Nebraska coach Matt Rhule usually turns the page on Mondays.

His usual Monday media appearances usually start with injury or personnel updates, if there is any to be given. There are always thoughts on movie reviews. He gives his reactions to the latest news or headlines of the week. There is usually an anecdote from his time as a player at Penn State or a previous coaching stop. And, as usual, a lot of time is spent on Nebraska’s next opponent.

However, Monday did not go quite like that.

It didn’t matter that Nebraska had the advantage of a longer period of time to look back after its loss to Illinois. It didn’t matter that Nebraska had another day over the weekend to process what had happened.

Rhule was obviously still upset about what had happened against Illinois.

The overarching theme: Nebraska wasn’t good enough – a phrase he said in four variations during his 36 minutes of action. Nebraska wasn’t disciplined enough – a phrase he said three times on Monday. Nebraska played too close, especially in the second half – a phrase he used five times on Monday.

He’s right about that. Yards after contact? I don’t have the exact number in front of me, but that was a problem. None of the defensive linemen recorded a sack? Uncharacteristic of this defense.

“The disappointing thing was that overtime wasn’t nearly good enough. It was a debacle, right? But at the end of the day, it’s just a missed assignment,” Rhule said. “It’s not that we’re not good. That’s my message to our guys.”

There were a lot of little things on Friday. (And a few mistakes in the refereeing decisions against both teams, but we won’t go into that in detail.)

Gunnar Gottula’s false start in extra time. That’s a small thing that changes everything.

The near-touchdown pass from Dylan Raiola to Luke Lindemeyer that was thrown too far. It’s a small thing that changes everything.

The slightly off snap-hold-kick operation on John Hohl’s 39-yard field goal miss. It’s a small thing that changes everything.

The simultaneous pass reception in the end zone between Isaiah Neyor and Torrie Cox Jr. ended in an interception for Illinois. That’s a small thing that changes everything.

The punt flew in the opposite direction than intended, causing Nebraska to not only outplay its coverage, but also not be in the right position to bring down Illinois’ Hank Beatty until he returned the ball 37 yards. That’s a little thing that changes everything.

Or more generally, Illinois made 7 of 13 third downs and 2 of 3 fourth downs. If those were stops instead of conversions, that’s a small thing that changes things.

“One thing is clear to me: None of it was good enough and we still had a chance to win the game,” Rhule said.

He later continued, “I played for Coach Paterno and in games like that he would always say, ‘Everybody calm down. We just have to make one more play. Just make one more play.’ That’s how the game felt. We have the ball in our hands and we’re not just going to get out of there.”

If Nebraska had turned any of the above mistakes into a highlight, the Huskers would have been in a good position to win.

No false start on the first play of overtime? Nebraska doesn’t start behind the posts and probably attempts a shot.

If Raiola’s pass to Lindenmeyer is not thrown too far but caught, Nebraska will be leading 31-24 with 2:59 minutes left.

If the snap-hold-kick operation works flawlessly, Hohl’s 39-yard field goal might go between the goal posts and give Nebraska a 27-24 lead with 2:59 left.

If Neyor intercepted the ball instead of letting Cox intercept it, Nebraska would lead 17-10 with 7:57 left in the second quarter. The halftime score would have been 24-10 instead of 17-10.

If Beatty doesn’t return the punt 37 yards, Illinois might not march down the field and score a touchdown with 1:55 left in the third quarter. Maybe it’s just a field goal. Maybe it’s a turnover on downs.

“The biggest question for me as a coach is anyone can tell me how we lost. You have to figure out why we lost,” Rhule said. “How did we lose? Well, we couldn’t get off the field on third down. We gained so many yards after contact. The question is why? Where did that come from? That’s the secret sauce to fixing these things.

“For me, this is the result of many confidential, personal conversations with players and coaches. And this is something we will go through all week.”

One possible reason is the close game in the second half.

In recent years, Nebraska hasn’t won many close games. Is there something subconscious that causes this rigidity? How do you get through it?

“Well, it’s like the chicken and the egg. How do you learn to win when you’ve never really won before?” Rhule said. “But our guys are winners, and that’s the most important thing to me. Our guys do winning things. I want them to be themselves in those moments and stop worrying about all that other stuff and just go out there and compete.”

Nebraska always uses the brotherhood of its elite alumni for teaching moments, but the Huskers have gone a step further and hired Brett Maher as a special teams assistant.

Good. Who better to learn from? He’s done everything.

He’s an award-winning kicker. He’s an award-winning punter. He’s considered one of the best kickers. He had a 10-year career as a professional football player and is still in such good shape that he can not only teach Nebraska’s specialists how to punt and kick, but he can show them how to do it.

As for Hohl’s miss and Tristan Alvano’s injury, he was there too.

In 2021, Maher sustained a groin injury while warming up before a preseason game in August. He did not play in an NFL game until November of the same year.

In 2023, Maher had an unusually rough game in which he missed four extra points. In a playoff game. Despite having converted 94.6% of his extra point attempts in his NFL career.

And again: who could you learn better from?

After sweeping two top-5 opponents last week, then-No. 2 Stanford and then-No. 4 Louisville, Nebraska rose to No. 2 on Monday.

But the journey has only just begun, as the Big Ten games start this week.

Nebraska hosts UCLA and Ally Batenhorst-led USC this weekend. Batenhorst’s Trojans are ranked No. 20 in the latest AVCA poll.