The Nebraska Cornhuskers are opening the season with a neutral-site game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Typically, in an era where the Big Ten spans from coast-to-coast, head coach Matt Rhule sees his team travel by plane, but is planning on skipping that for a bus for the opener. There […]
The Nebraska Cornhuskers are opening the season with a neutral-site game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Typically, in an era where the Big Ten spans from coast-to-coast, head coach Matt Rhule sees his team travel by plane, but is planning on skipping that for a bus for the opener.
There is an amount of logic to the decision to bus down. Rhule would explain on his new podcast, House Rhules, that it comes down to mentality, and that’s why he wants his team to take the bus.
“What we believe here is we don’t want things to be easy,” Matt Rhule said. “We want to play against great competition and strive and become a better team when we walk out of there. So, it’s gonna be cool. We’re going to bus down.”
From Memorial Stadium to Arrowhead Stadium, it’s about a three and a half hour drive. That’s not unmanageable, but it’s also long enough to justify the flight. At the same time, that’s not how Matt Rhule wants to approach the game for this Nebraska team.
“No private jet down there,” Rhule said. “We’re gonna get on a bus. We’re gonna drive down there, the old school way. I just think it’s an excellent start to the season.”
Long bus trips aren’t all that new for Matt Rhule himself. At different points in his career, he’s gotten more used to those long trips. Along the way, he thinks that there is a chance to get the team ready to play in what promises to be a very important game.
“I coached Dion Dawkins. He’d get on there. I coached Dion Dawkins. He’d get on the bus with 200 honey buns in his backpack. So, no honey buns,” Rhule said. “But the days of — we used to stop at the Golden Corral and let the team go out — we won’t do that. We’ll get on that bus, we’ll give them a little something, give them a little Chick-fil-A. Maybe a little Primo Hoagies. Who knows? Maybe a Runza out here. Who knows? But we’ll get them right. At the end of the day, when the ball is snapped, it’s about the team that plays the best. That’s what’s great about college football. Any team can win. So, we’ve got to make sure we play the best.”
Nebraska is coming off its first bowl season since 2016. Now, Matt Rhule is hoping to build on that. Part of that, clearly, is about building and maintaining a particular culture within the program.
Category: General Sports
