Five burning questions heading into Minnesota week

There comes a point when a team can only find so many sources of motivation to cling to when the wins are few and far between.

That's the situation Nebraska is currently facing now having dropped three of its last four games and seeing its 2017 season evaporating further by the week.

One of the hallmarks of Mike Riley's teams have been their ability to keep an even-keeled approach no matter the circumstance, but now it will be harder than ever to keep this team dialed in on the task at hand.

Will the Huskers be able to block out the noise and bounce back one more time? Or will the negativity be too much for the team to overcome?

Just when you thought Tanner Lee was on his way to becoming the star quarterback he had been hyped up to be, he took a big step back by reverting to the same old bad habits that plagued him earlier this season.

Poor decisions and errant throws resulted in three costly interceptions against Northwestern that inevitably lost Nebraska the game on Saturday.

The junior had gone 122 straight pass attempts without an interception prior to his first turnover vs. the Wildcats, and he seemed like a completely different player from the one who lit up Purdue for 431 yards and two touchdowns a week prior.

For Nebraska to have any chance over the next three weeks, Lee has to be as close to perfect as possible. Will the "Good Lee" or "Bad Lee" show up at Minnesota on Saturday?

Nebraska only mustered 112 rushing yards against Northwestern, but it was actually a decent showing considering the Wildcats boasted one of the best run defenses in the Big Ten coming in.

If nothing else the run game was able to provide some desperately-needed balance to the Huskers' offense and take some of the pressure off of Lee from having to do everything by himself.

Minnesota's defense isn't quite the same daunting challenge as Northwestern, as the Gophers were just run over by Michigan to the tune of a staggering 371 rushing yards on Saturday night.

Can NU's running backs and patchwork offensive line manage to get some sort of consistent production on the ground?

For all of the mistakes Nebraska's offense made against Northwestern, the defense almost did enough to make up for them and preserve the win.

Joshua Kalu came up with a huge interception immediately following Lee's first pick in the first quarter, and then Marcus Newby pulled off a pick-six that gave the Huskers their first lead to open the third quarter.

Those are the kinds of plays NU has been lacking all season, especially considering how many of those same plays opposing defenses have made week in and week out.

Minnesota comes in as one of the poorer offenses in the conference, ranking 10th in Big Ten in scoring offense, 11th total offense, and 13th in passing offense and having been held to 164 total yards and only 74 through the air last time out vs. Michigan.

Will the Blackshirts be able to continue to provide those types of boosts going forward?

There are three games remaining on Nebraska's 2017 regular season schedule, and most would agree that this week is the best opportunity for a win the Huskers have left.

Winning on the road at Penn State seems almost out of the question at this point, and then knocking off an Iowa team that just waxed No. 6 Ohio State 55-24 suddenly got significantly more difficult.

That leaves the Huskers, who are still two wins away from becoming bowl eligible, facing an extremely difficult task to win two of those remaining three games.

If they don't find a way to get a victory this week against a Minnesota squad that comes in 4-5 overall and 1-6 in Big Ten play, you can pretty much scrap those bowl hopes all together.