A year ago it was a completely different Gopher offense but it was a Gopher offense that put up 54 points on Nebraska. It was Demry Croft rushing for 183 yards and 3 touchdowns, it was Rodney Smith rushing for 134, and then Kobe McCray came on late to rush for 93 yards on 10 carries. Meanwhile the Gopher defense held Nebraska to 14 points in the first three quarters. Essentially it a dynamic beat down at TCF Bank Stadium. I bring that up because nothing about last year is the same. Those names mentioned above are not playing and this game is in Lincoln. Can the Gophers take down the 0-6 Huskers? Or will Nebraska use home field advantage and end their 10-game losing streak? 3 KEYS No Big Plays - Everybody realizes that the Gopher defense is prone to giving up big plays. Last week it was better, but the defense HAS to make Nebraska work for their points. Make Nebraska sustain long drives and I think that plays in Minnesota’s favor. - Everybody realizes that the Gopher defense is prone to giving up big plays. Last week it was better, but the defense HAS to make Nebraska work for their points. Make Nebraska sustain long drives and I think that plays in Minnesota’s favor. No Interceptions - Really this is all about turnovers but our freshman quarterback has had a lot of interceptions since the start of the Big Ten schedule (seven in three games!). This is not terribly surprising as he is a freshman quarterback and he’s facing better competition. But do NOT give the ball to Nebraska. - Really this is all about turnovers but our freshman quarterback has had a lot of interceptions since the start of the Big Ten schedule (seven in three games!). This is not terribly surprising as he is a freshman quarterback and he’s facing better competition. But do NOT give the ball to Nebraska. Run the Ball - Establishing a ground game will only help Annexstad. I love the new offensive line and hope we can lean on a weak Nebraska defense for a lot of yards on the ground. OPPOSING PLAYERS TO WATCH QB - Adrian Martinez - Did I mention that we need to limit big plays? I starts with this guy who can beat you if you allow him to break contain. - Did I mention that we need to limit big plays? I starts with this guy who can beat you if you allow him to break contain. DB - Dicaptrio Bootle - Besides just having a great name, Bootle is second in the Big Ten with 10 pass breakups. No picks...let’s keep it that way. PREDICTION I wish this were a home game, but I really don’t have much respect for Nebraska this year. I think our offense has it’s way while our defense does enough. It’ll be a high scoring game, Minnesota wins. Minnesota - 44 Nebraska - 39<doc-sep>Will this be the day our long state nightmare comes to an end? Will Nebraska get the W? Nebraska won the toss and elected to receive. The wind is swirling in the stadium and will likely affect the kickers and punters. It may swirl enough at times to affect the passing game. Minnesota has a stout run defense. What will the game plan be for Coach Frost? #RideOzigbo or #InMartinezWeTrust? First Quarter How about all of the above? After a variety of Huskers got to play with the rock... Devine Ozigbo, Kade Warner, Stanley Morgan Jr., JD Spielman, and an Adrian Martinez keeper. Ozigbo found a YUUUUGE hole on the right side and galloped 40+ yards to the end zone. TOUCHDOWN HUSKERS! TD NEBRASKA https://t.co/lwkl5e3Rdi — $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy (@ChairTrophy) October 20, 2018 Nebraska 7 Minnesota 0 The Gophers also broke out a balanced game plan, trying to see where the Blackshirts were willing to give ground. They converted three third downs (including two third and long) to move into Husker territory. One of those was followed by the home run ball from Zack Annexstad. BUT WAIT - Apparently Husker opponents can hold as the score was pulled off the board with the first offensive hold on a Husker opponent (on a pass play) since 2016. It proved to be a costly penalty as the Blackshirts didn’t give any more ground and sacked Annexstad back at the 50 yard line to force the punt. The Husker offense took over at the nine yard line and promptly went three-and-out. The Isaac Armstrong punt was returned to the Minnesota 40ish yard line, giving the Gophers good field position. Freshman cornerback Cameron Taylor is getting a lot of playing time today opposite DiCaprio Bootle. They worked their way across midfield, but the Blackshirts again put up the stop sign. The Gophers lined up for a 54 yard field goal (wind at their backs) and JD Spielman was back deep. The Gophers couldn’t get the kick off in time (it missed) and took a delay of game penalty. They brought out the punt team and pinned Nebraska at the 10 yard line. A really nifty fake pass by Martinez resulted in a behind-the-back handoff to Maurice Washington who got the edge and made a nice gain. Devine Ozigbo promptly said “hold my beer” and ran 59 yards for the touchdown. TOUCHDOWN NEBRASKA! Fun fact: Devine Ozigbo has 100 yards on THREE carries. Wide receiver Mike Williams sprung Ziggy with a nice block. Terrific block by Mike Williams on Ozigbo's TD run. #huskers — Sam McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) October 20, 2018 Nebraska 14 Minnesota 0 The Gophers again were approaching midfield as the