Matt Rhule roasted on social media for bringing Nebraska football team to "WWE Raw"

Zain Bando

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Matt Rhule roasted on social media for bringing Nebraska football team to "WWE Raw" image

The heart of the college football off-season is here, as spring football wrapped up in recent weeks. That said, it allows the players and coaches to unwind for the next several weeks before summer workouts and fall camp commence.

One of those teams that took the relaxation seriously was the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who are enjoying a bit of a program resurgence under coach Matt Rhule as he led them to a bowl victory this past season to finish 7-6. They have already begun to build momentum on the recruiting trail, too, as highly-touted 2027 quarterback Trae Taylor pledged last Thursday in hopes of becoming a possible program cornerstone in the coming years.

Monday night, a video surfaced during the latest edition of "WWE Raw," which received quite a mixed reaction from college football fans when Rhule and select players, including quarterback Dylan Raiola, were present.

 

While some fans were happy to see the football team in front of a national audience, others took the opportunity to nitpick the Cornhuskers' shortcomings from this past season.

"Was that Patrick Mahomes next to Coach Rhule?" one fan wrote, re-opening the can of worms regarding Raiola's resemblance to the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback. 

"Gonna be another .500 season," another fan wrote.

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"This is dumb," wrote another user.

Although Rhule didn't respond to any of the comments, Pat McAfee was glad they made it out to the event.

"Had to have your back," Rhule tweeted while tagging McAfee.

It's unclear whether the moment is going to lead to McAfee getting invited to Lincoln this fall, but it's clear the Cornhuskers' recent national notoriety rubbed fans one way or another.

Nevertheless, Rhule's team has the opportunity to take the next step toward remaining relevant nationally this fall. Whether they will remains to be seen.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Wednesday nights and Friday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).