Final take: After Nebraska's opening script, Minnesota showed NU how to win a Big Ten football game

Things started as if it was going to be a picture-perfect Saturday for Nebraska against Minnesota.

The offense marched down the field on the Gophers for a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive. They followed it up with an 11-play, 50-yard drive to jump up 10-0 in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Gophers were forced to punt on all four first-half possessions. The half ended with a Ty Robinson sack on Gopher quarterback Tanner Morgan.

What we learned was that sack to close the half impacted the game more than we could’ve imagined.

Related: Nebraska-Minnesota postgame nuggets

Minnesota’s injury at QB turned the game

Morgan left the game after the hit from Robinson. In came back-up Athan Kaliakmanis. P.J. Fleck’s squad looked like a different offense. They adjusted, and NU was off-balanced. Minnesota produced points on four of their six second-half possessions under Kaliakmanis.

Meanwhile, after Mark Whipple’s opening play script, the Husker offense went into a shell with Chubba Purdy at quarterback. NU went over two quarters from the beginning of the second to the middle of the fourth before they converted a single first down. They had six possessions in a row that ended with a punt and the seventh with a Purdy interception.

“It is part of learning how to win and how to execute in this league,” interim head coach Mickey Joseph said. “You saw in the first half with the defense, the defense and offense executed. When you execute in this league, you are going to have success. When you don’t execute in this league, then things like this are gonna happen. I gotta do a better job to get them to execute.”

NU went back to Logan Smothers after giving him a series of plays earlier in the game. The decision may have been too late. The offense looked its best late in the game under Smothers. When he converted a first down in the fourth quarter, Memorial Stadium responded with sarcastic applause.

I don’t blame them. The offensive struggles we’ve seen the last two weeks in Memorial Stadium are some of the worst stretches ever in terms of points, yards and first downs. Last week NU ran 30 plays for 36 yards after a dropped pass led to Casey Thompson‘s injury. On Saturday, NU had a stretch of 24 plays for 43 yards, which spanned from the second to the fourth quarter.

“I thought Whipple and I were on the same page because when we thought (Purdy) was struggling, we went to Logan (Smothers),” Joseph said. “We communicate, but when Whipple makes the call that he shouldn’t make, I’ll let him know. We were on the same page today when it came to the quarterbacks.”

So what’s next? A trip to No. 5 Michigan in the Big House. Thompson watched Saturday’s game in street clothes.

What will this offense look like a week from now against one of the best defenses in the country? If Whipple thought his job was hard the last two weeks, who knows what Saturday might bring.

“I think most of us are disappointed with how this game turned out,” defensive lineman Ty Robinson said. “I know I am. We are on to Michigan next. We know they are a tough opponent as well. We have to get to this game, watch it, analyze, realize our mistakes and make sure we don’t do it again next week.”

Now on to the breakdown…

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What I saw on Saturday

***Nebraska did not try to disguise the injury of Thompson on Saturday. You knew right away Thompson was not playing in this game when he took the field in street clothes.

***I loved the early downhill running game wrinkles Nebraska came out with under center. The line looked the best it has all season. P.J. Fleck said after the game they were not ready for what NU came out with on both offense and defense. They threw their initial game plan out the window and made adjustments.

***One of the most inexcusable moments on Saturday was the delay of game penalty Nebraska’s offense took on a change of possession. At that point of the game, they were not in a situation to be successful on first-and-15.

***First down is always interesting to me. Nebraska called 14 run plays for 84 yards on first down, and they had seven pass plays for 28 yards to go along with two sacks. The Huskers were also penalized twice on first down for 5 yards.

***Purdy was 1-of-8 for 7 yards passing and one interception during his final stretch of snaps. Both quarterbacks took two sacks each. Purdy’s long completion was just 10 yards.

***I thought Caleb Tannor played one of his best games as a Husker. He finished with six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

***The 116-yard effort by Grant marked his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season. He is the first Husker with five 100-yard rushing games in a season since Devine Ozigbo also had five in 2018.

***Props again to the great Nebraska fan base. I’ve said this many times before, but there would not be another stadium in the country as full as Saturday considering the situation the Huskers’ season is in right now.

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The final grade out

	Grade	HOL take
Rushing offense	B-	Nebraska’s rushing output is hard to grade because they were effective, it just felt like they didn’t fully commit to it in the second half. NU ran for 146 yards in the game, but 110 came in the first half. If they run for 110 in the second half they win the game.
Pass offense	D-	Nebraska was 11-of-26 for 121 yards passing with one interception. NU had next to no downfield passing game, as Purdy struggled to make the throws.
Rushing defense	B-	Nebraska was great at stopping the run in the first half, but they allowed 132 rushing yards in the second. It was a tale of two halves, as NU could not slow the Gopher ground game down once Morgan was injured. In a game with limited snaps, that is far too many rushing yards in the second half. However, a lot of it had to do with the way the offense could do nothing.
Passing defense	C	Minnesota was 12-of-20 for 175 yards passing. The Huskers forced three sacks on the Gophers. NU needed a turnover on the back end to win this game. Minnesota executed on shot plays of 38 and 45 yards, which flipped the field in their favor.
Special teams	A-	Special teams were solid for Nebraska in almost all areas. Brian Buschini averaged a career-high 55.5 yards on six punts, including five punts of more than 50 yards. Timmy Bleedrode was perfect on his kicks, and the kickoff coverage was solid.