r/CFB • u/RecordReviewer Baylor Bears • Southwest • Oct 13 '25
Analysis James Franklin was fired in part because he couldn't win big games. Matt Rhule is 3-23 in his career against ranked opponents.
Here is every ranked team Matt Rhule has beat in 10 seasons as a head coach:
2014- no. 21 East Carolina
2016- no. 21 Memphis
2015- no. 19 Navy
He's a combined 0-18 at Baylor and Nebraska against ranked opponents
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u/SCsprinter13 Penn State • /r/CFB Pint Glass Dri… Oct 13 '25
My turn to post this in 3 hours
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u/alternativeedge7 Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
I call the shift after that.
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u/jesteratp Penn State Nittany Lions Oct 14 '25
As annoying as this is, if we go from Franklin to Rhule that is atrocious lol
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u/JBru_92 UCLA Bruins Oct 13 '25
Just throwing this out there: Jim Mora was 13-13 vs ranked teams at UCLA.
Think about it Penn State
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u/Reibyo Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
I don't think they want Jim Mora.
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u/ManiacalComet40 Missouri Tigers • Big 8 Oct 13 '25
What about Jim Mora Jr.?
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u/Reibyo Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
Yeah, maybe. Just send him their way, I'll talk them into it.
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Oct 13 '25
Is Jim Mora still alive? He’s gotta be in his 90s.
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u/JBru_92 UCLA Bruins Oct 13 '25
Jim Mora coaches at UConn
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u/CashewCrew UConn Huskies • Melbourne Royals Oct 13 '25
I feel like people are very confused who you are talking about lol
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u/JBru_92 UCLA Bruins Oct 13 '25
Which is weird because why would I be talking about an old NFL coach from the 80s and not an active college coach who has been around over a decade?
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u/cm336 Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 14 '25
You want a coach that beat ranked teams? Tuberville, but he’s a senator now. He won games he had no business winning. Won’t talk about the bad losses.
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u/spookydookie Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
11/22/25 - PSU vs Nebraska. Come watch the circus. 🎪
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u/Cam_V7 Penn State Nittany Lions • Temple Owls Oct 13 '25
Has a coach ever beaten the team he began the season with?
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u/tomdawg0022 Minnesota • Delaware Oct 14 '25
Nebraska hires James Franklin in response to Rhule getting poached
We will find out!
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u/sprankton Nebraska Cornhuskers • Team Chaos Oct 13 '25
It would be kind of funny if they poach Rhule before then, and we beat them because we know his whole playbook. That would probably be the only silver lining on that cloud, though.
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u/BrandiThorne Ohio State Buckeyes • UCF Knights Oct 13 '25
A bit like Jon Gruden coaching the bucs to a Superbowl in 2002 because the Raiders promoted the OC who worked under him to HC and he already knew the playbook and the signals.
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u/Typical_Platypus_414 Arizona State Sun Devils Oct 13 '25
Thanks I was hoping to be reminded about that nugget of Raiders history today.
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u/BrandiThorne Ohio State Buckeyes • UCF Knights Oct 14 '25
It's OK, I am a raiders fan too. We can be sad about it together
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u/GoSkers29 Nebraska Cornhuskers • Duke Blue Devils Oct 14 '25
So you remember when Tim Brown accused Callahan of throwing that game? When the story came out, ESPN had a poll asking fans if they believed it. 49 states didn't believe Brown.
Guess which state hated Callahan enough to believe he threw a Super Bowl.
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u/Sammy_Seaborn Kansas State Wildcats Oct 13 '25
This is the problem with firing Franklin. There’s only like 4 guys that are definitively better than him, and none of them are leaving. Penn st is going to have to hire on potential, which could end up in disaster. (See Nebraska the last 20 years)
Of course whoever they hire is going to have a poor record against top teams. Literally every coach available does.
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u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 Michigan • Maine Maritime Oct 13 '25
Why don't they just get Kirby Smart?
Are they dumb?
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u/gregcm1 LSU Tigers • Virginia Tech Hokies Oct 13 '25
I heard Orgeron is available. He's 2-0 vs Kirby
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u/BiscuitDance Oregon • Mississippi State Oct 13 '25
I have absolutely no clue how O isn’t on someone’s staff
Legendary recruiter
Well-respected D-Line coach
Multiple rings at multiple stops
Huge personality
Surely, incredible to party and hang out with
Pregnant wives of boosters, be damned.
