For the first time since 2016, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are ranked in the month of October and will travel to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers this Friday, amid a heavy news filled week back in the states capitol.
The Huskers will be wearing their “surrender white” uniforms under the lights this Friday as they look to snap their six game losing streak against Minnesota.
Led by head coach PJ Fleck, the Golden Gophers enter with a record of 4-2 and 2-1 in conference play with wins at home over Rutgers and Purdue and a 42-3 road loss to #1 Ohio State.
It has been a struggle for the Fleck and the Gophers offensively so far this season and not in the way you would expect from a team coached by Fleck.
Since hiring Fleck in January of 2017, the Gophers brand of football has been their rushing attack, where the Gophers as a team have averaged at least 170 rushing yards per game in six of their last eight seasons heading into 2025.
So far through six games, starting running back Darius Taylor, who ran for 986 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024, has missed two games this season and since returning, has not looked anything like his old self.
Redshirt freshman Fame Ijeboi is the team’s leading rusher with 225 yards and one touchdown in the five games he’s played this season, which is impressive considering Ijeboi ran for just 13 yards in 2024.
The Gophers have gotten good play from their redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey this season, throwing for 1,284 yards with nine touchdowns and three interceptions.
For the Huskers, they were able to battle back from a seven point fourth quarter deficit, defeating the Maryland Terrapins 34-31 on a late touchdown pass from Dylan Raiola to Dane Key, marking the Huskers first game winning touchdown drive since their 25-24 road win against the Purdue Boilermakers in October of 2017 under Mike Riley.
For the second week in a row, this Huskers team faced a second half deficit and pulled away victorious and have now rightfully received a ranking of #25 in the AP poll, but as will be the case the rest of the season, Nebraska is in for another tough battle.
Key #1: Stop the run:
After allowing 286 rushing yards to the Michigan Wolverines, the Huskers allowed a total of 214 rushing yards against Michigan State and Maryland, which is a very good step in the right direction for a unit that ranks 87th in the country (163.8 YPG) in defending the run.
Despite the recent woes in the running game, I’d still expect the Gophers to try and run the ball until our defense proves they can stop it, especially with a back who has the capabilities like Darius Taylor has.
With senior defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr. already being listed as out once again this week, this Huskers secondary is going to be a key part in stopping the run for the Gophers.
Andrew Marshall, Ceyair Wright and Deshon Singleton have all been excellent in run coverage this season and they’re going to be the key pieces for success for defensive coordinator John Butler and the blackshirts.
Key #2: Get the ball to your playmakers:
This sounds like a no brainer and with the explosiveness that the Huskers have shown offensively this season, every run to Emmett Johnson or pass to Nyziah Hunter has Huskers fans almost expecting them to gain big chunks of yards with the ball in their hands.
When the offense was struggling in the second half against the Terrapins, Johnson pulled them out of it with numerous big runs and when it was time to beat them through the air, the Raiola-Hunter connection looked untouchable.
Johnson currently ranks 9th in the country in rushing yards with 650 and Hunter has broken off touchdowns on screen plays from 59 and 64 yards in back to back games and sits as the Huskers leading receiver with 415 yards and four touchdowns.
This is one of the most talented offenses the Huskers have had in a long time and they’re finally starting to put it together when it matters most.
It should also be worth noting that 14 of Hunter’s 19 receptions this season have come on first down.
Key #3: Special Teams:
With the way that Mike Ekeler’s special teams unit has been performing this season, it would be a crime to overlook how much of an impact Gopher sophomore defensive back and return specialist Koi Perich could have on this game.
Perich’s big play ability has been on display all season, last week he secured the Gophers win with a 27 yard pick six late in the fourth quarter and in the Gophers 31-28 win over Rutgers on September 27th, Perich put the Gophers in field goal range late in the first half with a 56 yard kickoff return.
In the kicking game for the Huskers, sophomore Kyle Cunanan has been solid, converting 9 of his 10 field goal attempts with a long of 52 yards.
Minnesota opposing kickers have made just 50% (3/6) of their field goal attempts when kicking at Huntington Bank Stadium this season, with a long of only 36 yards.
Prediction:
By no means are the Huskers overlooking the Golden Gophers on a Friday night, in primetime on the road, they know what is at stake for them and they know that this team has serious College Football Playoff potential.
In back to back games, we’ve seen the Huskers go 2-0 in games where they would’ve gone 0-2 for as long as I can remember and that is all credit to the perfect mesh of an experienced and developmental staff and an extremely talented roster.
I think the Huskers make a statement on Friday, there have been numerous opportunities for this team to be distracted and thrown off before playing this game, but I just don’t see that effecting this team at all.
#25 Nebraska: 38 Minnesota: 20