Nebraska opens Matt Rhule’s fourth season against Ohio at Memorial Stadium Saturday. So let’s start with, uh, Frank Solich. “I don’t think you can talk about a Nebraska-Ohio football game without talking about Coach Solich,” Rhule said Monday. “Coach is a wonderful man.”
Solich is in the College Football Hall of Fame and will be honored with the Legends Award from the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame this weekend. He’ll also participate in the coin flip.
He’s “a legend,” said Rhule.
Ohio Coach John Hauser acknowledged Solich, too, in his media availability Monday. It’s “pretty neat that Coach Solich will be there,” Hauser said. It’s “pretty cool my first game will be there.”
Hauser, who had been the defensive coordinator, served as the Bobcats’ interim head coach for last season’s Frisco Bowl — more about that in a bit — replacing Brian Smith, who the school fired for cause after one season. Three days after the bowl game, a 17-10 victory against UNLV, the Bobcats dropped the “interim” from Hauser’s title.
Solich, of course, was Nebraska’s head coach from 1998 to 2003, succeeding Tom Osborne, and after athletic director Steve Pederson fired him, with a season off, he became the head coach at Ohio, filling that role from 2005 to 2020. His record at Ohio was 115-82.
Solich was succeeded by Tim Albin, who was Solich’s offensive coordinator and then associate head coach. Albin also coached under Solich at Nebraska, first as a grad assistant, working with the tight ends, and then coaching the running backs and serving as the pass game coordinator.
Anyway, the subject is Solich and his connection to Saturday’s opener. The Bobcats “still retain his DNA of being a tough, physical football team,” Rhule said.
Ohio is “a fantastic program we’re going against,” he said.
That’s the sort of thing coaches should say of opponents.
The Mid-American Conference is not Power Four, however. And realistically, Saturday’s game is probably the first of three “scheduled wins.” It needs to be if Rhule’s program is to show expected progress. Ohio, which the Huskers have never met, played two Big Ten teams last season, losing at Rutgers 34-31 and at Ohio State 37-9.
Scheduled win or not, “we have tremendous respect for them,” said Rhule.
Like Nebraska, Ohio has a new starting quarterback, though Nick Poulos has been in the Bobcat program for two seasons, playing in eight games with one start in 2024 and four games last season. Rhule has named Anthony Colandrea as the Husker starter.
And yes, Colandrea transferred from UNLV, another connection. As mentioned earlier, UNLV lost to Ohio in last season’s Frisco Bowl. Colandrea completed 19-of-30 passes for 184 yards, with one interception, and rushed for 28 yards on nine carries, scoring UNLV’s touchdown late in the game.
Having played Ohio in the bowl, “advantage him, advantage us,” said Hauser. “He’s just an explosive player. At least we do have some familiarity with him.”
Rhule echoed Hauser, describing Colandrea as “a lion . . . he’s a winner, a fiery quarterback who plays with passion on his sleeves.” Colandrea is “not going to back down from anything,” Rhule said.
In a team’s first game “you focus more on yourself than your opponent,” he said.
FanDuel had Nebraska as a 24.5-point favorite Monday, a “scheduled win.”
Ohio has four captains: Poulos, running back Duncan Brune, linebacker Jack Fries and safety DJ Walker, who appeared on the Chuck Bednarik Award and Jim Thorpe Award preseason watch lists. Hauser attributes the Bobcats’ captain-selection process to Solich. Players apply and then the team votes.
This season 22 players applied, a number that pleased Hauser.
His connection with Solich is such, “I call him, he picks up,” Hauser said.
“Having him as a resource is pretty neat.”
Rhule has said pretty much the same thing.