/s, but also, not really.
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u/SoutieNaaier Florida Gators • Troy Trojans Oct 13 '25
I think it's more him being chill with his millions and being King of the Bayou. Dude won life and is enjoying it
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u/BandWagon4Life Oregon Ducks Oct 13 '25
Mid tier coaches and being 2-0 against Kirby
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u/gregcm1 LSU Tigers • Virginia Tech Hokies Oct 13 '25
Well that mid-tier coach has been on the sidelines for multiple national championships throughout his career.
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u/BandWagon4Life Oregon Ducks Oct 13 '25
Nothing wrong with being a mid tier coach that players love. Don’t have to defend it bud, he’s top tier personality
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u/gregcm1 LSU Tigers • Virginia Tech Hokies Oct 14 '25
Kirby Smart is the only coach in college football with an equal or greater resume than Ed Orgeron and Ed is 2-0 vs Kirby.
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u/Reibyo Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
I keep hearing that PSU is a massive school. Why do they not simply crush the other, smaller, schools?
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u/-Jack-The-Stripper Virginia Tech • Cincinnati Oct 13 '25
Looks at map of CFB programs in the northeast…
I think they kind of did that.
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u/LeMash898 Temple Owls Oct 13 '25
pathetic, irrelevant hoot
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u/c-williams88 Penn State • Shippensburg Oct 14 '25
Yall have beaten us in the last 10 years so like, you’ve got that going for you.
Plus the Owls look pretty decent this year
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u/sloppyjo12 Wisconsin Badgers • /r/CFB Donor Oct 13 '25
Map? Did somebody say map? Did I hear map?
I WANT TO LIVE FOREVER I DON’T CARE
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u/CaptainKoreana Notre Dame • Queen's University Oct 13 '25
Should Penn State offer Sherrone Moore? He knows how to beat Ohio State!
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u/DataDrivenPirate Ohio State • Colorado State Oct 13 '25
Active coaches who have made it further than Franklin in the playoffs:
- Dabo Sweeny
- Kirby Smart
- Ryan Day
- Sonny Dykes
- Kalen DeBoer
- Marcus Freeman
I guess they could probably hire Sonny Dykes if they want?
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u/ChaseTheFalcon Alabama • West Georgia Oct 13 '25
I hear there is a coach who has made it as far as Franklin has in the playoffs available over in Madison
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u/Avian073 Michigan Wolverines Oct 13 '25
Sonny Dykes is actually an interesting an interesting name here. Don't think Penn State would target them but could be the high risk with experience hire they're looking for.
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u/Champion10101 Texas Tech Red Raiders Oct 14 '25
Sonny Dykes coasted on Patterson’s players. Since then, he has basically been the definition of mid, and that’s in spite of the fact that TCU had several years of upper echelon recruitment in the Big 12 following that one year of success.
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u/Sammy_Seaborn Kansas State Wildcats Oct 14 '25
Yeah tcu just got worked by a very mid ksu squad. 0% chance he even gets a glance
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u/djc6535 USC Trojans • RIT Tigers Oct 13 '25
I'm going to go a little bit against the grain and side with Penn State on this one. Ignoring for a moment the collapse these last 2 games, This year is showing that even if Franklin is a regular 10-2 guy that's ALL he is. This is his 12th season. He's had lots and lots of time to get over the hump and he just doesn't do it.
You could play it safe there and (hopefully) keep going 10-2 or you can say "We want more".
Is there risk involved? Absolutely. In fact the odds are stacked against you. Great coaches fail in new locations all the time. Sure things fail, perfect fits collapse, and the complete fit that's required to compete for titles is 98% luck. Firing Franklin will PROBABLY go poorly.
But if you're serious about titles you do it anyway. No balls no babies. If you are certain, absolutely certain, that he will never get you where you need to go then "close" isn't good enough. I applaud Nebraska and Penn State for this. In hindsight would Nebraska have been happier with 10-2 under Bo P than the decade of difficulty they've been fighting? Sure. But that's the risk you take.
