Five things we learned from Nebraska’s loss to Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS – The Matt Rhule era at Nebraska opened with an all-too-familiar gut punch in Thursday night’s 13-10 loss at Minnesota.
Here are five of our biggest takeaways from the defeat and what it means for the Huskers going forward…
Nebraska has a lot of work to do, including the coaches
Nebraska could have had Tom Osborne on the sideline and still would have struggled to overcome four turnovers and seven killer penalties.
But Rhule and his staff didn’t do themselves any favors with some questionable decisions that helped keep the Huskers from closing out a win.
The end of the first half was simply a disaster. After Gabe Ervin Jr. was ruled down at the one-yard line with 22 seconds remaining, Rhule opted not to use his final timeout. That led to the Huskers rushing to the line to get the snap off, and a false start negated a Jeff Sims’ touchdown sneak.
Rhule said after the game that he wouldn’t have done anything differently in that situation, as the call would have worked had it not been for the penalty.
Early in the fourth quarter, Nebraska again got the ball inside the Gopher 10 with a chance to punch it in. Rather than continue to run the ball, NU threw it on first down from the 8, committed another costly false start, and threw an incomplete pass. The Huskers settled for a field goal.
Leading 10-3, Nebraska’s defense gained even more momentum with a convincing three-and-out stop on the ensuing series. Rather than run the ball and chew up some clock, the Huskers tried a kill shot with a deep pass – to cornerback Tommi Hill.
They threw it again on second down, and a would-be completion to Billy Kemp was batted at the line. NU punted it away after a completion for no gain on third and 10, having taken just 55 seconds off the clock.
The offensive game plan vs. Minnesota is not sustainable
Sure, Nebraska had plenty of chances to put up much more than 10 points against Minnesota. But even if all the turnovers and penalties are correctable, the Huskers can’t continue to lean on that offensive game plan.
Sims is a big, fast, dual-threat quarterback, and the Huskers must keep using him as a runner. But for a guy who missed five games to injury last season, 19 rushes and 19 pass attempts is not a sustainable balance.
Sims was NU’s only consistent offense, and the Huskers didn’t have much else to work with. Their three running backs – Ervin, Anthony Grant, and Rahmir Johnson – combined for 17 carries for 81 yards. Twenty-seven of those came on one Ervin run.
Sims completed 11 of his 19 passes for just 114 yards. Thirty-four of those – and NU’s only touchdown – came on a trick play that nearly ended in disaster.
It wasn’t just the workload Sims had to take on vs. Minnesota but also how many big hits he endured along the way. That type of punishment will take a toll quickly, especially once the Big Ten grind sets in in October and November.
Defense and special teams did their part
Rhule refused to put the blame for Thursday night’s loss squarely on the offense. But many who watched the game unfold probably felt otherwise.
Nebraska’s defense wasn’t perfect by any means. It gave up 6-of-9 third-down conversions in the first half and couldn’t get stops on the two most critical drives of the night at the end.
But the Blackshirts did enough to win – more than enough. Minnesota managed 13 points and 251 total yards, including only 55 on the ground. The Gophers converted two third downs with 16 rushing yards in the second half.
Then there were Nebraska’s special teams, which also did everything Nebraska needed. Rahmir Johnson’s 63-yard kickoff return to open the third quarter turned the game’s momentum after an awful end to the first half.
Freshman kicker Tristan Alvano nailed his only field goal from 27 yards to put NU up by a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Brian Buschini averaged 47.7 yards per punt, including a 60-yarder, and put all three of his attempts inside the 20.
In the end, the Huskers did nearly everything right in two of the game’s three phases. The miscues on offense were simply too much to overcome.
Nebraska is left with even more questions at wide receiver
Coming out of fall camp, wide receiver was right up there with the offensive line for one of Nebraska’s top concerns.
Thursday night’s loss only made those worries worse.
Rhule announced after the game that Marcus Washington, NU’s top returning receiver from last season, had been suspended for the first half. Rhule didn’t give further explanation, but Washington’s absence was noticeable.
Sims completed just five passes for 39 yards in the first half. Washington had three catches on four targets for 31 yards in the second half alone.
While Washington’s return helped the passing game a bit, the Huskers then lost starter Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda to an injury. Rhule had no specifics after the game but said it may have been “a serious injury.”
Kemp, the projected No. 1 receiver, didn’t catch a single pass. Former walk-on Alex Bullock led NU with three receptions for 56 yards, more than half of that coming on a gadget play.
Anthony Grant’s fumble issues continue
Nebraska turned the ball over four times against Minnesota, and each was critical in the defeat. But Grant’s lost fumble with 4:53 left in the game was one of the toughest for NU to swallow.
The Huskers were on their way to slamming the door on a victory when a defender punched the ball out of Grant’s arm at midfield. The Gophers recovered and turned it into a game-tying touchdown drive.
What makes Grant’s mistake even worse is that it was a continuation of a ball security issue that had plagued him all of fall camp. After NU’s second fall scrimmage, Rhule publicly called Grant out for putting the ball on the ground.
Rhule refused to throw the senior under the bus, and he was right – Grant’s fumble didn’t solely lose the game. But now there could be a serious lack of trust in a player who was Nebraska’s top runner a year ago.
It’s one thing to fumble in practice, but it’s a different animal entirely for it to happen at a critical point of a game. How Rhule handles Grant’s place in the backfield rotation next week at Colorado will be worth monitoring.
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