Final take: Huskers must do some serious soul searching over the bye week

MINNEAPOLIS - Any grand plans Nebraska had of going into the bye week on a high note ended pretty quickly on Saturday night against Minnesota.

After stopping the Huskers on a fourth-down play to start the game, the Gophers marched right down the field for a five-play 71-yard scoring drive. That set the tone for what ended up being a long, cold, snowy night for the Big Red in TCF Stadium.

“I thought we had a team that was ready to play," NU head coach Scott Frost said, following his team's 34-7 defeat. “I don’t think the weather had anything to do with it. I don’t think the cold had anything to do with it. We got pushed around on both sides of the ball up front, made mistakes and weren’t physical on the perimeter. We got pushed around a little bit tonight. Whether that’s a mindset, or what it is, I don’t know? It’s disappointing.”

Minnesota wanted it more Saturday. They played with more edge, desire and passion. They did the little things that mattered, and too many times we saw Nebraska counter with mistakes you can't make if you want to win on the road.

It was a disheartening performance. This wasn't Michigan or Ohio State. This was Minnesota. They physically dominated every phase of the game, and now Frost and the Huskers have to sit for two weeks and think about that.

But as tight end Austin Allen said, maybe a week away is the best thing for everyone involved.

“We’ve been together since Aug. 2,” Allen said. “We had Fall Camp and then seven straight weeks. I think we just need to get away from each other for a little bit. We get so locked up in this, you forget to relax sometimes. I think that’s what we are going to do. We are going to relax.”

It also makes you wonder what path this season will head down over the final five games. NU desperately needs to get to a bowl game, which means they must find at least two wins over their last five games.

Unfortunately, the talk in July about this team being picked to win the West seems like a distant memory. Frost now faces a much tougher task these final five games delivering a promising finish, when we've yet to see this football team click in all three phases on the same day this season.

“I know where this is going,” Frost said. “There’s going to be ups and downs. Things are never as good as you think, never as bad as you think. I know we need to get a lot better at some basic things. I want the guys to get away for a couple of days and get ready to go back to work.

"We need to be a smart team, a more physical team. I don’t like coaching a team that isn’t the most physical football team, and we weren’t. I give them a ton of credit. They were the more physical football team. We are going to do whatever we can to address that.”

Now on to the breakdown...

***Quarterback Adrian Martinez traveled to Minnesota but did not dress out on Saturday. Frost played that one very close to the vest all week. In fact, NU officials did not pass out the travel roster until 10 minutes before kickoff, but the only notable absence on it was running back Wyatt Mazour. Instead of Mazour, one additional kicker was brought to Minneapolis.

***Frost was about as angry as you'll ever see at halftime. After his interview on the Husker Sports Network, he had the players doing sprints and 11-on-11 scrimmage work out of the locker room. It still didn't matter, as the Gophers drove right down the field to go up 21-0.

After the game, Austin Allen told me they had planned all week to do live 11-on-11 work out of the locker room to address their slow second half starts.

***I thought Noah Vedral did exactly what he was supposed to do all night. He made the right decisions and reads, the only problem was Nebraska was their own worst enemy. Every time they did anything good on offense, they followed it with a costly penalty.

***Jaron Woodyard saw his most action of the season Saturday but was charged with a costly false start penalty. It was one of three first-half penalties that hurt the offense. A block in the back by Kanawai Noah took away a Wan'Dale Robinson 32 yard play that would've put points on the board, and a Boe Wilson false start killed the momentum after a 17-yard run from Vedral on the previous play.

***Broc Bando replaced Trent Hixson at left guard in the third quarter. Bando also came in at left tackle vs. Northern Illinois when Brenden Jaimes went out with an injury earlier this season. It's unknown why he came in for Hixson on Saturday other than for performance-based reasons. Rarely have we seen Greg Austin make in-game moves like this.

***I get the fake punt call by Scott Frost, but that's an tough situation to put on the plate of Austin Allen when the Gophers were looking for the fake. It was more of a frustration call by Frost. Luckily it didn't cost the Huskers, as Minnesota missed a wide-open tight end for a touchdown on the next play.

***Khalil Davis was flagged for another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Saturday, after being suspended for the Northwestern game after a play that the Big Ten reviewed from the week before.

***It was good to see Kade Warner step up with a big play for the first time this season. You have to think his role in this offense will increase after the bye week. Warner had three catches on three targets on the Huskers only scoring drive of the night.

***We saw Vedral come out of the game late after he took a shot to the leg. That allowed Andrew Bunch to see his first action of the season on Saturday. After the game Vedral said he should be fine. The more concerning injury happened to Wan'Dale Robinson, who left the game with an ankle injury.

Rushing offense: D-

Nebraska's sack adjusted rushing yardage on Saturday was 180 yards and 4.6 per carry. The problem is NU made far too many little mistakes to develop a consistent rhythm in the rushing game, and when it mattered, they struggled to execute in short-yardage situations.

Passing offense: C

This was never going to be a game where the Huskers threw it a lot. They still found some big plays early, but 51 of JD Spielman's 59 yards came on one catch. Noah Vedral did his job and made smart decisions with the football. A penalty wiped away maybe NU's biggest play of the night in the passing game when Wan'Dale Robinson took a screen inside the 5-yard line but had it called back after an unnecessary block in the back by Kanawai Noa. It was that type of night.

Rushing defense: F

Nebraska knew Minnesota wanted to run the ball, and it didn't matter. The Gophers gashed the Huskers in all aspects of the run game. Minnesota finished with 322 yards on 49 carries. They owned the line of scrimmage.

Passing defense: D

Tanner Morgan only threw the ball 13 times, but Tyler Johnson still managed to get over 100 yards receiving on five catches. That number would've been even higher if tight end Jake Paulson didn't drop a wide-open touchdown pass.

Special teams: D-

Nebraska failed to execute a fake punt, JD Spielman muffed a punt inside the 5-yard line that could've been disastrous and replayed overturned a Maurice Washington kick-return fumble that Minnesota recovered. Isaac Armstrong placed three of his six punts inside the 20-yard line. The return game was once again a non-factor for NU.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET's Big Red Wrap-Tuesday's at 7 pm.