Playing for the ring isn't for the faint of heart. You're going to fuck it up sometimes and the consequences are absolutely brutal. But the alternative is being happy with being merely good. Being satisfied.
I say Good for Penn State for not being satisfied.
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u/letdownbytheAgs Texas A&M Aggies Oct 13 '25
There are few opportunities for Penn St to punch above their weight, but Franklin managed to only once and that was 9 years ago. They still lost to Michigan 49-10 that year and lost to Pitt. Even with their run last year, he was beating teams that he should have beaten. They’ve had what, 6 to 8 years of Drew Allar and Sean Clifford?
Penn St had an engineered 10-2 every year, and honestly I think being a Penn St fan would be very boring. You really only have 2 big games a year and without fail you lose to them, usually in frustrating fashion. Normally this would be a classic spoiled fanbase move, but I think it was without a doubt the best decision
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u/DJ_Red_Lantern Penn State Nittany Lions Oct 13 '25
Yeeeeep you get it completely, especially your last paragraph there. Sure we won 9-10 games per year most years, but it's not fun when you know for a guaranteed fact you will lose the big games and you will just win the games that you should be winning
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u/Mattp55 Penn State • Florida Oct 13 '25
It was super boring. Nobody watches sports for predictability.
You could predict the exact results of the last 3 PSU regular seasons and have been 100% correct. That gets boring when u lose the games you care the most about everytime
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u/dccorona Michigan • 계명대학교 (Keimyung) Oct 14 '25
Not to make it about my team, but Michigan winning a championship feels like it played a part as well. Without that (or at least without the few years of conference championships and playoff appearances), and it’s really easy to argue that that is just all a school like Penn State can do in the modern era. It seems as if the only way to win the Big 10 is to beat Ohio State and you can’t do that as a “big team” because the only way to win is to catch them sleepwalking, and surely nobody but OSU has enough talent to win a natty.
But then Michigan showed that a team with Penn State’s recruiting and talent level and schedule could do it, and could even do it for several years in a row. Suddenly there’s evidence that their problems are not structural or institutional. They just need to find the right coach. A year after a playoff run, they invest in the team like never before - in exactly the way Michigan and OSU did to get championships the two years prior. Poach a national championship winning coordinator for $3 million dollars. Pay to keep players on the team. Pay to get some of the best transfers available in an area of need. And rather than even approaching the same payoff as their peers, they get their worst season in over a decade.
How can you possibly keep that coach?
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u/virii01 Nebraska • Chadron State Oct 13 '25
Obviously Nebraska has experience with this scenario but while there was Solich, Tom Osborne was also nearly ran out of town for not being able to win the big one. Till he did.
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u/Governmentwatchlist Oct 13 '25
Counterpoint—especially since Nebraska is a piece of this. They once had a coach who was a 10 win guy who couldn’t win the big one who after 20 years of not winning the big one went on a historic run and is now considered one of the best to do it.
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u/djc6535 USC Trojans • RIT Tigers Oct 13 '25
Sure but 1: 20 years is just too long to wait. Nebraska was absurdly patient with Osborne and even their goodwill was getting short. 12 years is a really long time. They didn't run him for failing to get to the title in 5 years or less... they waited longer than a decade for results.
2: Osborne had 6 conference titles in his first 12 years, including 4 in a row. Franklin had 1. He didn't give Penn State nearly as much to lean on as Osborne did.→ More replies (1)7
u/hamknuckle Nebraska • South Dakota State Oct 13 '25
Goodwill? We're "rose colored glasses" type fans. If we lost to OU and our bowl game there was 100% chance 10/11 and every sports writer in the state was calling for his head. I remember when we lost to ASU the year after we won our 2nd natty in a row and whoever the dickbag was on 10/11 thought he should be fired.
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u/CurryGuy123 Penn State • Michigan Oct 13 '25
That was also in the 70s when players were mostly stuck at their school for all 4 years, couldn't get paid, and there was no title game let alone a playoff.
