Report card from Nebraska’s brutal 24-6 loss to Minnesota

Nebraska (5-2, 2-2) suffered its second loss of the season in brutal fashion, taking a 24-6 Friday night defeat at Minnesota (5-2, 3-1). The Huskers struggled mightily on offense, allowing the Golden Gophers to pull away on the scoreboard by playing their game.

Though Nebraska finished with more passing yards, Minnesota dominated the run game, tallying 150 more yards than the Huskers. The Golden Gophers also controlled the game in the trenches, tallying nine sacks while suffocating the Blackshirts’ front line.

Because Nebraska struggled at the line, both its offense and defense quickly stalled out, despite a valiant start. This, in turn, resulted in Nebraska’s worst loss of the season. The mistakes made in this game cannot continue, especially with the list of opponents left on the schedule.

If the Huskers don’t rectify the reasons they lost this game, this season is going to be short-lived. Here is the report card for Nebraska’s 24-6 loss to Minnesota.

Quarterbacks: C+

Dylan Raiola suffered his worst game of the season on Friday night. Whereas last week he threw three costly interceptions, this week he took nine sacks and missed some key throws due to the pressure getting to him.

Though the pressure isn’t entirely on Raiola, he still allowed the Golden Gophers to finish with nine sacks. Not every sack is on the quarterback, but he needs to be able to bite the bullet and know when to throw the ball away.

Trying to keep the play alive is not always going to result in a big-time throw, especially when defenses are constantly bringing the heat. Though Raiola certainly at times tried making up for it, Minnesota usually found itself getting into the backfield regardless. This also led to Raiola missing some throws, including a potential touchdown to Dane Key in the third.

Minnesota has a tough defense, but Purdue and Rutgers managed to do more despite also facing the pressure. Granted, Raiola did finish 17-of-25 for 177 yards and even broke out a few runs, one going for 17 yards. He also made some miraculous throws on the night after staying alive in the pocket, which in turn helped Nebraska get a few drives going.

It’s hard to say whether or not this will remain Raiola’s worst performance of the year. He’s proven he can bounce back in multiple ways. But, right now, he needs to manage the presence of a defense bringing the house and knows when to live and fight another day.

Running Backs: B

The loss overshadowed Emmett Johnson’s performance. He finished with 100 total yards on offense, rushing for 63 on 14 carries and racking up 37 on five catches. Johnson earned every single yard he picked up, dodging his way through an onslaught of Golden Gophers from start to finish. Even Isaiah Mozee, on just two carries, managed to earn seven yards.

This elevates the group’s grade despite it being another lackluster outing on the ground for Nebraska. Minnesota didn’t make running the football or passing it easy for the Huskers. So for Johnson to still fight his way up to 100 total yards is a notable feat.

If he continues to play like this, Nebraska can undoubtedly be a more potent offense once it addresses the other areas of concern.

Wide Receivers: B

With Minnesota bringing the pressure all night, Nebraska’s wide receivers needed to create quick separation and get open fast enough to help Raiola. But that rarely happened. When it did, though, the group did everything it could to make the most of them.

Nyziah Hunter and Luke Lindenmeyer especially helped Raiola out a few times, making some big grabs off big throws from Raiola. Quinn Clark even took his only catch of the night and turned it into a 43-yard gain.

Though not every throw resulted in a catch, with one being dropped and a few others just out of the reach of a receiver, the game continued. Nebraska has found issues creating separation in previous seasons. If the Huskers want to prevent that issue from turning its ugly head once more, they need to address it sooner rather than later.

Offensive Line: D

The pipeline, in less than a week, goes from delivering one of its best outings to suffering its worst. As mentioned before, not every sack can be pinned on Raiola, and though he should be learning to face the pressure, he shouldn’t need to be facing it almost every single play.

That’s what it felt like Friday for Nebraska’s pipeline with Minnesota winning the battle in the trenches by a landslide. It almost became comical how the Golden Gophers could quickly end a drive for Nebraska by simply rushing the front.

Though the line did suffer some injuries, it also lost a lineman due to a targeting penalty in the second quarter. However, such mishaps only added to the pile of problems this group faced on the night. Even with Johnson averaging 4.5 yards per carry, most of his yardage came from his speed and dodging tackles, rather than the line truly opening up holes for him to run through.

Plus, multiple third-and-shorts and another fourth-down conversion failed yet again due to the line not being able to stand its ground.

Defensive Line: C

Outside of Darius Taylor’s 71-yard breakout run, Nebraska’s front line put up a fight against Minnesota’s pipeline, for the most part. The Golden Gophers still finished with 115 yards on 34 carries when taking Taylor’s big run out of consideration, churning out yards and slowly suffocating the Blackshirts.

But the lack of an offense for Nebraska also played a part in Minnesota controlling the game. The Huskers’ front did make a few plays at the line, earning 0.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss.

Plus, the line also made some mistakes, and at times did get overwhelmed by Minnesota’s front. The defensive line even suffered an offsides penalty and a facemask penalty on the same drive, helping the Golden Gophers milk the clock in the fourth and get a field goal.

This isn’t the worst outing from the Blackshirts in the trenches, with Michigan opening up bigger holes and dominating on the ground compared to Minnesota. However, the line is still a ways out from being able to control the battle. But it needs to be heading in the direction if the Blackshirts want to be able to stop opposing offenses.

Linebackers: C+

The second level’s night can be summed up in one word: hustle. Javin Wright and Marques Watson-Trent combined for 23 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks, flying around the field and making plays. Even Dasan McCullough, despite only finishing with three tackles and being called offsides, hustled on every snap.

But such hustle from the second level didn’t work out to a great night. The group missed a few tackles, couldn’t shed every block and struggled to stop the run and pass up the middle.

Like the line, the second level is far from being an overall controlling part of the defense. But unless the linebackers find a way to step up, it’ll only get tougher from here for Nebraska.

Defensive Backs: C-

Another week, another round of questions regarding just how stellar this secondary truly is, but not in a good way. With Drake Lindsey suffering only four incompletions on the night and the secondary coughing up two backbreaking penalties and more missed tackles, it's safe to say this group needs to pull itself together.

Lindsey finished with 153 yards and a touchdown off 16 completions, usually finding an open receiver or delivering a quick strike. Plus, when a receiver hauled in a pass, or a running back got to the open field, Nebraska’s secondary more often than not missed the tackle, resulting in more yardage than what should’ve been allowed.

To top it all off, the Huskers coughed up two costly penalties, one negating a failed fourth-down play and another resulting in an interception. This resulted in 10 points for the Golden Gophers and was a crucial moment in the game.

With tougher offenses on the horizon for Nebraska, especially in the passing game, these defensive backs need to get back on track.

Special Teams: A-

Special teams didn’t pop off like it did the last few weeks, which in some respects is a problem in itself. Such plays jump-started Nebraska's drives in past games, and the team certainly needed one against Minnesota.

But this group cannot always be the deciding factor if the other two phases are struggling, especially when the third phase makes some big plays. Jeremiah Charles pinned Archie Wilson’s punt down on the Minnesota two, but the Golden Gophers still scored a touchdown.

Jacory Barney returned a punt 30 yards, setting the Huskers up near midfield and atoning for a bad return earlier. But Nebraska couldn’t get any points out of it. Kyle Cunanan even finished with two field goals, bringing his streak up to seven, but these were the only scoring plays on the night for the Huskers.

The group played well. But if it needs to go an extra step further and pull off spectacular plays every week to help the team, then either the offense and defense steps up, or the special teams take that extra step.

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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: Report card from Nebraska’s brutal 24-6 loss to Minnesota