Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson Suffers Disappointing Homecoming

For Nebraska junior running back Emmett Johnson, who deserved better, this return home to Minnesota wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

Johnson, Nebraska’s leading rusher by a mile, was named “Mr. Football” by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association in 2021. But against the Golden Gophers on Friday night, Johnson and Nebraska ran into a swarming and physical defense.

The Huskers (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten), touchdown favorites, were overwhelmed, 24-6.

“It meant a lot [coming home],” said Johnson, who was one of the Huskers’ four game captains. “Seeing a lot of family and friends that came. It felt good seeing some family and people supporting you. I came here to get the job done and that didn’t happen so that’s all I was focused on.”

Johnson might have had added motivation to return home to Minneapolis. The Fox broadcast reported during the game that the Golden Gophers never even recruited him. As a senior at Academy of Holy Angels — in the Minneapolis suburb of Richfield, 9.6 miles from the Gophers’ campus — Johnson rushed for more than 2,500 yards and 42 touchdowns in 11 games. He gained 100 yards in each game and had seven games with at least 200 yards.

Against the Golden Gophers, Johnson gained 63 hard-fought yards on 14 carries, with a long run of only 12 yards. He also caught five passes for 37 yards. Johnson and quarterback Dylan Raiola have provided Nebraska with an excellent and balanced rushing and passing attack through the first half of the season.

That offensive output was halted in a decisive way at Minnesota.

Gophers defense dominating

Minnesota sacked Raiola nine times for 63 yards, putting the Huskers in difficult yards-to-go situations, and effectively ending drives.

So many sacks paralyze an offense and remove Johnson’s effectiveness as a runner. It’s not easy, or productive, to run the ball when facing second-and-long and third-and-long.

“We just got to be better,” Johnson said about Raiola’s pass protection. “We got to go watch the film, look for things that we got to do better in terms of blocking and everything else and just learn from it and grow.”

Nebraska suffered two critical losses to its starting offensive line. Rocco Spindler injured a finger or hand in the first quarters and was taken to a hospital, according to Huskers coach Matt Rhule. In the second quarter, Elijah Pritchett was flagged for a targeting penalty and ejected. Pritchett successfully blocked his man to the ground but he then jumped on him, getting the flag.

“It’s tough,” Johnson said. “It’s a physical game and those are two important players for our team.

“When those guys go down we just got to fight and then the other guys that go in have to play to that same standard. It’s tough to lose those guys, obviously. We just got to keep going with a what’s next mentality.”

And what about the Penn State talk?

Johnson was asked about the news dominating both Nebraska and the national sports media — Penn State’s coaching search. The Nittany Lions fired head coach James Franklin on Sunday and immediately, Rhule’s name came up as a possible successor. Rhule is a Penn State graduate and played linebacker for the Nittany Lions from 1994-97.

Rhule talked on Monday about his love for Nebraska but also about his love for Penn State and its athletic director Pat Kraft.

Johnson said there was no distraction going into the Minnesota game.

“We were focused,” Johnson said. “We just didn’t perform to our standard. And that’s all we were focused on. It wasn’t about anything else.

Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson is the Huskers' leading rusher in 2025. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

“We were tuning out the noise. We were just focused on us. We just didn’t execute to our standard.”

This was Minnesota’s sixth consecutive victory over the Huskers and its seventh in eight games.

“Hats off to them,” Johnson said. “Congrats to them on the win. We got to learn from the film. Congrats to them. We have to move on and learn from it and grow.”

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