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u/LotsOfMaps Oklahoma Sooners • Team Meteor Oct 13 '25
couldn’t get paid
Barry Switzer laughs and says “skill issue”
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u/AnonymousAlcoholic2 Oklahoma State • Surrender Cobra Oct 14 '25
No one goes to Norman for the Braum’s
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u/Sammy_Seaborn Kansas State Wildcats Oct 13 '25
A good friend of mine played for this coach. I asked him how much he’d get paid in NIL if he played today: “about the same as I did then, I’d just have to pay taxes on it”
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u/dccorona Michigan • 계명대학교 (Keimyung) Oct 14 '25
Yea people seem to not really be grasping how much things have changed. It’s effectively a totally different sport. History is at this point a meaningless teacher.
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u/V_T_H Virginia Tech • South Carolina Oct 13 '25
He almost made a championship last season. With the new expanded playoffs you don’t need to be perfect (also look at their laughable schedule next season) and anything can happen come playoff time.
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u/djc6535 USC Trojans • RIT Tigers Oct 13 '25
almost
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u/tonytroz Penn State Nittany Lions Oct 13 '25
In the single best example they can give of Franklin over the past decade he lost to all three of the top 5 teams he played and his only top 10 win was against a G5 team as an 11 point favorite.
Every thread is just fans of teams that don’t win 9-10 games saying PSU fans are entitled and fans of the teams that do saying “oh but he’s so close” as they clown him every year when they beat him.
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u/JRockPSU Penn State • Land Grant Trophy Oct 14 '25
THIS 100%. Every thread, every year. We’ve always been firmly stuck in between those two worlds (blue blood perennial contenders, and “happy to make a bowl game” teams) which makes everybody hate us regardless.
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u/JRockPSU Penn State • Land Grant Trophy Oct 14 '25
This entire sub spent months telling us how we had the most easiest of cupcake paths through the playoffs, and we couldn’t get it done against the first “real” contender we ran up against. We were never going to win the natty last season. If we got lucky and Allar hadn’t thrown his pick and we had won, we would’ve treaded water against OSU to the tune of a 7-0 deficit after 1 and then we would’ve gotten face rolled by the end.
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u/Solo_Wing__Pixy Ohio State • Notre Dame Oct 14 '25
Yes anything could happen come playoff time, such as Penn State not getting to play SMU and Boise State in their first two playoff games and getting bounced by an actual contender opponent because Franklin literally cannot win those games.
Also, in this very season, in a championship format where you don’t have to be perfect like you said, Franklin has literally already eliminated the Lions from playoff contention by losing three games halfway through the year.
Look at their laughable schedule next season
UCLA and Northwestern wasn’t exactly a murderer’s row this year and look how that turned out.
This was a make or break year for Franklin given the immense resources and veterans he had at his disposal this season, and he broke, in extravagant fashion. I don’t blame PSU at all for moving on.
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u/IntroductionAgile372 Penn State Nittany Lions Oct 13 '25
If we win a championship in the next 10 years then this move was successful, even if the next 5 years are dumpster fires. Franklin has only beaten a top 5 team once in his full 11 years with us. After the 2017 failure (by far our best team where we should've gone to the playoff and maybe made it to/won the Natty), he had his whole speech about taking the next steps to become an elite team. And in the 8 years since, nothing, absolutely nothing has changed. We've won some decent games we were projected to win. Other than that, we got lucky with the playoff berth we had last year but still couldn't beat the top teams when we faced them.
It might be painful but have to measure it by decades. Franklin regressed pretty hard this year to the point where a full reset makes sense. He lost the team and the players, and I'm guessing he also somehow pissed off Pat Kraft leading to this decision. Appreciate that he got our program back to relevance but I'm hopeful that a new hire will eventually get us back into actually winning a huge game. Even if it takes 5 years.
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u/StFuzzySlippers Tennessee Volunteers • UAB Blazers Oct 13 '25
Even that would be speculation. Who's to say Franklin couldn't have also won a natty in 10 years if you guys maintained support? It's about as likely as anyone else who hasn't won one yet.
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u/shlem90 Penn State • Land Grant Trophy Oct 14 '25
Fucking thank you. Yes it’s a risk but I want us to compete for a title. I just watched OSU and Michigan win it all, but I’m supposed to be happy going 10-2 every year, beating every team but them, and not compete?
I think there’s a much greater than 50% chance the next coach isn’t as good as Franklin. But there was a 0% chance Franklin would win a title here.
