NU spoils another opportunity in 24-17 loss to Gophers
In a game Nebraska had to win and was supposed to win, the Huskers once again fell flat in a 24-17 Senior Day loss to Minnesota on Saturday.
The Huskers’ offense, which played arguably its best game of the season last week at Purdue, sputtered from the opening play to the final whistle.
The offense only mustered 17 points and 111 passing yards against the worst defense in the Big Ten. The defense gave up a season-high 211 rushing yards against a UM offensive line without two starters.
In summary, the Huskers shot themselves in the foot time and again with mistakes in all three phases all day long and fell to 2-5 on the season. As a result, NU was all but eliminated from bowl game contention for a fourth consecutive year.
The game couldn’t have started much worse for Nebraska. A nine-yard loss on a fumbled lateral on the first play was followed by a personal foul on defense, an NU interception deep in its territory, and a fourth-down bust that led to a 26-yard touchdown run by Mohamed Ibrahim.
As a result of all those miscues, the Gophers – who opened as a 10.5-point underdog – led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The Huskers finally settled things down with the help of a 47-yard rush by Wan’Dale Robinson on the first play of the second quarter to move the offense into Minnesota territory for the first time.
Four plays later, Adrian Martinez found a wide-open Austin Allen in the back of the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown pass that trimmed the deficit to 10-7.
After the defense got the ball back on a fourth-down stop, the Huskers’ offense responded by marching 73 yards on 13 plays and chewing five minutes off the clock before taking a 14-10 lead on a seven-yard scoring run by Martinez.
Just when it seemed like Nebraska was close to slamming the door shut, though, Minnesota came back swinging with a 61-yard run by Cam Wiley down to the NU 14-yard line with just over two minutes left in the half.
The Gophers then got bailed out on a questionable targeting penalty on Cam Taylor-Britt’s third-down hit on UM quarterback Tanner Morgan. Two plays later, Morgan hit Brevyn Spann-Ford for a four-yard touchdown pass with 1:23 on the clock to reclaim the lead at 17-14 going into halftime.
The first half stats were fairly even across the board, but a handful of crucial Nebraska mistakes were glaring reasons why the Gophers had all the momentum at the break.
Connor Culp had a chance to tie it up midway through the third quarter, but he shanked a 32-yard field goal. That marked just his second miss of the season and snapped a streak of nine straight made attempts.
The Blackshirts stepped up again on the ensuing drive and got another fourth-down stop, but Nebraska gave it right back when Martinez fumbled on a third-and-10 and Minnesota recovered at the NU 39.
The Gophers essentially put the game away from there, methodically taking four minutes off the clock over nine plays and pushing the lead to 24-14 on a fourth-and-goal run by Ibrahim with 11:26 remaining.
Nebraska got the ball at midfield after its first defensive three-and-out of the game with seven minutes left, and Minnesota kept its drive alive by jumping offsides on a field goal attempt for a first down.
But a bad holding penalty on Ethan Piper negated a Martinez touchdown run, and NU ended up settling for another Culp field goal anyway from 30 yards out with 4:42 left to play.
Needing one last stop to have a chance, Nebraska’s defense gave up two first downs – including a 31-yard run by Ibrahim – and had to burn all three of its timeouts before Minnesota eventually ran down the rest of the clock to seal the win.
Martinez ended the day 16-of-27 passing for 111 yards and rushed 15 times for 96 more with two total touchdowns and a lost fumble. Morgan was 17-for-30 for 181 yards and a score. Ibrahim led UM with 20 carries for 108 yards and two scores.
Nebraska’s Week 9 opponent remains to be seen, as matchups for the Big Ten’s Champions Week are expected to be announced on Sunday.