The first burst of applause was puzzling.
It was just audible above the voice of the play-by-play announcer as I stood arms-crossed on my parents’ patio watching the Huskers try to overcome a 7-6 deficit in the third quarter of Friday’s game against Minnesota. The Gophers were huddling before a crucial 3rd-and three, so the neighborhood exuberance made little sense.
Ten seconds later, the Blackshirts were whistled for a defensive holding penalty: First down.
I paced behind my wicker chair as the ball was slowly pushed further into Husker territory. Minnesota again huddled, this time before second-and-ten. Clapping again invaded the backyard.
Ten seconds. Pass to the back of the end-zone: Gopher Touchdown.
The return from commercial break found me slouched on wine-stained cushions doom-scrolling Husker twitter. Dylan Raiola barked out instructions to his offense from behind center as linebackers charged, retreated, and charged again. A third wave of palms violently slapping from across the yard hit my ears with an aggravation that had grown dull yet gutting.
I started counting down from ten. When I hit one, Raiola was sacked—inevitably—for the sixth time of the evening. It was now obvious that our neighbor—an avid Minnesota fan—was on his porch watching the broadcast and was well ahead of our own stream.
Not a great way to watch a game.
But honestly, I didn’t need an irritating neighbor to signal impending doom for the Huskers. All the signs were there on the screen already, and I’d seen them plenty of times before. Nebraska was in full-on reaction mode. The season’s momentum was at a tipping point, an average opponent was being buoyed by its obvious hate for the Big Red, and the team was failing to muster the needed physicality to match the surge.
The last few weeks of comeback victories offered hope the Huskers had developed the resolve necessary to avoid letdowns like this. Instead, it only made the thud of a sound defeat that much more painful. Thus making Minnesota’s 24-6 whooping of Nebraska the most frustrating loss of the Matt Rhule era.
Much of the disappointment lies in the way the defeat unfolded. Issues of physicality and execution on the line of scrimmage plagued the early portion of the Husker season, but had seemed to be progressing. The Gophers exploited them to a shocking degree.
While only finishing with 186 rushing yards, Minnesota gained over 5 yards a carry, and the Blackshirts often looked helpless in slowing them down. Whereas past mistakes stopping the run simply involved poor assignments leading to long plays, Friday’s lack of resistance was often due to getting pushed around. It was obvious on the first series of the game, and compounded over four quarters.
The other negative trend of the season has been the Nebraska’s offense inability to pass protect. After giving up just one sack to Maryland’s talented pass rush just a week earlier, the blocking looked to be on its way to being solved.
It isn’t.
A fierce, blitzing Minnesota defense dropped Raiola a staggering nine times. An offensive line that lost two starters in the first half struggled to pick up assignments, running backs were overwhelmed by blitzers, and Raiola was often spooked into holding on to the ball too long.
The result was 213 measly yards of offense against a team that given up over 450 to last place Purdue the week prior. A Purdue team that was held scoreless by Northwestern this weekend. There was a reason Nebraska was a two-score favorite entering the game. It was a stunning result.
And that of course is the second reason Friday’s loss was so disheartening. Minnesota has not been a good football team this season. It has been out-yarded in each of its last four games. It lost a game badly to Cal, which was blanked 34-0 by San Diego State. The Gophers came into the game against Nebraska last in the conference in rushing!
Minnesota’s five game winning streak against Nebraska before Friday has certainly been vexing, but not because the Gophers haven’t been talented. P.J. Fleck’s recent squads have put starters all over NFL rosters, including a several Pro-Bowlers.
This is not one of those teams.
But on Friday night the players in maroon were tough, convicted, and ready to brawl. The young men in red were not.
“We were going in maybe wanting to put on a show rather than be ready for a 60 minute fight,” said tight-end Luke Lindenmeyer.
The sixth straight loss to the Gophers was certainly a show-stopper. Especially considering the timing of the game. The Huskers had just clawed their way back into the Top 25. With the perceived weakness of its future opponents, it may take winning four more games to earn another ranking. Plus, the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season are set to be released on November 4th. By taking care of business, the Huskers had a chance to become a major talking point for the national media, offering the type of relevance Husker fans, and more importantly, NU’s recruiting efforts crave.
It also continued a negative trend in the second halves of seasons. For the second straight year, Nebraska started 5-1 before dropping a nationally televised road game. Last year, it took until game 11 to secure bowl eligibility. The Huskers are 1-9 under Matt Rhule while seeking a sixth win, and earning wins down the stretch will be difficult. After next week’s match with Northwestern, Nebraska might find themselves either an underdog or a very slight favorite for each of the remaining four games.
With all of these circumstances coming to a head, the doubt level is reluctantly but inevitably high in Husker nation. As Nebraska AD Troy Dannen acknowledged in his radio appearance this week, “The tough thing for our fans is we’re three years into a rebuild here [with Rhule]. The fans are 15 years into a rebuild. And so I understand the frustrations of things not turning.”
What happens to those frustrations now are in the hands of this flawed but exciting team. Could the Minnesota loss portend a spiral to end the season? That seems unlikely with all the talented young players on the roster.
Could it be the wake-up call and learning experience needed for the team to make an immediate major jump? Nothing would make Husker fans happier.
Or is it just another step in the non-linear rebuild Dannen described? That’s probably the most likely scenario. This is still the youngest team in the Big Ten. They are coached by two veteran coordinators in their first full year. And they are facing the toughest, deepest, best-coached league in college football (sorry SEC). If Nebraska is to win eight or nine games this season as many predicted, facing the fallout of losses unavoidable—even ones as ugly as Friday night.
But maybe the Huskers do make that jump. And if the sound of raucous applause again drifts to my ears from the future, it will hopefully be coming from neighbors wearing red.