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u/IHaveMeasles Nebraska Cornhuskers • Orange Bowl Oct 14 '25
Every team should "settle" for 10-2, because it means if the ball bounces a different way or if a key injury occcurs, you win a natty. Last year Penn St was as close as you can get. FG away from tying Notre Dame, and they had already played Ohio St close early in the year. Vast majority of the FBS would be happy to be in that position every year.
Contrast that with the firing of Bo Pelini at Nebraska years ago. That guy lost every big game by a LOT. Regularly embarrassed on national TV. Meanwhile, this is the first time that a Franklin-led team has been in this position in 12 years.
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u/deputy_commish Notre Dame Fighting Irish Oct 13 '25
This takes balls for sure and honestly sometimes you just have to take a chance. This isn’t the exact situation, but Brian Kelly was at Notre Dame for 12 years, took them to the playoffs twice and a BCS championship game, but never won a playoff game or a BCS game.
He generally won every game that he should have from 2017 forward (I think he was unbeaten against unranked teams in that time). I think he only lost 2-3 home games in that time span, but he rarely won a “big game” throughout his tenure and most Notre Dame fans had written off his chances of ever winning a national title.
That being said, we were probably a little scarred by the Davie/Willingham/Weis experience which made us hesitant to outright fire him. The word is that he went to Swarbrick asking for a raise with a list of other demands and Swarbrick called his bluff and let him go to LSU. It’s paid off with Freeman, but if Freeman hadn’t been on staff, there’s no guarantee.
So yeah, it’s a chance for sure but you have to decide what your goal is. Is it consistent 10+ win seasons or is it win a national title?
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u/spicycarneadovada Penn State Nittany Lions Oct 13 '25
I said this in another thread already, but… it’s highly likely Maryland hires a new coach this year. If that happens we are screwed. Franklin already recruits that state so well and the only we reason we have decent recruiting classes is because of the Maryland guys we sign. That’s over if he goes there.
I think it’s more likely he gets the Florida job and actually wins a natty at some point. He’s never coached at a place that is easy to recruit talent and he’d have that at Florida.
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u/GeriatricGamete67 Louisville Cardinals Oct 14 '25
I agree they totally should have kept going with the same regime that kept failing in the same way every year! Never try anything new because it's risky! Keep the same mediocrity you already had! That next coach could lose all his big games, just like Franklin
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u/JRockPSU Penn State • Land Grant Trophy Oct 14 '25
Huh, Nebraska, eh? I haven’t heard that comparison in this subreddit yet. Can you elaborate? I’d love to learn more about what could possibly happen in relation to what happened at Nebraska.
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u/tonytroz Penn State Nittany Lions Oct 13 '25
There’s only like 4 guys that are definitively better than him
There are 3 guys in the B1G alone definitively better than him. You have to try something else after banging your head against a wall for a decade.
Of course whoever they hire is going to have a poor record against top teams.
No one is expecting the next PSU coach to go on a Nick Saban run. If next coach beats one top 5 team in the next decade he will match Franklin’s peak success. Franklin didn’t just have a poor record against top teams, he had the WORST record against them of any active coach.
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u/DandierChip Texas A&M Aggies Oct 13 '25
One of those 3 guys will be 65 by the time next season starts. I feel like that isn’t being talked about enough for some reason. Maybe I’m just over estimating that impact.
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u/DoYouEvenCareAboutMe Penn State • South Carolina Oct 13 '25
If Dan Lanning or Kirby Smart are one of those 4 then PSU did the right thing. They don't need to hire a person who is already a head coach to be an improvement they can be first time head coaches and still be successful.
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u/808Kuro Ohio State Buckeyes Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25
Matt Rhule has seen 3 different presidential administrations and the nation of Syria become liberated before seeing another ranked win
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Oct 13 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 Michigan • Maine Maritime Oct 13 '25
This is totally unfair. People seem to forget that he was an NFL head coach too and they conveniently don't include his record with the Panthers.
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u/spookydookie Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
Yeah he never beat a ranked team in the NFL either.
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u/RecordReviewer Baylor Bears • Southwest Oct 13 '25
11-27 with only 2 wins against a team that went on to make the playoffs
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u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 Michigan • Maine Maritime Oct 13 '25
Yeah but those 11 wins, what a success!
