Stukenholtz: Unprepared Huskers Punched Out by Vanilla Gophers Again

In a week dominated by discussion of Matt Rhule’s future, the embarrassing loss leaves him with work to do in the present.

Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule looks on during the second half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Flying high at 5-1 after back-to-back second half comeback wins!

Ranked in the top 25 again!

Getting talked about for a big job at the alma mater!

It was quite the week for Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule. Outside of some bad run defense, it’s gone according to plan for his team in 2025. NU has won close games. They’ve shown character in the face of adversity. The Year Three (trademarked) vibes are all there.

Then the team he played for, Penn State, fired James Franklin after a pair of brutal losses to massive underdogs UCLA and Northwestern (two teams the Huskers will see this season). That job is open at possibly the perfect time for Rhule, as his Nebraska trajectory is pointing up. Ever the talker, Rhule did well to sit on the fence in his media appearances to keep us guessing.

Onto a strong second half of the season and see what shakes out, right? Right?

Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule reacts towards a referee during the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

P.J. Fleck had other ideas Friday night.

Rhule and Nebraska got flat-out beat 24-6 in Minneapolis in a game that was simultaneously not that bad and not that close. What was clear was how prepared the Golden Gophers were compared to Rhule’s Huskers.

It’s no secret that Minnesota plays their style, and unapologetically at that. Run the ball, play action, plod their way down the field, limit mistakes, and see if they can come out the other side. That formula has been a bad matchup for NU over the years, and even though the 2025 Gophers aren’t running it quite as well as they have in years past, Friday was no exception.

On the other sideline, it was frustration and humiliation. Couldn’t protect, couldn’t tackle. Couldn’t overcome ill-timed penalties. (I’ll offer no commentary on those here. Flags were thrown, and so they happened.)

Let’s start on offense. It’s been a work in progress up front, but against Maryland, the same five played all game and started against Minnesota. Then Rocco Spindler injured his hand in the first quarter, ultimately landing him in the hospital. Not good. And in the second quarter, Elijah Pritchett was ejected for targeting (I’m as confused as you on that one).

You know you’re down two starters on the line. But even before you lost them, you’ve reviewed the Michigan State tape. Your quarterback refuses to throw it away and will drop back to almost anywhere in or around the pocket. He holds the ball too long too often. You like your starting receivers and running back, though.

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule and offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen before the 2025 Cincinnati game. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Maybe make sure your offensive coordinator is factoring this into his game plan? Help your QB by giving him more handoffs or more quick, one-read throws. That would also help your offensive line, too.

Scheme up plays for your best playmakers. Emmett Johnson with 10 touches in the first half? Should have been more. Jacory Barney Jr. with *ZERO* first-half touches? Criminal! Dana Holgorsen has to call a Barney play more than once or twice a game, and Rhule should remind him of that.

On the protection aspect, please understand that sacks are not simply an offensive line statistic. Of the nine Minnesota sacks – a Nebraska record you don’t want to break – I put the blame on Raiola for six of them. Coach him to step up into the pocket instead of bailing out where the tackle can’t contain the edge rusher. Convince him to throw it out of bounds or at a receiver’s feet to save yardage and wear and tear on his body. By the end, it was comical how everyone knew a sack was coming.

It kills me to know that Raiola and the offense looked like this two weeks ago and seemingly no lessons were learned and nothing was improved.

I was not as upset at the defense’s performance as I was the offense. But the defense failed in more spectacular fashion.

Three touchdown drives allowed by the Blackshirts. Three critical mistakes allow them to happen. The second quarter was a bad run fit, allowing a 71-yard run to the 1-yard line. Then, the third quarter was holding on a 4th & 3. Finally, in the fourth quarter, came pass interference on 3rd & 3. Stop one of those, and you have a chance to steal the game.

But why was Minnesota even throwing the ball on those plays? They didn’t gash NU again like they did on the long run, but check out their gains on first downs in the 2nd half: 4, 4, 8, 5, 7, 4, 3, 4, 1-TD, 15, 5, 11, 14, -5 (FG). Only three were passes, and the only negative play was in the red zone when they could have clinched the game with a field goal (which they did). John Butler had to be thrilled in the instant he saw pass plays. Not how you draw it up, but it was effective nonetheless for the Golden Gophers.

Nebraska defensive coordinator John Butler | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

That’s where Rhule comes back in. Defense is all about emotion, about channeling anger and aggression at the opponent in a controlled but chaotic way. With the game in the balance for most of the second half, I didn’t see that emotion. When the opponents’ running back gets four yards per carry, that’s not good enough!

Would this have been a different game if Raiola doesn't overthrow Dane Key on either of those two deep shots, or if Nyziah Hunter catches the dime he dropped? It would have been closer, but I’m not convinced it would have decided things. There still would have been work to do on offense, and the defense would have needed a second-half stop, too.

Tackling tells me a lot about a team’s desire and preparation – one team came ready to shut down the other. Minnesota didn’t miss many tackles (all of them were forced by Emmett Johnson, haha). Nebraska missed them all night.

Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule and Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck after the game at Huntington Bank Stadium. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Whether he stays or goes at the end of the season, one thing is for certain: Matt Rhule needs to have his team ready to play. If he doesn’t, more embarrassments will come.

Anyone know if Northwestern will play vanilla, boring, fundamentally sound ball next week? Asking for a friend.

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