In his Minnesota post-game press conference Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule said the outcome was totally unexpected, that he never saw it coming. As a fan, that can be hard to believe. But then again, if I’m honest, I didn’t see it either. I thought the Huskers would beat Minnesota decisively.
Like Rhule and everyone else, I ignored all the red flags we saw during the Michigan State and Maryland games. Had we been paying attention we would have seen this coming. But we stuck our heads in the sand and told ourselves the Huskers hadn’t put an entire game together yet. That was supposed to happen in Minnesota. This team even led me to believe that the surrender whites wouldn’t be a problem.
Rowing onto the scene, PJ Fleck and his Golden Gophers, who promptly depantsed the Huskers, spanked their butts red and sent them home. We may have ignored all the red flags in the previous games, but there was no ignoring the Husker’s rosy, red buttocks in their all whites after the game.
Is it arrogance that causes us to continually underestimate Fleck and Minnesota? Do we think we are still that same 1983 team that hung 84 points on the then hapless Gophers? Maybe we don’t think that, but I guarantee you Fleck, the state of Minnesota and his players do. They haven’t forgotten. This game means something to them, and we saw it once again. Beating Nebraska means something. Just as losing to Minnesota should mean something to us. We can’t shrug this off any longer and just move on.
Now is when the Huskers must take a hard look at themselves, from the head man to the assistants and right on down. Because there are some ugly numbers associated with this game that are reminiscent of last season after being 5-1.
The Numbers
Against Minnesota, on 35% of the plays Nebraska ran they were tackled behind the line of scrimmage, whether it was a TFL or a sack. Minnesota had 9 sacks and 10 tackles for losses.
The shocking part of the nine sacks, Minnesota didn’t record a single sack in their two games prior and only had 14 sacks on the season.
Nebraska snapped the ball 55 times and 15 of those times the ball didn’t get put in play.
Minnesota had a 14-play, 97-yard TD drive in the 3rd quarter that used up 8:43 of the clock. UCLA Deja Vue.
In Minnesota’s previous game against Purdue, they only rushed for 30 yards and gave up 253 yards rushing.
Against Nebraska, Minnesota rushed for 186 yards and only allowed 36 yards rushing after sack yardage.
Nebraska had 12 missed tackles against Minnesota and has not had a takeaway in the last two games.
And finally, in Matt Rhule’s coaching career, when his teams reach five wins, they are 1-10 in their next game.
For the Good of the Team
Rhule suggested that some of his players may feel entitled. In my opinion one of those players is Dylan Raiola. Rhule submitting to Riola’s request to wear all white’s knowing how the fans feel about them suggest he’ll do whatever to pacify his young QB. Rhule, and Nebraska on a whole need to stop coddling Raiola. He needs to be reminded he is just one man on a team. Once down 21-6 in the fourth quarter against Minnesota, what would’ve hurt to get TJ Lateef some reps against a Big Ten team. What was it Bobbby Knight said, “The greatest motivator of all is your ass on the bench.” If he can’t get the ball out quicker and insists on holding it, then sit him down and put Lateef in to see what he can do. At times I’m not sure Lateef isn’t Nebraska’s best option anyway. Even with a limited sample size we know he is more mobile than Raiola. And as for making freshman mistakes, some of Raiola’s improvisations against Minesota were on the edge of being dumb plays, the pitch to Nyziah Hunter as he was falling could have easily been a pick six. There is a fine line between being Mahomes and being stupid.
Suggestions for the OC
From the start I think Matt Rhule gave Dana Holgorsen complete autonomy with the offense, including coaches. However, after Minnesota, Rhule talked about offensive play calling. He may be more vocal about what he expects moving forward. Holgorsen needs to get better at providing the tools his offensive line needs to be successful, he can do that with play calling. For one, get them off their heels and put them on their toes by running the ball. We saw it against Minnesota. Nothing is more demoralizing to a defense than not being able to stop a team from running on you.
MIA
Jacory Barney has only had 6 catches for 64 yards in the last three games after catching 6 for 120 yards and a TD against Michigan. And when was the last time we saw Barney on a jet sweep?
Blackshirts get a Wake-up Call
We were wrong on what we thought we would see from John Butler’s defense this season. We all expected to see a pressure heavy defense. Rhule said in his presser Monday that they were too vanilla against Minnesota and needed more havoc plays. Butler confirmed the long run was a punch in the mouth and he didn’t respond like he would in real life. It’ll be interesting to see what we get from Butler and the Blackshirts moving forward.
Final Thought
Two things from fans after the Minnesota loss. One, Rhule needs to clarify his position on the Penn State job, so it won’t continue to be a distraction. Two, he spends too much time doing his podcast rather than coaching. I’ve heard Rhule supporters say that it’s low hanging fruit and too easy for fans to use as excuses. But I wouldn’t say either is unrealistic, and honestly, neither is a problem if Rhule wins games. If the team loses, everything he does will be scrutinized. Including how much time he spends outside of the football facility. With winning comes leniency.
GO BIG RED!!
Photo courtesy of The Falls City Journal
Stats gathered from ESPN – Serving Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere.
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