Nebraska Football: Grading the Cornhuskers' Game Against Minnesota

Nebraska beat Minnesota, 41-14, to record its first B1G conference road win. NU overcame a little bit of a sluggish start to take a 34-0 lead at halftime, and cruised through the second have to claim the win.

When grading the team’s performance, very little weight will be given to what happened in the second half. By halftime, it was clear the Nebraska coaching staff thought the game was in hand, and used the second half to experiment with both scheme and personnel. Yes, that means Minnesota “won” the second half, but that holds about as much relevance as the final score of the Spring Game.

Quarterbacks: B

There’s good news and bad news with Taylor Martinez. The good news is that Martinez seems to have exorcised the habit of shovel-passing at the last second when no one is expecting it. The bad news is that he seems to have developed the habit of attempting an option pitch far too late in the play (and without attacking his defender sufficiently) and putting the ball at risk. Martinez is clearly improving from game to game, so identifying a problem isn’t a criticism of Martinez himself so much as pointing out another area of improvement. After all, we wouldn’t want to make Spanish class harder.

Brion Carnes finally got a little playing time in the fourth quarter, and performed well enough with the limited snaps he was afforded. Nebraska is still crossing fingers that Martinez can stay healthy through the season, however.

Running Backs: A

Rex Burkhead continues to establish himself as Nebraska’s most important player on offense. He is able to both run powerfully between the tackles and scamper to the edge when necessary. His vision, lateral movement, and exceptional balance make him difficult to tackle. For crying out loud, he didn’t have a single negative-yard play against Minnesota. Burkhead’s senior season should be something to behold—and his junior season is shaping up to be one already.

The trio of freshman running backs (Aaron Green, Braylon Heard, and Ameer Abdullah) all got significant playing time, especially in the second half. While they were each prone to freshman mistakes, the talent and potential is clearly there. Green and Abdullah are already showing flashes, and Heard got back on the field after an injury sidelined him for a few weeks.

Wide Receivers: B-

Tough to downgrade the unit when Kenny Bell’s 82-yard reverse might have been the highlight of the night and Brandon Kinnie’s 61-yard jailbreak screen reception was a sight for sore eyes. But there were a lot of dropped passes from the receiving corps, particularly from Jamal Turner.

Against Minnesota, NU can get away with those drops. But against Michigan State, with a quarterback like Taylor Martinez who has iffy accuracy, Nebraska receivers can’t waste any on-target throws that come their way.

Offensive Line: B

Yes, I know, Nebraska had 355 yards of rushing, and I’m still giving the O-line a B. But Nebraska also struggled in short-yardage situations inside and outside of the red zone, which is a concern going forward. I suspect some of that struggle was due to a lack of focus against a team NU clearly felt it overmatched. If any of that attitude survives to next week, however, Sparty will be in the NU backfield all afternoon.

Defensive Line: B+

It looked like the tackling bugaboo Nebraska struggled with in the first half of the season got a little better. Tough to tell if Minnesota helped NU look sharper, or the off week helped to actually sharpen the technique used. Either way, improvement is improvement.

Chase Rome led the way in attempting to replace Jared Crick and played well, except for the bonehead personal foul he drew for a late hit. A lack of pass rush, particularly against a pretty poor Minnesota line, remains an area of concern.

Linebackers: A

Nebraska went back to a nickel/peso defensive look against Minnesota’s spread attack, and the defense definitely looked more comfortable. Again, how much of that comfort level was due to playing the Gophers and how much was due to a familiar scheme is hard to sort out. Regardless, linebacker play was solid overall on Saturday.

Secondary: A

Amazingly, it looks like Stanley Jean-Baptiste has made a one-month transition from wide receiver to starting cornerback. Jean-Baptiste played well in coverage, and was solid in run support in space when called upon. Alfonzo Dennard played well, as expected, and Ciante Evans looked far more comfortable in a nickel package and in a rotation.

Special Teams: C

Brett Maher had an afternoon to forget for Nebraska. He had a punt partially blocked, and badly shanked a long field goal. Nebraska struggled in their kick coverage, as well, and were not able to get Ameer Abdullah loose for any significant run-backs.

Coaching: B

A solid smash-and-grab performance from Nebraska, going to Minnesota and locking up the win early. It was a little disappointing to see Brion Carnes wait until the fourth quarter to see playing time, although it’s tough to put in a backup quarterback right after the opponent scored.

And Nebraska’s focus level clearly tailed off in the second half, much like it did against Washington. To Minnesota’s credit, the Gophers played hard for four quarters against Nebraska. Can’t really say that about NU.

Intangibles: A

The bottom line is that Nebraska went on the road and delivered an old-fashioned Nebraska blowout, allowing NU to experiment with scheme and personnel in the second half. That kind of confidence, as well as practice and rest, can do Nebraska nothing but good going into next week and a de facto B1G Legends Division championship game against Michigan State in Lincoln.

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