Tad Stryker: Huskers Clowned by Minnesota

Was this a audition for the Penn State job? If so, P.J. Fleck looks like he just may be ready to be added to the Nittany Lions’ list of candidates.

That other head coach? The one largely responsible for a distracted, disinterested effort by a poorly prepared Nebraska football team? He’s still got enough problems to solve in Lincoln, and needs to stay right where he is.

If you were worried about Matt Rhule going home to Happy Valley, take heart. It’s unlikely he improved his chances for the job by taking a whipping in Minneapolis.

Displaying all-too-familiar softness in the trenches and poor tackling at the second and third levels of the defense, Nebraska lost to Minnesota 24-6 and looked increasingly inept as the second half unraveled.

They may deny it till they’re Nittany Lion blue in the face, but the Huskers looked like they were badly shaken by nationwide reporting that Rhule is a major candidate to take the place of James Franklin at Penn State.

There were several demons the Huskers had a chance to slay during a rare Friday night game in Minneapolis. They fed and nurtured those demons instead.

They had a chance to prove they can play in Minneapolis, where they haven’t won there since 2015. Instead, they threw another loss on the pile.

They could’ve poured cold water on the Surrender Whites Curse. Instead, they carefully saturated it with gasoline and lit a match. The Surrender Whites Curse is flaming hotter than ever.

In what was rightfully billed as a tough turnaround, with back-to-back road games scheduled at College Park and Minneapolis just six days apart, Nebraska looked clueless on the field. On a night where offensive guard Rocco Spindler ended up in the hospital, the Huskers are just lucky that Dylan Raiola didn’t follow him there. Raiola spent most of the night running for his life.

Nebraska lost to Minnesota despite committing no turnovers, which is typically the Huskers’ downfall. NU just got thoroughly outplayed, showing none of the “next-play” mentality that had bailed it out of tough spots in recent weeks.

Giving up nine sacks was disgrace enough, but the Huskers had fewer total yards, fewer first downs, twice as many penalties, lost the time-of-possession battle, failed to score touchdowns on both their trips to the red zone and converted a miserable 3 for 11 on third downs. They loudly proclaimed to the college football world that they don’t deserve to be rated in the top 25. There’s really not much solid evidence that the Husker coaching staff and players took this game seriously.

For the sixth time in a row, a Minnesota team with arguably less talent on the roster beat Nebraska. Minnesota won its previous four decisions by close scores. However, on this night, the Gophers clowned the Huskers, made them look foolish. If that were Curt Cignetti on the other side of the field instead of Fleck, who’s a friend of Rhule’s, he would’ve found a way to make the score more one-sided.

Rhule’s postgame assessment was blunt and to the point. “Just overall, I thought they were the more physical team tonight,” he said.

No, it was not a good night for the Nebraska coaching staff. John Butler was helpless in the second half. And has Dana Holgorsen ever looked worse trying to direct an offense? It’s tempting to blame Holgorsen for abandoning the run game (Husker running backs ran the ball just 16 times), but then again, the lack of dependable blocking tends to make you shy away from pounding the rock. When your quarterback is sacked nine times, you spend most of the night trying to pass your way out of trouble. And even so, Holgorsen/Raiola got the ball to Jacory Barney only once. One stinking time.

I had an old friend check in with me after this one ended. Glass-Is-Three-Quarters-Empty Husker Fan got in touch, although he didn’t have much to say. He seemed down. “Don’t know if I have ever seen a worse performance by an offensive line in any Nebraska game,” said my good friend. “Offensive tackles are incredibly bad. So disappointing.”

A Nebraska running game that seemed to be coming into its own, featuring Emmett Johnson, a jilted hometown boy coming back with something to prove to his friends in the stands, instead fell flat to the tune of 36 net yards rushing (although EJ did what he could, with 100 total yards on 14 carries and five receptions), while a Minnesota running game that had been on life support somehow got up out of its hospital bed and started to dance all over the Blackshirts with 186 net yards. Minnesota’s Darius Taylor, plagued by injuries much of the season, got well just in time to drop 148 yards rushing, including a touchdown, on the Big Red. His 71-yard run in the first half was the play that set Nebraska on its heels for the rest of the night.

Losing Spindler to injury and Elijah Pritchett to ejection for a targeting call certainly played a role in the defeat, but that doesn’t account for a Husker defense that wilted pitifully in the second half, giving up a 98-yard touchdown drive that put the Gophers firmly in the driver’s seat.

Meanwhile, Raiola had one of his most painful nights as a Husker. Although he was a fairly respectable 17 of 25 passing with no interceptions, only 64 of his 177 passing yards came in the second half as he was pressured all over the field. One catch-and-run by freshman Quinn Clark was responsible for 20 percent of Nebraska’s total offense output. It was a miserable offensive performance, which may turn out to be just what the doctor ordered to get Rhule’s name run out of Happy Valley on a rail.

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