quarter ended. First quarter stats Yards: Nebraska: 174 Minnesota: 82 Yards per play Nebraska: 12.4 Minnesota: 4.3 Adrian Martinez: 8 for 8 for 43 yards. Ozigbo: 3 carries, 105 yards, 2 TDs. — Christopher Heady (@heady_chris) October 20, 2018 We interrupt your game recap to bring you some “Can he play o-line?” news... Recruiting news from Memorial Stadium today: Top offensive line target makes second visit to NU; LSW's Jorgensen will walk on for #Huskers: https://t.co/b7241OIF8Z — Husker Extra (@huskerextra) October 20, 2018 Former Husker Aaron Taylor (he can definitely play o-line) was honored as a college football hall of fame inductee between the quarters. Second Quarter The Gophers now are moving into the wind. Annexstad took a hard hit by Ben Stille on third down and the Gophers punted. Spielman fair caught the ball at the Husker 15 yard line. On this drive, Spielman notched his 100th career reception as a Husker. Nebraska was playing playground football with Spielman running wild, Martinez scrambling for yards, and a trick play (RB pass by Mo Washington to Austin Allen that fell incomplete.) Mo Washington wanted in on the fun and took a long run down to set up first and goal (Mike Williams again with the key block to spring his back.) Adrian Martinez galloped around the weakside for a Husker touchdown. #Martiwashingspiel is gonna cause Big Ten DC nightmares for years to come. IS THIS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO ENJOY FOOTBALL AGAIN??? I THINK I’M ENJOYING HUSKER FOOTBALL RIGHT NOW AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!! ! Nebraska 21 Minnesota 0 Tre Neal, Mohamed Barry and the rest of their Blackshirted buddies forced a three-and-out by the Gophers. After converting their first three third downs, they have failed on the following four. The punt took a great Minnesota roll and Nebraska’s offense started at their 11 yard line. Devine Ozigbo’s first down carry went nowhere lowering his per carry average from 32 ypc to something like 26 ypc. It was followed by two incomplete passes and a missed pass interference call that should have been made on the Gophers and the Huskers punted. It went out of bounds at the Husker 44. The Gophers could not cash in on the field position. Spielman fair caught the punt at the 10 yard line. On the next drive he also took a hard hit that had most Husker fans holding their collective breaths. The game plan appears to be the quick passing game with just enough running game (by the RBs as well as the QB). Damn. Do you have your bingo cards out? A missed handoff resulted in a fumble that was recovered by the Gophers. First and ten Minnesota at the Husker 37 yard line. Tyrin Ferguson forced a third and two. Minnesota lined up in the wildcat with Seth Green taking the snap. He promptly tripped over his own player and Aaron Williams was there to make the ‘tackle’. PJ Fleck chose to go for it on fourth and two but the Blackshirts stuffed the run. FIRST DOWN NEBRASKA! This was the best starting field position of the day (I believe) for the Huskers. It was the Adrian Martinez show as he ran, and ran again to set up first and goal. No one would mistake that second run for a previous Husker QB named Martinez, but it was effective.<doc-sep>Opening thoughts I’M BACK LINCOLN. PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR TRADITION OF TOP NOTCH BOURBON FOR REASONABLE PRICES AND I SHALL CONTINUE TO SING YOUR PRAISES. Gnome #TAKES Nebraska is beatable and the Gnomes would appreciate it if Minnesota took advantage of that. When & Where Date: Saturday, October 20th Kickoff Time: 2:30 pm CT Where: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE Watch & Listen TV: Big Ten Network Streaming Video: BTN2Go.com (or the BTN2Go app for your mobile device) Radio: KFAN (100.3) in the Twin Cities) and the Gopher Radio Network (Radio Affiliates). Streaming Audio: Locate KFAN on IHeartRadio (or the IHeartRadio app for your mobile device) Satellite Radio: Sirius: 108 (Streaming 972) XM: 210 (Streaming 972) SiriusXM: 210 (Streaming 972) Odds Spread: Nebraska by 4 O/U: Currently sitting at 54 Weather Forecast One of those perfect, clear, crisp and cool fall football Saturdays. The Enemy Where Are They From? Lincoln, NE All Time Series: Minnesota leads the series 32-24-2. Last Game: Minnesota trucked the Huskers, 54-21. SB Nation Blog: Corn Nation This Season: 0-6 FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SCHOOL HISTORY. Keys to the game If you are a Nebraska fan outside the stadium, please sell your very good seats to the tallest man wearing maroon and gold Zubaz you’ve ever seen for a huge discount. No seriously, do it. You didn’t want to watch Minnesota win anyway. How afraid am I? On a scale of 1 to 5 “Brewsters on his face” (1 being not a afraid, 5 being very afraid)? I’m “2 Brewster Runzas” afraid of Nebraska. What’s a runza? This is a runza. Don’t ask, it’s a Nebraska thing. Prediction I forgot what I said on the Pahdcast earlier this week. So........how about this? Minnesota 31 - Nebraska 27<doc-sep>article Nebraska built a four-touchdown lead in the first half and survived some nervous moments in the second before pulling away to beat Minnesota 53-28 on Saturday, giving Scott Frost his long-awaited first win as Cornhuskers coach and ending