Post-game notebook: Defense takes the blame

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Given the success that Minnesota was having with its running game all day long, any time it looked like Nebraska had stuffed the Golden Gophers at the line was considered a success for the defense. Well, at least until the Huskers looked up and saw UM had still gained four yards on the play.

It was a reoccurring theme for NU nearly every time Minnesota got the ball, as poor tackling and bad defensive positioning led to 281 rushing yards on 53 carries, the majority of which coming after first contact.

Head coach Bo Pelini was obviously as frustrated as anyone with his defense's performance on Saturday, especially after giving up a school-record 589 rushing yards to Wisconsin and 408 to running back Melvin Gordon.

"It's been something that's plagued us all year," Pelini said. "You play undisciplined, you don't handle your responsibility, you're going to struggle. That happened way too many times… You can sit there and look at it all day; there's no excuse for it. We have to make some changes. We didn't play very good. There were a couple of positions that played horrendous."

One play in particular gave the Huskers fits all afternoon, as Minnesota's use of the zone read option led to big chunks of yardage both from its running backs and quarterback Mitch Leidner. While 1,300-yard back David Cobb had 80 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries before getting hurt in the second half, Leidner burned Nebraska as much as anyone with 22 rushes for a game-high 111 yards and two scores.

Pelini said NU dialed up a number of different schemes to try and combat the zone read, but it came down mostly to players not executing their specific responsibilities and the Gophers exploiting those mistakes over and again.

"Sometimes we were blitzing right into it unblocked, and I look up and its second-and-six or second-and-five," Pelini said. "You can't do that… That's a bad recipe. It's a recipe for disaster."

Safety Nathan Gerry, who had 11 tackles in the loss, said the defense knew Minnesota was going to run some zone read going into the game, but the amount in which the Gophers used it might have caught some players off guard.

"I don't think we realized they were going to run that much with the quarterback," Gerry said. "We were prepared for it and saw it all in practice. Sometimes one person wasn't self-disciplined enough to do their keys and do their job and sometimes people try to make up for other people's mistakes which kind of bites you in the butt."

- Robin Washut

Blocked field goal makes history, in a good way

It's been a while since Nebraska saw a historical event occur in a game that didn't come at their own expense.

While the play will get lost in the frustration of the Huskers' third loss in their past six games, Gerry's 85-yard scoop and score of a blocked field goal marked a first in NU history.

Not only was it the program's first touchdown off of a blocked kick of any kind since Justin Blatchford's score off a blocked punt vs. Baylor in 2009, it is believed to be the school's first ever blocked field goal returned for a touchdown (game-by-game scoring was checked back to 1966).

The play started when defensive end Randy Gregory blocked a 30-yard field goal attempt by Minnesota's Ryan Santoso with just over five minutes left in the second quarter. The ball bounced perfectly to safety Corey Cooper, but Cooper couldn't handle it and dropped the ball.

Luckily for Nebraska, Gerry was there to pick it right back up and take off with it down the left sideline. After a few nice moves and timely blocks, the sophomore scampered 85 yards into the end zone to give the Huskers a 21-7 lead.

The play was the first touchdown of Gerry's career and the second-longest scoring play for Nebraska this season behind only De'Mornay Pierson-El's 86-yard punt return against Fresno State. It was also the second blocked field goal on the year for Gregory and the Huskers' fourth blocked kick/punt in the past four games.

"I thought it was just all-around great defense," Gerry said of the play. "(Gregory) got up front, they got a good push. I didn't really see the block but the ball was laying on the ground and I just scooped and scored. I saw C-Coop (Cooper), J-Mitch (Josh Mitchell), everybody out front running and just trying to set up blocks and I think I saw about three pancakes on the blocks. I thought it was a great overall defensive play. It was just a fun time."

- Robin Washut

Coaches regret second-and-one call

The Huskers took over at its own 14-yard line leading 24-21 early in the fourth quarter when it began one its most impactful drives of the game. Looking to run some clock while extending the lead, it appeared Nebraska would do both.

The Huskers gained 21 yards on the first three plays, all runs, before Tommy Armstrong hit Jordan Westerkamp for a 15-yard gain. Ameer Abdullah ran for nine on the next play to put the ball on Minnesota's 41-yard line, just outside field goal range.

But instead of going back to the run, NU called for a play-action pass. Armstrong was quickly surrounded and dropped for a seven-yard loss, and his third down pass to Pierson-El fell incomplete. A great chance to extend Nebraska's narrow lead had been spoiled.

"That's my call. That's a bad call," Pelini said. "You know, it's a waste down. I wasn't expecting us to take a sack in that situation. We had two more downs to get the first down. You live and learn. It ended up being a bad call."

Offensive coordinator Tim Beck said the Gophers didn't blitz and Nebraska only had two receivers going out on the play, so the protection should have been there.

But things broke down around Armstrong quickly, and Minnesota scored the game-winning touchdown on the ensuing drive.

The coaches were left to wonder what might have been.

"I don't even know how to put it into words," Beck said. "I don't know. I probably shouldn't have done it in hindsight. That's 20/20. If we would have scored, it would have been a great call. It looked like we had them, but we just didn't have time."

- Dan Hoppen

Minnesota "couldn't stop" NU's running game early in second half

Nebraska couldn't have started the second half much worse offensively - Armstrong was sacked on two of three plays as the Huskers went three and out. But NU seemed to find a nice rhythm on the ground offensively after that - they just weren't able to capitalize.

On the Huskers' next possession, they moved 63 yards in nine plays, all runs, to set Drew Brown up for a 30-yard field goal. The ensuing drive started with an 11-yard run by Abdullah, followed by a five-yard scamper. That drive stalled on the next two runs, but the Huskers picked up the ground game again on the next possession until the aforementioned second-and-one call.

Much of Nebraska's damage was done with Armstrong under center and fullback Andy Janovich in the backfield.

"They couldn't stop it, so we had a lot of confidence," Janovich said. "They just couldn't stop it, so why not run it?"

Unfortunately, the success never lasted a whole drive. On the first run-heavy possession, NU stalled after Abdullah gained just two yards on a first down. The next drive concluded on runs that lost a yard and went for no gain.

Offensive guard Jake Cotton was proud of the brief dominance NU displayed on the ground, but acknowledged the Huskers were never able to find the consistency needed to put the ball in the end zone and extend their lead.

"We just ran outside zone every play. That's what you want. We keep doing that and eventually we get the deck stacked against us. We got in third and eight and second and long. That's hard. We have to be better on first and second down. That's the kind of playcalling as an offensive lineman that you like."

- Dan Hoppen

Quick hits

***Pelini said Nebraska hasn't regressed over course of season, but the issues plaguing the Huskers right now weren't hurting them the same way earlier in year.


***Said Pelini: "We're not good enough right now… We don't play very smart, for one."


***Pelini said center Mark Pelini suffered a high ankle sprain and receiver Kenny Bell suffered a head injury. He said he wasn't sure how bad Bell's injury was at this point.

***Nebraska is 35-2 under Pelini with a halftime lead of 10+ points. Both losses came at home against UCLA last year and Minnesota today.

***Said Armstrong: "This one is on us. We get what we deserve."

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