Nebraska Fired Dana Holgorsen After a Fourth Straight Loss: What It Means for Matt Rhule
Nebraska fired offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen on Saturday, roughly 12 hours after a 24-13 loss at Illinois dropped the Cornhuskers to 5-4 and stretched their losing streak to four games.
Matt Rhule announced it himself in a written statement. “Earlier today, I relieved offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen of his duties,” the fourth-year head coach said.
Five days earlier, Rhule had publicly called Holgorsen “one of the best offensive minds of our generation.”
The Numbers Behind the Decision
Nebraska started 5-0 and averaged 43.6 points and 475.6 yards a game getting there. Over the four-game losing streak those numbers collapsed to 13.5 points and 362 yards. The Huskers scored 54 total points in four games, and scored on nine of 46 possessions.
They have topped 31 points in every win this season. They have not reached 20 in any loss.
The defense is not the problem. Nebraska allowed 19.5 points a game during the streak, losing 20-17 to Indiana, 17-14 at Oregon, 17-10 to Washington and 24-13 at Illinois. Three of those were decided by a touchdown or less.
Against Illinois the Huskers outgained their hosts 426-376 and still scored on two of nine possessions, with 11 penalties for 82 yards. Anthony Colandrea threw for a season-high 284 yards and a touchdown. The senior transfer is 193 of 306 for 2,109 yards with 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions this season.
Rhule Blamed the Plan, Not the Man
“Like so many of you, I am angry, I am disappointed and I am frustrated with our results this season,” Rhule said. “While there are many areas that need improvement, our offensive plan and execution is simply not working.”
He was careful about Holgorsen personally. “Dana has a fantastic offensive mind, he is a strong leader, and he has done great work here at Nebraska. But simply, we need a change.”
Rhule also wrote that as head coach he is “ultimately responsible for every aspect of our program,” which is the correct thing to say and also the line Nebraska fans should sit with. On the full season the Huskers average 30.2 points and 425.0 yards, fifth in the Big Ten in total offense and seventh in scoring. That beats 2025, when Nebraska ranked ninth in the conference in both at 370.5 yards and 28.7 points. The catch is that nearly all of the improvement came against Ohio, Bowling Green, North Dakota, Michigan State and Maryland.
Glenn Thomas Gets Three Games to Audition
Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas takes over play-calling for the rest of the season. Rhule’s statement did not label him interim, which matters. Thomas has been on staff since 2024 and worked with Rhule at Temple in 2016 and at Baylor as co-coordinator of an 11-2 team in 2019. He also spent three seasons coaching Matt Ryan in Atlanta.
His audition is at Rutgers on Nov. 14, Ohio State in Lincoln on Nov. 21 and at Iowa on Nov. 27. Nebraska needs one more win to reach a bowl game.
Holgorsen, 55, arrived in Lincoln in November 2024 as an analyst and was promoted to coordinator a week later. He signed a two-year deal worth $1.2 million a year that December and called plays in 26 Nebraska games. Before that he went 61-41 as West Virginia’s head coach and 31-28 at Houston. Nebraska has not said what it still owes him.
Rutgers now decides whether this reads as a correction or the start of a collapse.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
