Rhule talks quarterback position, looks ahead to NIU, responds to CU criticism
LINCOLN, Neb - Nebraska is turning the page on the 36-14 loss to Colorado and beginning to look ahead to this weekend's home opener with Northern Illinois at Memorial Stadium.
On Monday, meeting with reporters, coach Rhule broke down the quarterback position. When it comes to quarterback Jeff Sims, Rhule notes an ankle injury, listing him as questionable for Saturday night -- Sims missed practice on Sunday. With six turnovers in eight quarters played, Rhule discussed Sims' status as the starter.
"Jeff is our starting quarterback... but with that being said, we can't turn the ball over," Rhule said. "When you're the quarterback, you aren't always at fault. When you snap the ball, it hits your hands, sometimes it's your fault, other times it's someone else's fault. But this is a top down, starting with me, we have to be better, we can't be -8 in turnovers. That can't be our narrative."
The Huskers host the Huskies for the fifth all time meeting between the two schools. Nebraska won the last contest 44-8 in 2019, after NIU beat Nebraska in 2017. Rhule talked more about the Huskies.
"We're going to face an excellent team that came here in 2017 and won," Rhule said. "Programs are either winning or losing programs, and Northern Illinois is a winning program.... They went to Boston College, won there, beat an ACC team.. Obviously lost a rivalry game last weekend, they've got a quarterback who's a power five quarterback, their D-Line is as good of a D-Line as we've faced."
That quarterback is former Michigan State Spartan Rocky Lombardi, who played at Memorial Stadium in 2018.
After the Colorado loss, Buffs quarterback Shedeur Sanders made remarks of disrespect from Rhule leading up to Saturday's contest. Coach Rhule acknowledged those comments on Monday.
"When you're losing, people are going to say lots of things," Rhule said. "I know exactly who I am... I'm coaching this team with class, I'm not changing, after that game was over I went over and shook that man's [Sanders] hand, and I've never disrespected an opponent a day in my life. And I never will."
Nebraska and Northern Illinois kick off at 7:00 p.m. central time, 6:00 p.m. mountain time on Saturday night.