Final Take: Nebraska needs to build 2023 around defense and special teams
MINNEAPOLIS – If we learned anything Thursday night watching Nebraska at Minnesota, Matt Rhule may have to build things around his defense and special teams units in 2023.
We saw the Huskers control the game in both phases on Thursday while their offense struggled to find an identity, and many of the questions we had going into 2023 showed up on Thursday.
That’s OK. Rhule can build this team around special teams and defense. He did on Thursday night, and it was nearly enough to win a game that very few people thought the Huskers could. The Gophers prevailed 13-10 on a last-second field goal.
RELATED – PFF snap counts and grades for Nebraska’s offense vs. Minnesota
The issue remains turnovers and understanding situational football.
“As I said to our guys, we can be a really good football team,” Rhule said. “To think that we turned the ball over four times. To think that we turned the ball over at the half in the end zone. To think that we turned the ball over twice in the last few minutes of the game, and they still had to kick a walk-off field goal, really shows what I think we can be.
“I thought the defense was dominant for long stretches. We stopped the run early and turned it into a dropback game. We knew that their quarterback good and would make some plays, including the final play. For us, this is the first game. We saw some things that we need to improve on. We had a chance in the 2 minute with the ball on the 50. We need to go down and win that game. Nobody is feeling sorry for themselves. We are not feeling sorry for ourselves. It was a learning experience that we have to overcome.”
The other big question is Jeff Sims. The narrative throughout most of camp is they don’t want to put too much on his plate. Rhule has been on record they want to be selective on when and how they run him.
According to PFF, Sims had 12 designed run calls for 101 yards on Thursday. He also had two QB scrambles that went for 16 yards. NU had to lean on Sims’s legs more than anyone was expecting.
Is that a sustainable formula the rest of the way, or will Marcus Satterfield need to develop more playmakers on this offense to not put so much on his plate?
“I never really anticipate the game. I just go out there and play,” Sims said. “Whatever I’m needed to do, that’s what I do.”
Rhule is the other x-factor. His level of composure as a head coach showed on Thursday. When things didn’t go NU’s way early in the game, Rhule stayed the course. He put the team in a position to win the football game, it just was not their night.
“I knew it would be a close game, and I knew it would be a battle,” Rhule said. “(Minnesota was) top 10 in some defensive categories for a reason. If we don’t turn the ball over and fix the penalties, I think we have a chance to be a little bit better than we were on (Thursday).”
What I saw on Thursday
***22 defensive players saw snaps on Thursday, including 17 who saw more than 10 snaps of action. 18 played on the first drive of the game. 10 of those 18 players made a tackle on that opening drive.
***One interesting nugget was MJ Sherman saw 37 snaps at Jack linebacker, while Chief Borders was at 26 snaps. Borders won the starting job in camp and earned a Blackshirt last week from Rhule.
***We saw the Huskers’ sub in a pass-rushing package featuring Elijah Jeudy and Princewill Umanmielen a few times on Thursday. These appear to be two of the best pure pass rushers on the team.
***Rover Isaac Gifford had a big TFL early in the game that forced Minensota’s hand to kick an early field goal.
***After watching Nebraska’s wide receivers last night, the losses of Zavier Betts and Alante Brown over the off-season are fairly significant. Losing Keagan Johnson to K-State also is notable. He would be NU’s top wide-out right now arguably.
***It was ironic to see NU get flagged for disconcerting play signals on defense, considering how many times it’s happened to them. It was never penalized by opposing officials in the past.
***Give Minnesota fans a lot of credit. The atmosphere was far and away the toughest NU has faced in Minneapolis since joining the Big Ten in 2011. The game was indeed sold out and it made an impact.
The final grade out
GradeHOL TakeRushing offenseCNU produced runs of 27, 26, 12 and 10 yards on Thursday. However, Anthony Grant had a costly fumble that changed the game, and overall, the ground game lacked the type of identity you would like to see when it mattered. Nebraska also made some key procedural penalties. Passing offenseFThree interceptions. Need I say more? Three of Sims’s 19 passing attempts went for interactions. That will not get it done in the Big Ten Conference or any league. The Gophers only blitzed Sims seven times on 24 dropbacks and still managed two sacks and five TFLs in the official boxscore. PFF gave the Gophers credit for three sacks and seven hurries on 24 dropbacks. Rushing defense AMinnesota had long runs of 10 and 11 yards. They finished with just 67 sack-adjusted rush yards, while NU had 207. If you told me the Huskers were going to hold the Gophers to just 3 yards per run on the sack adjust rush total, there was no way I could have seen the Huskers losing this one. Passing defense BMinnesota was 9-of-13 for 70 yards on third-down passes, converting six first downs on those plays. Athan Kaliakmanis sometimes gave NU trouble with his ability to throw on the run, but the Blackshirts still had a great game plan that forced him to throw it 44 times. His previous career high was 29 passing attempts against Wisconsin in 2022. Special teams AIt was a solid showing all around for Nebraska’s special teams. NU dominated this phase of the game. Phalen Sanford led the way with 14 special teams snaps played, while Javin Wright had 12 snaps. Tommi Hill, Mikai Gbayor, Luke Reimer and Wright were all credited with special teams tackles.
Brian Bushini had a 44.3-yard net average and a hang time of 3.80 seconds. Tristan Alvano made his only field goal attempt, and Rahmir Johnson had a 63-yard kickoff return to start the third quarter. Alvano had two kickoffs with a 4.28-second hang time, while Buschini had one with a 4.20 hang time. Minnesota’s kicker averaged 4.13 seconds of hang time on three kickoffs.
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