Final take: Saturday was another reminder of how far Nebraska has to go

After Nebraska's 37-27 win at Purdue last week, Saturday's game against Minnesota felt like an opportunity.

An opportunity for the Huskers to take advantage of Minnesota's misfortunes of being down a reported 33 players due to COVID-19 and get another late-season win to springboard the off-season. It was an opportunity to get one step closer to 4-4 after a 1-4 start.

Instead, Saturday was another reminder of just how far away NU is. They walk a fine line every Saturday. One mistake or a bad start seems to set the tone for the entire game. That was once again the case in Saturday's 24-17 loss to Minnesota (3-3). Nebraska (2-5) struggled to find any momentum other than a short stretch in the second quarter.

They fumbled the opening play of the game for a 9-yard loss, shanked a punt, threw an interception, got hit with a crucial targeting penalty and went 0-for-8 on the third downs in the game's final 31 minutes. They did everything possible to lose this game and Minnesota executed a clean game in all three phases. They didn't have a turnover on offense, they got 212 yards rushing and limited NU's big plays.

"I think maybe a little bit is once you get behind in the game and things start rolling the wrong way with a young team, I think they started pressing just a little bit to try to get back in the game," head coach Scott Frost said. "But that being said, they responded after we spotted them 10 points beginning the game and got the lead. We just didn't execute very well.”

Minnesota dominated the time of possession (34 minutes to 26), and when the Huskers failed to get points out their opening 9-play 72-yard drive in the third quarter, they went into a complete shell.

The Huskers had plays of 24 and 22 yards on that opening third-quarter drive, and nothing close to that the rest of the way.

The Gophers limited them to just four possession the rest of the game following that opening third-quarter drive.

“Right now I really can't point to anything besides us as players needing to make things work a little bit more," junior quarterback Adrian Martinez said. "I'd say I made a few mistakes some other guys made mistakes. Just all eleven guys as one unit executing and being detailed and I think a couple times we got a little unlucky and also just weren't detailed enough in that and that's Big 10 football and that's on us.”

Now the Huskers face what will essentially be a meaningless Week 9 game, which will be dubbed as the defacto 7th place game in the Big Ten's championship weekend. A win on Saturday would've vaulted them to third in the division. That's how fine the line is in this league.

10 teams entered Saturday's games stuck on 2 wins.

“The kids will stay in it. This team’s together," Frost said. "They care about each other. I'm not worried about that. I'm just worried about getting wins at this point. I love how our mentality has changed and how the kids are caring about each other. I love the feel around the building. It's the best it's been. But you got to stack those things on top of each other and practices on top of each other. And even when things are going well, sometimes the breaks don’t go your way and you don't play well.

"The more work we can get, the more practice we can get, the more confidence they can get, the more consistent we’ll get. I really don't know what else to say about it other than that. I thought the preparation was great. We just didn't play well on offense, especially.”

Now on to the breakdown...

***It felt like Deja Vu all over again. The opening play of the game for NU was no different than the home loss to Illinois following the Huskers win over Penn State. The difference this time was NU recovered it for a 9 loss vs. taking the turnover.

My beef might be deciding to take the ball today. Nebraska's defense has played better than the offense. Why not put the pressure on the Gophers offense early and let your defense set the tone like a week ago?

***There were multiple freshman moments with Nebraska's young offensive line on Saturday. Bryce Benhart gave up a critical sack and a blindside pressure to Martinez that led to a fumble on two key third down plays. Ethan Piper was charged with a holding call that took a touchdown off the board on another third downplay.

***Say what you want, this game turned on the targeting call. Instead of a 14-13 NU lead where they would've had 2 minutes and three timeouts to try to score 3 to 7 more points before halftime, the Gophers took a 17-14 lead going into the locker room. Nebraska walks a fine line every Saturday. They are not good enough to overcome things like this. Little things continue to haunt the Huskers.

***The injury to linebacker Luke Reimer was quite significant for Nebraska's defense. I thought the play of their defense dropped off without him on the field. You saw very little pressure with a four-man rush and next to no effective blitzes.

***Punter Williams Przystup was not available on Saturday. You have to wonder if he's apart of the the21-day Big Ten COVID-19 protocol?

***Nebraska's defense failed to produce one quarterback sack on Saturday after a very good day a week ago at Purdue. The difference was Tanner Morgan. He's a much better quarterback than Jack Plummer. He made throws when they mattered. He's probably the best quarterback the Huskers have faced since Justin Fields in Week 1.

***After getting a combined 10 catches a week ago from Zavier Betts and Levi Falck, NU got just one combined reception from the pair on Saturday. Wan'Dale Robinson had six targets on Saturday, nobody else had more than one or two.

***NU had a lot of success early finding their tight ends. You have to wonder why that wasn't there in the second half?

***They need to find a way to use Oliver Martin more. He appears better than most of their skill players, but only had one catch for 22 yards on Saturday.

***Dedrick Mills senior season continues to be a head-scratching mystery. There was a time where running backs coach Ryan Held referred to him as a "bell cow" back for the Big Red. Is the injury holding him back that much, or is there more to the story we don't know?

Rushing offense: D

NU got 197 yards rushing, including a 47 yard run from Wan'Dale Robinson and a 24 yard run from Adrian Martinez. Other than that, the running game had a hard time finding a rhythm vs. a very undermanned Gopher defense. Minnesota came into the game with one of the worst rushing defenses in the conference, and the Huskers failed to fully take advantage of that.

Passing offense: F

Nebraska got just 111 yards passing on 29 attempted throws. The Huskers failed to convert on their final eight third-down plays from the end of the second quarter to the final third down play they had in the fourth quarter. Adrian Martinez missed wide open guys on Saturday and looked off. On a brief moment where he came out to have a non-throwing arm injury looked at, Luke McCaffrey threw an interception that led to the Gopher's first touchdown of the day. The opening play of the game also set the tone. Nothing went right for NU's passing game other than maybe the touchdown pass to a wide-open Austin Allen. Everything else felt forced, off, or predictable.

Rushing defense: D

Minnesota got more than enough to win with their rushing offense. Mo Ibrahim got 108 yards on 20 carries for two touchdowns. It took a while for him to get going, but the Gophers did exactly what they wanted to do with their running game - grind the clock and take possessions away from NU's offense.

Passing defense: C-

The play of Nebraska's pass rush got them off the field four times on Saturday. Casey Rogers had two pass deflections, Pheldarius Payne had one and Ben Stille had a pressure that forced a punt. It still wasn't close to enough. Minnesota checked in and out of plays and did a good job of presnap reading NU's coverage looks to covert first downs. They were just 4-of-13 on third down, but most of their damage was done on early downs. When NU got Minnesota in third-down they held up. The Gophers also went 2-of-4 on fourth down.

Special teams: D

Nebraska missed a key field goal and shanked a punt out of bounds that led to points. These were key moments that turned this game. NU did get solid kickoff coverage and Oliver Martin did a good job of stepping in for Cam Taylor-Britt to field punts.

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.