:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61840301/brokenchair.0.jpg)
Find out more about events around the broken chair trophy (including tonight’s rally at Blue Blood Brewery) and how to donate to the charitable causes, including the Team Jack Foundation, at the broken chair website.
Nebraska begins a stretch of four home games in five weeks on Saturday afternoon when the Huskers play host to Minnesota at Memorial Stadium.
Nebraska heads into the contest looking for its first win of 2018 following a 34-31 overtime loss at Northwestern on Saturday. Nebraska took a two-touchdown lead early in the fourth quarter, but saw the Wildcats storm back to defeat the Huskers on an overtime field goal. The Nebraska offense was productive again, rolling up better than 480 yards for the third straight game.
Minnesota will come to Lincoln with a 3-3 overall record and an 0-3 mark in the Big Ten Conference. The Gophers were victorious in each of their three non-conference games before dropping their three Big Ten games, including a 30-14 loss at Ohio State last Saturday. The Gophers have leaned on a strong defense in the first half of the season, allowing 354.2 yards per game to rank fifth in the Big Ten.
Minnesota Coach P.J. Fleck is in his second season at the helm of the Gopher program.
Date/Time: October 20, 2018 at 2:30 pm CDT
Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE Capacity: 85,458
Surface: Field Turf
Opposition Blog: Check out The Daily Gopher for everything Minnesota.
Series Record: Minnesota leads the all-time series 32-24-1.
TV: The game will be televised on BTN with Play-by-Play by Kevin Kugler, analyst James Laurinaitis, and Lisa Byington on the sidelines. The game can be streamed on BTN2Go with a login from your cable, satellite, or streaming provider.
Radio: Look for your local radio station on the Huskers sports radio network. The audio can also be streamed live for free at huskers.com The crew will be: Greg Sharpe, Matt Davison, and Ben MacLaughlin.
More streaming options: The official Husker app is available on iTunes as well and Google Play. The game audio can be streamed on the TuneIn app for free (search for the Husker IMG Sports Network.
Weather: At kickoff it will be sunny and 57 degrees. The wind will from the NNW at 17 mph.
Odds: Nebraska is favored by 4 points.
Trivia
-Sophomore receiver JD Spielman is five receptions from becoming the 12th Husker with 100 career receptions. Spielman would be the first Husker to reach that milestone before his junior season. Spielman has 27 receptions over the past three games.
-Nebraska freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez is one of two players in the country averaging 225 passing yards and 50 rushing yards per game, joining Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray.
-Running back Devine Ozigbo has topped 150 rushing yards in two of the past three games. Ozigbo had 159 yards and two touchdowns
Quotables
Head Coach Scott Frost on how preparations for Minnesota have gone.
”Week’s been great,” Frost said. “We’re better this week than last week again. So day by day we’re getting better. Guys are excited for this one. Gosh they were so close, and I think they’re anxious to get out there and do a little bit more to make sure we have our best chance to make it happen.”
On how the senior class has handled the season so far.
”They’re doing a great job. The four captains in particular are doing a great job. I’ve said this before but ever since the Purdue game, I feel like the culture on the team has finally been pointed in the right direction and is moving in the right direction and those captains have a lot to do with that. They’re making sure they’re holding everyone accountable. Everybody’s having fun playing football, we’re just disappointed with how it’s gone so far with everybody doing the right things now and enjoying each other.”
On the game plan for Minnesota and defending wide receivers Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman, who are both big red zone targets for the Golden Gophers.
”I just started watching their defense to offensively play their defense. I watched some with Coach Chinander last night and this morning. They have good players on offense, two players in particular, we’ve got to do a good job of covering them. I think their scheme is smart, they mix up their run game with max pro and RPOs (run-pass options). You’ve got to be on your assignment and know where to go. At the end of the day, if the ball is in the air we’ve got to make a play on it.”
On the team getting closer to the first win of the season.
“I think they’re closer. I was broken hearted for them (last week). Fifty-five minutes we were ahead. We didn’t put together a complete game in 55 minutes. We stubbed our toe on offense a bunch where we would have had a chance to blow the game out early. Certainly giving them a defensive touchdown on a blown protection didn’t help. Any time you score on special teams or defense you’ve got a great chance to win the game, and we almost overcame that and you have to be good to overcome those things, and we’ve had too many of those.”