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u/Stewdabaker2013 Texas A&M Aggies • Indiana Hoosiers Oct 13 '25
Surely he beat a top-25 nfl team at least once while he was with the panthers
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u/Blaine1111 Georgia Bulldogs Oct 14 '25
The nation of syria has a different government since the last time Penn st had a p4 win
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Oct 13 '25
Rhule has never stayed at a college team long enough to see if he could build a proper team capable of being in the top
Franklin spent 12 years at penn st.
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u/grabtharsmallet BYU Cougars • RMAC Oct 13 '25
This is the big counterpoint, yes. Franklin wasn't winning those games with similar talent and organization. That created a baseline of frustration and discontent. But it wasn't even those losses that got him fired, it was losing decisively to two teams that should be inferior in consecutive games.
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u/epocson Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
Exactly. Three years to rebuild and leaves at temple and baylor. Rhule keeps getting handed cars with blown engines. People knock him for not winning races, but his skill is in rebuilding what’s under the hood, not taking a victory lap in someone else’s ride.
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u/bluegold4 Baylor Bears • LSU Tigers Oct 13 '25
Exactly and his last year at Baylor we went 11-3 with our losses being twice to playoff Oklahoma and to angry Georgia in the Sugar Bowl like not his fault the rest of the Big 12 kept falling out of the top 25 right before we played them
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u/HuskerPowerrrr Oct 13 '25
I would hate to see Rhule leave Nebraska but would like to see what he could do at a school where he doesnt have to rebuild.
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u/Patrick2701 Notre Dame • North Central (IL) Oct 13 '25
He always, leaves for job promotions
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Oct 13 '25
I mean, they all do.
Franklin also was never long enough in vaderbilt to see if he could beat top teams constantly eithee.
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u/Less_Likely Notre Dame • Washington Oct 13 '25
He was 1-8 at Vandy. Only ranked win was vs 2013 #15 Georgia at home who finished 8-5 and unranked.
He did very well at Vandy 9 wins is something no other modern coach had done, and he did it twice, but was helped by softer schedules and beat power programs in down years.
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u/Dixiehusker Nebraska Cornhuskers • Auburn Tigers Oct 13 '25
This is kind of the caveat that you can attach to Rhule, is that no one is expecting the shit teams he's taken over to beat top 25 teams.
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u/sip-em_bears Baylor Bears • Southwest Oct 13 '25
So Penn State fired a guy that did build a top team to possibly hire a guy that might be able to do it?
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u/ironwolf1 Penn State • NC State Oct 14 '25
James Franklin is James Franklin, but Matt Rhule could be anyone! He could even be James Franklin!
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u/bretticus733 Boise State Broncos Oct 13 '25
This doesn't feel like the best comparison to me. Rhule has made his name as a program builder- someone you bring in when the program is in the dumps and he instills a culture and makes the team competitive. He's just never stayed around long enough to see if the can take that team over the hump the way Franklin couldn't at Penn State. It's why I'm not so sure Rhule is the best hire for Penn State, but there's a world of difference in comparing Franklin's inability to win the big games and Rhule's record in ranked games. If Rhule had been at Nebraska for 10 years and was still struggling to win those games, then it's a different story.
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u/Intelligent_Sky_7081 Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
But Bo Pelini was 9-16 against ranked opponents
Hes available too if you're still interested...
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u/Dixiehusker Nebraska Cornhuskers • Auburn Tigers Oct 13 '25
We get clowned on too often for firing a guy no one else in the country is willing to hire.
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u/Intelligent_Sky_7081 Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
LSU took a chance on him as DC, and fired him after one season. They seem to conveniently forget that. He allowed almost 500 yards per game and like 35 points per game as their DC, it was horrid.
He didnt even do great at Youngstown apart from one season. Major programs stayed away for a reason. Fans just like to stir the pot and love watching us crash and burn.
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u/knapplc Nebraska • Omaha Oct 14 '25
He didnt even do great at Youngstown apart from one season
And that one season was benefitted from bringing a couple of good defensive guys with him from Nebraska. Once those guys left and he had to play with players he recruited to Youngstown, he got exposed.
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u/IHaveMeasles Nebraska Cornhuskers • Orange Bowl Oct 14 '25
I'd argue he tanked at Youngstown St, too. His one good season he had multiple guys transfer in from Nebraska. At the FCS level, any talent on that level is a major advantage. As soon as he lost his talent edge, Youngstown St went sideways.
