Saturday was a tale of two halves for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The first half was all about the Husker defense. Coming into the contest, Minnesota ranked first in the nation in third down conversion rate and 12th in rushing yards per game. The Gophers proceed to go 2-of-6 on third downs and totaled -7 net rushing yards.
Minnesota totaled 31 yards and scored 0 points.
Gopher quarterback Tanner Morgan left the game after taking a hit by defensive lineman Ty Robinson during the last play of the first half. That left backup Athin Kaliakmanis to play the rest of the game.
After much speculation throughout the week, Chubba Purdy got the start at the quarterback position for Nebraska. Purdy scored on the first drive on a run, and Timmy Bleekrode converted a field goal on the next drive.
Heading into the locker room, Nebraska held a 10-0 lead.
The Huskers ran for 110 yards in the first half. Anthony Grant had 90 of them. Purdy completed 6-10 passes for 41 yards.
Minnesota flipped things around in the third quarter. Kaliakmanis complete 6-of-10 passes for 137 yards, and star running back Mohamed Ibrahim found his footing and ran for 56 yards and a touchdown helping the Gophers tie the score 10-10 going into the 4th.
Minnesota’s comeback, in part, had to do with the collapse of the Nebraska offense.
After scoring on their first two possessions, NU punted six times in a row. Chubba Purdy and Logan Smothers played quarterback in the third, and the offense totaled just 14 yards, all of which on the ground.
To start the final quarter, Minnesota quickly hit a field goal to give themselves a 13-10 lead.
Purdy led off in the fourth quarter but threw an interception to Gopher cornerback Terell Smith who returned the ball to the Nebraska 33-yard line.
Minnesota took advantage, and Ibrahim found the endzone making it 20-10.
Smothers played QB for the rest of the game. It all seemed to slip away from Nebraska until Marcus Washington made an incredible catch down the sideline inside the Minnesota 15 to set up a field goal cutting the deficit to seven points.
The Blackshirts stopped Minnesota late in the fourth quarter giving the offense an opportunity to tie it all up with 2:25 left to go, but a missed opportunity by Smothers to run for a first down and a dropped fourth down pass game the ball back to the Gophers.
Minnesota walked away with a gritty 20-13 victory.
Before Saturday, Minnesota had lost their last 32 games after trailing by ten points at any point. Ibrahim finished the game with 128 rushing yards and two TDs. The Gophers did not total one passing yard the entire fourth quarter and held the ball for 20 minutes in the second half.
Nebraska quarterbacks went 5-of-15 for 80 yards with one interception in the second half. Anthony Grant finished the game with 115 rushing yards. Marcus Washington led the receivers with 62 yards on a pair of receptions.
Interim head coach Mickey Joseph said in postgame he should have made a quarterback change sooner.
“We probably should’ve, but we figured we’d have to throw the ball downfield,” Joseph said. “When he wasn’t seeing it, we had to make a change, but you’re right. In this league, you can’t do that.
“You can’t have six, three-and-outs in this league because they’ll eat the clock up.”
Minnesota moves to 6-3 on the season and plays Northwestern at home next week.
Nebraska loses another challenging game at home and drops to 3-6. It won’t get any easier for the Big Red as they travel to Ann Arbor to take on the currently undefeated Michigan Wolverines.