Jeff Sims breaks down what he saw on final interception against Minnesota

Jeff Sims was one of the more coveted quarterback prospects in the transfer portal this offseason. He ultimately decided to suit up for Matt Rhule in his first year as the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Unfortunately for Husker fans, Sims had a disastrous debut on Thursday night against Minnesota, completing just 57.9 percent of his passes for 114 yards, while tossing one touchdown and three interceptions. He also had a fumble.

Following the game, he spoke about what he saw on his final interception against the Golden Gophers.

“I knew I’d find him in the safeties. He made a great play on the ball. I mean, it was a great play by him. I’ve just gotta protect the ball in that situation,” Sims said after the loss.

 Jeff Sims wasn’t happy with his performance in his team’s season-opening loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday.

Matt Rhule’s debut was spoiled, as a game-winning field goal sent the Cornhuskers home in defeat. A ton of attention was paid to Sims, after he committed three of the team’s four overall turnovers, including a costly late interception.

Afterwards, Sims elaborated on his performance, as well as his team’s as a whole, believing that he can’t throw interceptions at the clip he did on Thursday, and Nebraska simply can’t defeat themselves.

“We just beat ourselves,” started Sims. “We just can’t beat ourselves. We had four turnovers, and any game you have four turnovers in is going to be a close one. So we’ve just got to protect the ball, and play our football.”

While the interceptions were rough, it wasn’t all bad from Sims against Minnesota. He did throw one touchdown, albeit off of a nearly broken trick play, and finished the game as Nebraska’s leading rusher and, for that, Rhule gave his QB1 some due credit.

“I thought he had some really good moments,” Rhule said regarding his quarterback, following the loss. “He had some key throws, especially in that two-minute drive moving us down the field. Obviously, he ran for over 100 yards. He was a dynamic threat in the zone read game.”

Alas, three interceptions, especially in a game that ended up being as close as it was, were killers. Add in a lost fumble from Anthony Grant and there’s a way where the Cornhuskers could have avoided this brutal defeat on their opening night.

It all boils down to the fact that Sims and Nebraska just can’t have those sorts of mistakes. That’s why, heading into their second outing at Colorado, they’re going to do what they can to get that corrected so they don’t cost themselves in games that are there for the taking.

“You have to protect the football. Back foot throws and all those things? That’s not what we need. We don’t need that,” added Rhule. “This is a first step for Jeff. We’ll coach him and he’ll come back.”

Matt Rhule believes better days are ahead of Jeff Sims, and it’s easy to see why when he flashes the way he does. It’s up to the quarterback to put it all together in the end.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater and Steve Samra also contributed to this article.