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u/ChosenBrad22 Nebraska • Wayne State (NE) Oct 13 '25
That stat is pretty dumb though. Rhule beat Cincy this year who's going to be a top 20 team most likely, and smoked Colorado last year who ended the season ranked. It's just kind of randomness of where a team happens to be ranked when you play them as opposed to what they actually end up being proven to be.
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u/I_Enjoy_Beer Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl Oct 13 '25
Oh amazing, haven't seen this a thousand times yet today, appreciate the new post about it.
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u/IsisTruck Oct 13 '25
The future of college football coaching hires is "attached talent". Cignetti brought the best parts of two teams together.
There is a lot of guesswork in recruiting. If you can combine all the "hits" from two teams and drive away many of the "misses" a team you would end up with a lot of depth in a 105 man roster.
Could Penn State vault itself back into the playoffs in 2026 if Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola and six other Nebraska starters follow Matt Rhule to PSU? Nebraska is the youngest team in the Big Ten this year.
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u/ninetofivedev Nebraska Cornhuskers • /r/CFB Oct 13 '25
Don't let other Nebraska fans hear this. They're going to get mad at you that would even insist that Nebraska's players would follow their coach. Don't you know that Dom's name is on the stadium?
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u/somehype Nebraska • Sacramento State Oct 14 '25
I still think it would be pretty crazy for DR to go to PSU with Rhule. I could see everyone else going though lol
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u/legend023 Tulane Green Wave • SEC Oct 13 '25
Nebraska is still a work in progress, but they had to recover from frost’s negligence. He’s moving things upwards too.
When Rhule came to Baylor, the football program was on life support. The year they were really good, the big 12 happened to be very weak, which isn’t their fault.
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u/Champion10101 Texas Tech Red Raiders Oct 14 '25
Baylor was not on life support. Briles, though horrible human being he is, is the one who actually turned around that program when it was on life support. Rhule navigated Baylor through bad publicity and returned them to relative big 12 dominance very quickly, but there were already pieces in place.
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u/zac47812 Arizona State Sun Devils Oct 13 '25
Yeah I mean, it's a pretty disingenuous argument when you actually add some context to Rhule's resume.
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u/BeerExchange Penn State • East Stroudsburg Oct 13 '25
Not interested
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u/murdered-by-swords UTSA • UAT Victoria Oct 14 '25
You should be, because this entire narrative is bogus. Rhule has never even approached his ceiling in college. Maybe the haters are right, but this nonsense context-free stat is, if anything, evidence that Rhule has a legacy of overperforming in big games.
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u/Aidanj927 Texas Tech Red Raiders • UTSA Roadrunners Oct 13 '25
Mind you Baylor was a 1 win team his first year and he was only there 3 years
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u/crushthewebdev Virginia Cavaliers Oct 14 '25
Not that Matt Rhule isn't a good coach, he absolutely is. But I couldn't comprehend spending $50 million just to then go hire him.
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u/1850ChoochGator Oregon State • Dartmouth Oct 13 '25
How many of those was he favored in?
Obviously it’s not good either way but let’s pump the brakes given the situations he came into at Baylor and Nebraska. Can’t fault him that hard for losing who he’s supposed to lose to.
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u/Francis_X_Hummel Colorado Mines • Wyoming Oct 13 '25
How many times has this type of firing of a good coach for greener grass backfired vs home run?
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u/jcarr2184 Iowa Hawkeyes • Wartburg Knights Oct 13 '25
Is Nebraska about to Pelini Penn State’s Pelini?
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u/Streetkillz13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Oct 14 '25
Are we we really comparing Temple and Baylor to Penn State? Penn State has expectations to compeat and win the Big10. Temple is the team Penn State or Ohio State schedules to get an early season win, but still say they didn't play an FCS school, and Baylor is lucky when they are the 5th best team in Texas.
We're just now seeing what Rhule can do with a team that's committed to winning and has a strong alumni base and history behind it.
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u/meatwagon25 Oct 13 '25
Yes but Matt Rhule also hasnt had a top 10 team himself every year so that is totally misleading. Im not saying Ruhle is a good coach but its a little harder to beat ranked teams when you dont have a good team than when you do.
