Nebraska wasted great showing from Tony White's defense in Minnesota loss

The Nebraska defense, debuting the 3-3-5 scheme under new defensive coordinator Tony White, put in a stellar performance on Thursday night in the Cornhusker’s season opener against Minnesota. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the offensive ineptitude.

Minnesota clawed out a 13-10 win on a last second field goal despite barely being able to move the ball all night, and were keyed by miscues from Nebraska. At the end of the night, it had On3’s Andy Staples calling it all a waste.

“Horrific interception in the end zone right before halftime. Horrific interception over the middle as they’re trying to run out the clock. Now there also was a fumble by Anthony Grant when they were trying to run out the clock, as well. Really wasting a great performance by Tony White’s defense. This was a great job by that 3-3-5 defense,” Staples said.

Removing the three sacks for -12 yards for Minnesota quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, the Gophers rushed 22 times for just 67 yards. That’s 25 carries for 55 yards with the sacks added in. And outside of Western Michigan transfer running back Sean Tyler, Minnesota had 12 carries for 26 yards.

“Even when Minnesota would make a somewhat positive play, Nebraska would do some pressure and either force a bad throw or sack Kaliakmanis and it just seemed like Minnesota was never going to figure it out,” Staples said.

However, the Gophers did, and Nebraska’s inability to score more with their chances in regulation led to yet another crushing loss for the Cornhuskers.

“And this has just got to be a killer for Nebraska fans. Because it was right there and it felt like they were in position to run out the clock. It felt like they had — not even momentum, that doesn’t even matter. They were playing such good defense,” Staples said.

Jeff Sims acknowledged postgame that Nebraska did themselves in

Nebraska quarterback Jeff Sims wasn’t happy with his performance in the Cornhuskers’ 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 in. 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.”