a program-record 10-game losing streak. A week after squandering a late 10-point lead at Northwestern and losing in overtime, the Huskers (1-6, 1-4 Big Ten) scored on three of their first four possessions on their way to a 28-0 lead. Minnesota made things interesting, though, scoring on three possessions in a row spanning the halves, with backup quarterback Tanner Morgan replacing Zack Annexstad to open the third quarter and leading two straight touchdown drives to pull the Gophers to 28-22. Adrian Martinez hit Stanley Morgan Jr. for a 35-yard TD and passed to him again for a 2-point conversion to make it 36-22. The Huskers stopped Minnesota on fourth-and-goal at the 3 and then chewed 7 minutes off the clock before Barrett Pickering kicked a 32-yard field goal to make it a three-possession game with 7:53 left. Nebraska rushed for 383 yards and totaled 659. Devine Ozigbo ran for 152 yards, Martinez for 125 and Maurice Washington for 109. Martinez completed 25 of 29 mostly short passes adding up to 276 yards and three TDs. The Gophers were without running back Shannon Brooks, who was arrested last weekend on suspicion of misdemeanor assault for an altercation with his male roommate. Brooks, who was medically cleared to play after rehabbing an offseason knee injury, didn't make the trip. Morgan was 11 of 16 for 214 yards and Annexstad 9 of 20 for 135. THE TAKEAWAY Minnesota: A quarterback controversy may begin unfolding this week. Morgan gave the Gophers a spark. The Minnesota defense had no answer for Martinez and Co., though. Nebraska: The defense's depth issue continues to show up in second halves. The Huskers seemed to tire for the second straight week. This team is much like Frost's teams at Central Florida. It's all about the offense. UP NEXT Minnesota hosts Indiana on Oct. 26. Advertisement Nebraska hosts Bethune-Cookman on Oct. 27.<doc-sep>
Here's a look at how to watch Saturday's Gopher game at Nebraska. When: Saturday at 2:30 PM CST TV: Big Ten Network Radio: KFAN (100.3 FM) (Want to stay up to date with GopherIllustrated on social media? Like us on Facebook here!) Want to hear all Minnesota talk, all the time? Join GopherIllustrated today for all the latest Gopher news, inside recruiting info, photos and video. (Want to stay up to date with Minnesota? Sign up today for our FREE Gophers Newsletter!) Five things you need to know 1. Minnesota is on the road again this week (only time all season that the Gophers play consecutive road games) when it travels to Nebraska for a game with the Cornhuskers. Minnesota leads the all-time series 32-24-2 and won last year’s meeting 54-21 in Minneapolis. The Gophers lost 16 straight games to Nebraska from 1963 to 2012, but have now won three of the last five games against Nebraska. Minnesota’s 54 points last year against the Huskers were the most points for the Gophers in a Big Ten game since beating Indiana 63-26 in 2006. The 54 points are still the most that Minnesota has scored against a Big Ten foe at TCF Bank Stadium, breaking the previous mark of 51 against Iowa in 2014. The 54 points are also tied for the second-most points that Minnesota has ever scored against Nebraska. The Gophers beat Nebraska 54-0 in 1943 and topped the Huskers 61-7 in 1945. 2. Minnesotans have led the way for the Gophers this year. Zack Annexstad (1,142 passing yards, 8 TDs), Tyler Johnson (521 receiving yards, 6 TDs), Seth Green (5 rushing TDs, 1 passing TD, 1 two-point conversion pass), Blake Cashman (47 tackles, 8.5 TFLs), Carter Coughlin (7.0 sacks), Thomas Barber (42 tackles, 1 INT, 1 fumble recovery), Kamal Martin (29 tackles) and offensive linemen Conner Olson, Sam Schlueter and Blaise Andries all hail from Minnesota. 3. The Gophers have 112 players on the roster and 58 of those players – or 51.7 percent – are freshmen. That's the highest number in the nation. Virginia is next at 50 percent and is followed by Wake Forest (49.1 percent) and UCF (48.03 percent). The Gophers have 78 underclassmen (69.6% of the roster), which ranks tenth in college football. 4. Minnesota has combined for 2,689 passing, rushing and receiving yards and 1,949 - or 72 percent - have been produced by freshmen. The Gophers have passed for 982 yards and 959 (97%) have come from the arm of a freshman. They have rushed for 725 yards and 471 (65%) are from freshmen. Minnesota has 982 receiving yards and 517 (52%) are the result of a freshman catching the ball 5. Minnesota has had three running backs rush for more than 100 yards in a game this year in Mohamed Ibrahim (101 vs. New Mexico State and 157 at Ohio State), Rodney Smith (153 vs. New Mexico State) and Bryce Williams (141 vs. Miami). It’s the third straight year that Minnesota has had three running backs rush for more than 100 yards, but it is the first year since 2005 that the team has had three different running backs total 140 yards or more in a game. In 2005, Laurence Maroney ran for 140 yards or more four times. He was joined by Gary Russell who did it twice and Amir Pinnix who did so once. Minnesota has a chance to have four running backs eclipse the 100-yard mark in a game this season. That is something that has never been done dating back to 1942. Four different players have rushed for 100 yards in a season before, but one was always the quarterback.