Minnesota vs. Nebraska Reaction: 5 Quick Thoughts
by Pete Fiutak, CollegeFootballNews.com
5. How the heck did Minnesota win THAT?
The offense didn’t do much of anything, the defense was struggling to hold on, and it all appeared to be hopeless for a Gopher team that wasn’t showing anything positive for roughly 55 minutes.
But it came up with one big interception at the end of the first half, one big forced fumble, one miraculous fourth down touchdown catch, one bigger interception when Nebraska was trying to put the game away, one big break on an illegal procedure call that stopped the clock, and one perfect 47-yard kick.
And now Minnesota is 1-0 overall, 1-0 in the Big Ten, 1-0 in the Big Ten West. However …
4. The Gophers have to find a running game again, fast.
Nebraska’s defense played its heart out, but it’s not a killer quite yet. The Gophers should’ve been able to run for more than 2.2 yards per carry, and they need to be able to get their transfer RB Sean Tyler more room to move after getting bottled up for most of the night.
Granted, not having star WR Chris Autman-Bell out hurt mattered - it was tough to open up the attack - but no matter what the offense has to be able to pound away and do what it does best under PJ Fleck, and that ground game wasn’t going anywhere …
Until Tyler slithered through for an 11-yard run to set up the game-winning field goal.
3. Two passes. Jeff Sims did almost everything else right.
The former Georgia Tech starter is a playmaker. He’s a veteran, he’s amazing on the move, and he’s the type of veteran who should be able to lead the offense to wins as the season goes on. But there were two very, very bad mistakes.
One was an interception in the end zone at the end of the first half, the other was the floater that got picked off when the O was trying to close things out. He did just about everything else right, leading the team with 91 rushing yards to go along with an 11-of-19 passing day for 114 yards and a score - an all-timer with the presence of mind to keep it all going on a trick play - to go along with those picks.
It’s his first game with a young team. He’ll bounce back fast from this, and …
2. Do NOT assume the close call losses are going to continue
This was never going to be a quick fix under Matt Rhule.
The Huskers let this get away, but no, don’t assume they’ll keep losing in brutally painful fashion. Yes, if Scott Frost won just a few more games decided by one score he’d still be the head coach, and maybe you could argue that Rhule and the staff didn’t come through to close it out, but this will all change soon enough.
2-14 in one score games over the last three years. Eventually that’s going to flip, but this is a really, REALLY young team. It’s going to take a little while, this is still a rebuild, and good veteran teams start to find ways to win. Don’t make the mistake of assuming this is a continuation of the Frost era.
1. This was a massive deal in the Big Ten West
The win column doesn’t care how the wins got there. Minnesota won a Big Ten West game at home, and it needed it. If it didn’t pull this out, with road games at Iowa, Ohio State, and Purdue, and home dates against Michigan, Michigan, State, Illinois, and Wisconsin, it would’ve been in big, big trouble.
It got the W, it needs to clean things up against Eastern Michigan next week, fight at North Carolina to follow, push past Northwestern on the road, take care of Louisiana, and all of a sudden the overall record should be strong before hosting Michigan.
Imagine the hype if Nebraska had held on, but remember, a loss to Minnesota was sort of budgeted into the overall final record predictions - it's a Big Ten road game. Now it goes to Colorado to deal with Coach Prime and the vastly improved Buffaloes.
A win in Minneapolis would’ve been a launching pad, but the season is just getting started. This is hardly the end for the 2023 Huskers.
nebraska.rivals.com
of it.
