Matt Rhule on New Big Ten: 'Whole New World of College Football'

The Huskers are just beginning to navigate the landscape of a completely new conference.

Sep 20, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule and Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema talk before a game at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

The Big Ten conference looks completely different in 2024 than it did in 2023.

With the addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington, the conference has an entirely new identity and feel. It is taking some getting used to for every team that was already in the conference, not just the new teams who have joined. Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule understands what these new teams are going through. He had to learn how the Big Ten works just last season.

“Even me coming here last year, and it’s your first time in the Big Ten,” Rhule said. “Learning the structures, learning the personalities, learning the towns, learning the travel, learning the style of play, the weather. All of those things matter. When you go into a new conference, you’re trying to figure out who wins in this conference.”

The Big Ten has a few teams who are considered traditional conference powers. Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State are usually the three best teams in the league every single year for the last decade or so. But now, teams like Oregon and USC are looking to shake up the power structure in the conference for years to come.

Rhule feels like the old Big Ten teams have also joined a new conference, even though it has the same name as it did last year.

“The unique thing here is we’ve all joined a new conference,” Rhule said. “Think about who we’re playing this week, you guys have covered Nebraska for a long time, seeing Nebraska vs. Ohio State is common. But having that followed up by UCLA and USC is not common. We’re all just in this period of trying to recognize what the conference is, and the effects of travel.”

In years past, Nebraska playing against UCLA or USC would be a high-profile nonconference showdown. Now in 2024, it is just another conference game. However, even though the Huskers and Bruins play in the same conference, it is likely going to take a while to get used to these two teams playing each other. 

It will still be surreal for the Huskers’ players and fans when they travel to Autzen Stadium or the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the first time. Those two iconic environments are now in the same conference as The Horseshoe and The Big House. Welcome to the new world of college football.

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