Consider that boat rowed. We all know what is next for this Husker program. We’re all angry and we all want a change. It will come. Whether it is announced in the coming days or the announcement comes after the Iowa game, it is coming. The only real suspense is whether the next coach is Scott Frost and how much Nebraska pays him. Hopefully you all know to be nice - I don’t think there is much to argue about at this point anyway. Let’s hope our wandering in the wilderness is over soon. Husker Nation is hungry for competitive football again.

We will have another thread this evening for Nebrasketball and evening college football games. Here is the women’s basketball vital information:

Nebraska Cornhuskers (0-0, Big Ten) vs. SIUE Cougars (0-0, Ohio Valley)

Saturday, Nov. 11, 3 p.m. (CT) Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Nebraska)
Live Video Stream: BTN Plus (Brody Jantzi, Emma Young)
Live Radio: Husker Sports Network Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)Lincoln - 107.3 FM; Omaha - 105.9 FM
Free Live Audio: Huskers.com/Huskers App

Probable Starters:
24 - Maddie Simon - 6-2 - Jr. - F - 4.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg
50 - Darrien Washington - 6-2 - Jr. - F - 2.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg
3 - Hannah Whitish - 5-9 - So. - G - 9.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg
33 - Taylor Kissinger - 6-1 - Fr. - G - 0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg
34 - Jasmine Cincore - 5-10 - Sr. - G - 6.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg

Preview: Two of Nebraska’s better defensive players, Nicea Eliely and Janay Morton are both being held out with injuries. With only 12 players on the roster, this is something Nebraska fans should hope is short-term. Jasmine Cincore will likely be tasked with the “lockdown” role today. Hannah Whitish hopes to pick up where she left off last season as she grew into the point guard role beautifully toward the end of her freshman year. Maddie Simon (6’2” Jr.) played guard her first two seasons as a Husker but has switched to forward. She showed some promise at that position in her limited time there last year.

Freshman and five-star recruit, Taylor Kissinger has been a welcome addition on the offensive side of the ball. Freshman and Top-100 recruit Kate Cain (6’5” center) is being brought along slowly after missing the start of fall practice with a foot injury. The surprise for me is Darrien Washington drawing the start over Rachel Blackburn. Both have battled injuries throughout their Husker careers. Blackburn has past starting experience, but it has been hard to gauge Washington as a player because of the injuries. Let’s hope both are healthy and Go Big Red!

Nebraska Football vs Minnesota Recap

The Huskers won the toss and elected to defer. Drew Brown’s kickoff was returned for a 99 yard touchdown by Rodney Smith. Nebraska apparently decided to get “playing from behind” out of the way 13 seconds into the game. The PAT was good.

Minnesota 7 Nebraska 0

The Minnesota kickoff went through the end zone and Nebraska’s offense started from their 25 yard line. The Huskers pounded their way down to the one yard line, getting quite a few different players involved and aided by a Gopher facemask penalty. First and goal. Mikale Wilbon’s run made it into the endzone (with Boe Wilson lining up at fullback). Drew Brown’s PAT was good. The Huskers covered 75 yards in 12 plays. There was 8:57 left in the first quarter.

Nebraska 7 Minnesota 7

Drew Brown’s kickoff was fielded at the two yard line and Smith was brought down at the 25.

Our first look at the Gopher offense saw PJ Fleck putting the game in the hands of Demry Croft in his fourth career start. Minnesota came out throwing mixed with some zone read at first. Then the Gophers remembered that Rodney Smith was on their roster and he converted a couple of first downs. On fourth and two on the 31 yard line, the Gophers went for it and converted on a Smith option run. A couple of Croft carries later, the Gophers found the end zone again with 3:08 left in the quarter. The PAT was good.

Minnesota 14 Nebraska 7

JD Spielman kneeled the kickoff and the Huskers took over on their 25. The big play on the drive was a 44 yard pass play to De’Mornay Pierson-El in which no Gophers followed him out the route. He juked the first defender there and came close to breaking it for the endzone.

Second Quarter

The Huskers were in the red zone, third and six on the 12 yard line. A Spielman screen was at first called short, but was corrected to first down. The play was reviewed and respotted. Fourth down. The Wilbon run was stopped short. The Huskers turned the ball over on downs.

The Huskers got a heavy dose of Gopher running backs...until they again forgot about Croft and he took a keeper 70+ yards to the house. The PAT was no good.

