule said as much when he said, “Like so many of you, I am angry, I am disappointed and I am frustrated with our results this season.” He added that “our offensive plan and execution is simply not working.” Holgorsen has run that offense since late 2024. If the scoreboard is the grade, the coordinator earned his.
I’d still push back on how far that argument goes. Look at what Rhule actually said: plan and execution. Execution belongs to the whole building, and the person who sets the culture of the building is the head coach. A coordinator controls the script on early downs. Protecting a lead in the fourth quarter is a head-coach question. Three times in this skid Nebraska held the lead at that point, and three times it lost.
Now look at what changes. Co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Glenn Thomas takes over the playcalling. Same staff, same offense, one new voice on the headset. That is the cheapest fix available, and it moves the blame without testing the theory that the offense was the only thing broken. If Thomas calls a cleaner game and Nebraska still lets leads slip, the mirror is the only place left to look.
https://x.com/PeteNakos/status/2119128134092296645
The schedule will not wait for the answer. Rutgers is next, then No. 12 Ohio State and No. 19 Iowa. In a league where the top programs keep stacking titles and the roster money gap is wide, a program that cannot turn a fourth-quarter lead into a win has no cushion to spare.
Rhule’s anger cost a man his job. Rutgers, Ohio State and Iowa will show whether it landed on the right target.