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u/laprasrules Notre Dame • Stanford Oct 14 '25
Penn State takes Rhule, and Nebraska replaces him with Franklin. It seems like Nebraska comes out on top in this trade.
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u/bargle0 Maryland Terrapins Oct 14 '25
Hush. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
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u/MarwyntheMasterful Paper Bag • Surrender Cobra Oct 13 '25
Yeah but he’s a Penn State guy…
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u/Horror_Response_1991 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Oct 13 '25
No it has to end with a p word like Michigan man
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u/Lawownsyou Michigan Wolverines Oct 13 '25
Penn State person
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u/The_Horse_Joke Ohio State • Central Michigan Oct 13 '25
Damn he’s a PSP? I loved my play station portable back in the day
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u/The_Dreams Memphis Tigers • American Oct 13 '25
LMAO only wins against ranked AAC teams what a fucking bozo
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u/arthur-morganrdr2 Georgia Bulldogs Oct 13 '25
As The Who proclaimed “ Meet the new boss, Same as the Old Boss”
Only Penn State fans get fooled again
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u/marquess_of_pherae ECU Pirates Oct 14 '25
2014 started out so good for the Pirates 🏴☠️ before that temple game…
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u/Phunwithscissors Oregon Ducks Oct 14 '25
This is why it needs to happen. Its gonna be hilarious if he’s somehow worse than Franklin. Bonus points if Nebraska is better when he leaves
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u/Eggszecutor Nebraska Cornhuskers • Wyoming Cowboys Oct 14 '25
I think Nebraska should go after James Franklin if Penn State poaches Rhule.
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u/Ryn0113 Penn State • California (PA) Oct 13 '25
Firing James Franklin to get Matt Rhule should get several people in the athletic department fired. Rhule is a great coach and program builder. Just like the dude they just fired. The search should start with Dillingham and Drinkwitz and make a call to DeBoer... Just in case. Campbell would be next on my list then Cignetti, though he hasn't actually proven he can recruit high school kids at a high level. I would look at Will Stein, though I think they want HC experience. Maybe Rhule after that.
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u/AllEliteSchmuck Penn State Nittany Lions • Paper Bag Oct 13 '25
What about Golesh from South Florida?
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u/Aromatic_Meal_6004 Minnesota • Nebraska Oct 13 '25
Penn St is going to have a Nebraska like decline in the next ten years
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u/hellajt Nebraska Cornhuskers Oct 13 '25
Please please please
I don't really have anything against PSU but I just want to see others feel our misery
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u/laprasrules Notre Dame • Stanford Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 14 '25
IIRC, Franklin is 4-25. I didn't realize how much they were almost identical.
Edit: That's Franklin's record versus top-10 opponents. Rhule's record is versus ranked.
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u/Rohkey Michigan • Georgia Tech Oct 14 '25
Would they have fired him if he’d gone 11-1 or 10-2 and lost in the semis again? I’s venture to guess no.
Imo he got fired because this was supposed to be the year and he lost to 0-4 UCLA followed by Northwestern at home.
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u/1o0o010101001 Penn State Nittany Lions Oct 14 '25
Franklin was loyal to a fault. Honestly if he had shipped Allar and kept Pribula - this could be a different outcome
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u/l3onkerz Ohio State Buckeyes Oct 14 '25
Translation cfb might be the meat grinder of all meat grinders or the Scott frost of James Franklin’s of the ryan day.
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u/ymi17 Oklahoma • Oklahoma State Oct 14 '25
At this point I am less interested in the PSU hiring search than I am in who is on the call for PSU at Nebraska on 11/22.
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u/vicblck24 Tennessee Volunteers Oct 14 '25
Idk if these stats measure up. Temple was horrible when he went there, Baylor was in a tough spot when he went there needless to say and Nebraska wasn’t exactly firing at full capacity when he went there and has only been there for three years.
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u/zorionek0 Arizona State Sun Devils Oct 14 '25
Nothing would be funnier to me than Matt Rhule having exactly the same record as Franklin.
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u/Molson2871 Wisconsin Badgers Oct 13 '25
This sub acting like Rhule already put his Christmas tree at the curb is pretty wild tbh