Minnesota 20 Nebraska 7

JD Spielman returned the kickoff to the 27 yard line. The home run ball on the first play was just out of Tyjon Lindsey’s hands. After two more plays, Lightbourn came out for the first punt of the game. Minnesota took over at their 28 yard line with 9:57 left in the half. The drive again featured a heavy dose of the Gopher ground game as the Blackshirts seems unable to stop anything and Minnesota quickly reached the red zone and the endzone. The Gophers were already over 200 yards rushing with 6:40 left in the game. The PAT was good.

Minnesota 27 Nebraska 7

JD Spielman brought the kickoff out to the 19 yard line but a holding penalty on Nebraska moved it back half the distance. Even though it was the first half, it felt like garbage time already, partially because Langsdorf was dialing up the passing game in an attempt for quick scores. One bright spot (as he has been all season) was JD Spielman. The drive stalled just outside the red zone. On fourth and three, Lee again found Spielman for the conversion. Two plays later Lee found Tyler Hoppes and the end zone. Brown’s PAT was good.

Minnesota 27 Nebraska 14

The kickoff was muffed, but recovered at the 12 yard line. It didn’t matter as the Blackshirts were out of sorts and out of place. In the two-minute drill, the Gophers were winging the ball with success all over the field. They moved into the red zone with :21 seconds left in the half. The Blackshirts forced an Emmit Carpenter field goal.

Minnesota 30 Nebraska 14

Halftime

Third Quarter

Spielman’s kick return came out to the 20 yard line. Patrick O’Brien entered the game for the Huskers. Reports later indicated that Tanner Lee was sick. The three and out gave us another Caleb Lightbourn appearance and the Gophers (who have scored on every possession so far) got the ball on their 28 yard line.

A couple of penalties by the Blackshirts were offset by the conservative playcalling. The defense notched their first sack, forcing the Gophers out of field goal range and forcing the first punt of the day. Touchback. There was 9:50 left in the third quarter.

Another three and out by the Husker offense. Lightbourn’s punt was downed at the 35, but a personal foul penalty gave Minnesota the ball near midfield. They marched down the short field in short order. Touchdown Gophers. The PAT was good. There was 5:06 left in the third quarter.

Minnesota 37 Nebraska 14

Everyone has checked out at this point. Coaches, fans, and a good chunk of the players. While it would be nice to see some fire and fight, it is hard to blame players when they know they are going to guess wrong and are not trusting the scheme or their own training. Or playcalling.

A head-scratching call on fourth and one (a pass play with your backup QB) resulted in a sack (even the backup QB has gotta know that you gotta get that ball out of there) gave Minnesota their shortest field of the day. The Blackshirts fought and got the red zone stop, holding Minnesota to a field goal. Small victories.

O’Brien held the ball too long on a couple plays, but generally showed nice touch on his passes when he got them off. At this point, I’d rather see the backup QB take a sack or two vs throwing picks.

Fourth Quarter

O’Brien found Spielman for a third and 12 conversion to get Nebraska to midfield and then drew a pass interference on a long bomb to Bryan Reimers. Then, took a sack, fumbled, and recovered his own fumble. The third and 18 swing pass to Ozigbo netted 10. With the out-of-hand score, a field goal was not an option on fourth down. POB found Stanley Morgan with a beautiful sideline touch pass to bring up first and goal. Ozigbo powered it in to reduce the embarrassment somewhat. Brown’s PAT was good.

Minnesota 40 Nebraska 21

With a little over 10 minutes left in the game, the Gophers were content to run the ball. The Blackshirts AGAIN lost track of Croft who got himself up to 182 yards rushing with a 64 yard gallop to the two. Two plays later, he added one more for the Gopher touchdown. The PAT was good with 7:05 left in the game. The end cannot come soon enough.

Minnesota 47 Nebraska 21

Spielman returned the kick out near the 40 yard line. The Huskers made it near midfield but turned it over on downs when O’Brien’s sneak came up short.

Minnesota’s backup QB, Conor Rhoda, entered the game. Croft had to be pretty tired after running all over the Huskers all day. Sigh. Now it was the backup tailback, Coby McCrary, who ran up the middle for the 40ish yard touchdown (I didn’t bother to look it up). The PAT was good.

Minnesota 54 Nebraska 21

No real point in typing much more. This one just needs to end.

Final Score Gophers: More-than-half-a-hundred; Nebraska: 21

Minnesota rushed for 410 yards against the Huskers; the Gophers averaged 175 yards a game prior to today.

410 yards.