Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule spoke to members of the media following Thursday’s practice. Rhule discussed expectations and preparations for Saturday’s home opener against UTEP.

“It should be a great weekend. I never ask people to come to things for football, but I say this is a great weekend just for athletics,” Rhule said. “I hope all the Nebraska fans take advantage of it. Obviously, there’s a football game tonight, Sunday we play Creighton, 1:05, and it’s the 30th year of women’s soccer. I’ve been to a bunch of games, my daughters love the team and I think it’s a milestone for Coach (John) Walker. He’s been so good to me, I can’t thank the other coaches on the staff enough. Coach (Fred) Hoiberg, Coach Amy (Williams), it’s a great brotherhood to be a part of. We’ve got all this winning, we go to Kentucky, we beat Kentucky. We’ve got the tournament this week in the Ameritas Tournament, it’s time for us to do our part. I’m excited to hopefully play well on Saturday and join the brotherhood of winning.”

Rhule addressed expectations for the offense.

“I just want them to play well,” he said. “I want the team to look the way it’s supposed to look. I want to play hard, I want to play physical, I want to play clean football. I want to protect the ball, I want to be aggressive, I want to block their pressure, their great defense, great pressure unit. Know their fronts. Dylan (Raiola) is going to have a challenge, the other quarterbacks are going to have a challenge in knowing their coverage structures. They’re going to check when we check, they’re a very well-rounded team. I want us to play well, that’s all I want, and I want that for the whole team.”

Rhule discussed their general thoughts 24 hours before kickoff.

“Honestly, there’s a lot of nerves,” he said. “I have a huge responsibility to do my job well for the players. You come into game day and the decisions you make, even something new like a two-minute timeout — I just make sure I’m constantly in the moment and doing a good job for our players. I get nervous, but I’m also really excited. I’m really excited for the guys. This is a good football team. We’ve got to step up and play like a good football team, but we are a good football team. I really like this UTEP team. I really like Scotty Walden, I like what he’s done. I’ve watched everything. I listened to him last night on a coaches show with my wife in the car on the way to dinner. She said, ‘Can you talk to me?’ and I said, ‘One second, honey, I’ve got to listen to this.’ I like what he does, so I think this is a really good matchup for us and a really good game for us. I’m looking forward to watching these guys play. I’m looking forward to our team getting back on the field in front of the fans. We get spoiled here because you have this great experience at the spring game. And then you have this great experience when we had the 1890 practice. We played in front of thousands of people. You get spoiled a little bit, but there’s nothing like game day here. I haven’t coached many games like this, so it’s really exciting for me.”

Rhule also spoke about the benefits of having students on the opposing team’s sidelines.

“Especially now with the tablets and the communications, the teams that communicate the best on game day are going to win,” he said. “Our students are great. Our boneyard bash, we had thousands of people here. I think the students and the band make it a more hostile environment. We’re a really nice group, – it’s Nebraska fun – which is great, but let’s make it hard for them for two, three, four hours. Sometimes we go somewhere and it’s hard to communicate on the bench. That’s going to be hard. The sun is in your eyes on that side, it’s going to be a little tough. One of the littlest but biggest things is the chains get in the way. Literally, we were on the visiting side for 12 games last year and I was trying to move and they were moving. It’s a little cleaner. The (Nebraska) sideline is a little shorter because the field is not flat, it’s tilted. The sideline is a little bit smaller on our side, but I think the students, and you’ve heard Troy (Dannen) say it, the students have a chance to impact the game. Our band, which is fantastic, has a chance to impact the game. That’s awesome, and our crowd on third down affects the game. Sometimes our guys think they’re great pass rushers, and I’m like, ‘The tackle didn’t quite hear the snap there.’ James Williams had one last year where the tackle didn’t move – thanks to the fans, bro. All those things are fun about playing at home.”

The Huskers open the 2024 season on Saturday at home against UTEP. Kickoff between the Huskers and Miners at Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT with live coverage provided by FOX. The game can also be heard on the Huskers Radio Network.