Nebraska seeks answers: What will Dana Holgorsen bring to the Huskers offense?
Holgorsen, known for his play calling, could be a good fit if Matt Rhule makes a change at offensive coordinator after the 2024 season.
www.nytimes.com
secutive losses and a directive from coach Matt Rhule to do “whatever it takes” to finish this month well.
“Bad organizations point fingers,” Rhule said. “Good organizations look at themselves.”
To look at the struggling Nebraska offense, scoring 18.3 points per game in Big Ten play, Rhule brought former Houston and West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen to Lincoln as a consultant for the remainder of this season.
Holgorsen, a product of the Mike Leach Air Raid system, coached teams over 13 years in the Big 12 to an average of 33.5 points per game. His insight could provide the Huskers and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield with a boost next week at USC and in games to close the month against Wisconsin and at Iowa.
“Are we game planning the right things during the week?” Rhule said. “That might be one of the questions we have to talk about and look at.”
Bidding to qualify for its first bowl game since 2016, Nebraska won five of its first six games as freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola lived up to his five-star billing.
Raiola has thrown one touchdown and five interceptions in the Huskers’ three-game skid. The ground game for Nebraska, a strength last season when it didn’t possess a consistent threat through the air, averages 3.61 yards per attempt — 112th nationally.
“It’s a little bit of everything, to be quite honest,” Rhule said. “If you watch us, we’re just not playing well enough on offense to have a chance to win.”
What might Holgorsen add in a short time? And does his arrival at Nebraska signal his potential hire to run the offense after this season? It deserves consideration, at least, as pressure mounts on Satterfield.
College football writers Mitch Sherman, who covers Nebraska, and Sam Khan Jr., who covered Holgorsen in the Big 12, discussed the possibility of a Rhule-Holgorsen marriage. Here is that conversation:
Sherman: Why did Holgorsen fail as a head coach at Houston?
Khan: I think the evolving demands on a head coach in this sport became incongruent with what made Holgorsen good in the first place. His strengths are coaching offense, game planning, calling plays and figuring out how to score points. But the job of a head coach today is less about Xs and Os than it is about program management, year-round recruiting, NIL and roster management.
He was ahead of the curve on transfers in the pre-portal era, aggressively tapping into that market midway through his tenure at West Virginia and that approach carried into his time at Houston. But Holgorsen never struck me as a relentless recruiter or someone who loved that part of the job. And Houston was behind the curve on NIL. High school recruiting tapered off toward the end of his tenure.
Slow starts and undisciplined play were common in his last two years. Spanning the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Cougars averaged seven penalties per game, the 14th most in the FBS. They were 58th among 69 Power 5 teams in first-half scoring average. And after fielding one of the best defenses in the country in 2021, they twice ranked worse than 100th in scoring defense, yards allowed per game, yards allowed per play, third-down, fourth-down and red zone defense.
Holgorsen seemed perpetually frustrated, tired and seeking answers, and that rhetoric was transparent in press conferences, which did him no favors. I think the job became much different than what he signed up for upon arrival in 2019. And in 2023, the Cougars were battling uphill as a new Big 12 member, a transition that was tough for each of their fellow newcomers from the Group of 5.
Dylan Raiola and the Cornhuskers offense are averaging 18.3 points in Big Ten games. (Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)
