Minnesota 13
Nebraska 10

Aug. 31, 2023 • 7 p.m. Central
Huntington Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN • FOX
1st 2nd 3rd 4th  F 
Nebraska 0 0 7 3 10
Minnesota 0 3 0 10 13

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Second quarter
MIN: Dragan Kesich 34 field goal, 12:31
Third quarter
NEB: Alex Bullock 34 pass from Jeff Sims (Alvano kick) 14:03 
Fourth quarter
NEB: Alvano 27 field goal, 12:42
MIN: Daniel Jackson 13 pass from Athan Kaliakmanis (Kesich kick) 2:32
MIN: Kesich 47 field goal, 0:00

                        NU        UM
FIRST DOWNS ........... 18        20
  RUSHING ............. 11         5
  PASSING .............. 6        13
  PENALTY .............. 1         2
RUSHES-NET YARDS .. 37-181     25-55
NET YARDS PASSING .... 114       196
  COMP-ATT-INT ... 11-19-3   24-44-1
TOTAL OFFENSE ........ 295       251
FUMBLES-LOST ......... 1-1       0-0
PENALIZED-YARDS ..... 7-55      3-25
PUNTS-AVERAGE ....... 3-48      4-45
PUNT RETURNS-YDS ..... 2-8      1-10
K.O RETURNS-YDS ..... 2-78      3-49
INTERCEPTIONS-YDS .... 1-0      3-14
POSSESSION TIME .... 29:08     30:42
THIRD-DOWN CONV. .... 5-11      8-17
FOURTH-DOWN CONV. .... 0-0       2-2
RED ZONE SCORES ...... 1-2       2-2
SACKS BY-YARDS ...... 3-12      3-26

RUSHING
NU: Anthony Grant 9-27; Gabe Ervin Jr. 7-55; Jaylen Lloyd 1-9; Jeff Sims 19-91; Rahmir Johnson 1-minus-1.

UM: Sean Tyler 10-41; Bryce Williams 6-14; Athan Kaliakmanis 6-5; Darius Taylor 1-3; Daniel Jackson 1-minus-5.

PASSING
NU: Jeff Sims 11-19-3 114.
UM: Athan Kaliakmanis 24-44-1 196.

RECEIVING
NU: Alex Bullock 3-56; Marcus Washington 3-31; Heinrich Haarberg 1-10; Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda 1-7; Rahmir Johnson 2-6; Nate Boerkircher 1-4.

UM: Daniel Jackson 9-68; Corey Crooms 7-63; Brevyn Spann-Ford 5-45; Bryce Williams 2-11; Elijah Spencer 1-9.

Attendance: 53,629




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Huskers lose heartbreaker in debut of Matt Rhule era

Two turnovers in the final five minutes doomed the Huskers in Matt Rhule’s first game as Nebraska’s head coach. Poof! Just like that, Minnesota turned a 10-3 deficit into a 13-10 win.

Anthony Grant’s fumble near midfield set up a Gopher drive that ended with a toe-tap touchdown to tie the game at 10 apiece. As the Huskers were driving for a possible go-ahead score, Nebraska’s Jeff Sims threw an interception that gave Minnesota the ball at its own 49 with 58 seconds left. Dragan Kesich drilled the 47-yard game-winner as time expired.

Trailing 3-0 at halftime, Nebraska asserted control for most of the second half on the strength of an effective defense and just enough offense. After Rahmir Johnson’s 63-yard kickoff return to open the third quarter, quarterback Jeff Sims found Alex Bullock wide open for a 34-yard touchdown on a trick play that put the Huskers ahead 7-3. Freshman Tristan Alvano added a 27-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to make it 10-3.

After getting outplayed in the early going, Nebraska picked up steam late in the second quarter, but what seemed to be a sure-fire scoring opportunity turned into a goose egg. The Huskers had the ball inside the Minnesota 1 yard line in the closing minute of the first half and appeared to score on Sims’ sneak. A 5-yard penalty negated the score, however, and that was followed by an interception in the end zone.

Full recap
Rahmir Johnson kickoff return

Rahmir Johnson’s long kickoff return sparked the Huskers at the start of the third quarter. | Courtesy of Huskers.com
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2023 schedule
04/22 White 21, Red 7
08/31 @ Minnesota L 10-13
09/09 @ Colorado L 14-36
09/16 N. Illinois W 35-11
09/23 Louisiana Tech W 28-14
09/30 Michigan L 7-45
10/06 @ Illinois W 20-7
10/21 North­western W 17-9
10/28 Purdue W 31-14
11/04 @ Michigan St. L 17-20
11/11 Maryland L 10-13
11/18 @ Wisconsin L 17-24
11/24 Iowa L 10-13
— 2022 | 2024 —

Commentary

Stryker

Right out of the chute, we saw that the Cornhuskers have the same tragic flaw they’ve had since at least 2018 — a talented but erratic quarterback.

Tad Stryker
HuskerMax/All Huskers
Christopherson

The turnovers. Start there. End it there if you want. Four to one. Nebraska had the four.

Brian Christopherson
Husker247
Stukenholtz

It’s going to take some time for Matt Rhule and his staff to swat at and kill these bad habits.

Cole Stukenholtz
All Huskers/KLIN
McKewon

It’s a painful pendulum Husker football knows well — and coach Matt Rhule got to experience it up close and personal

Sam McKewon *
Omaha World-Herald
Shatel

There’s not a quarterback controversy yet. But this is no way to start the season.

Tom Shatel *
Omaha World-Herald
Maier

This version of Nebraska isn’t going to win eight games like some bullish Husker fans might suggest, but there's reason for optimism in Lincoln.

Joseph Maier
Daily Nebraskan
Fiutak

The Huskers let this get away, but no, don’t assume they’ll keep losing in brutally painful fashion.

Pete Fiutak
College Football News
Hickey

If we hadn’t seen the same story play out so many times since 2021, Nebraska’s 13-10 loss at Minnesota would have been impossible to believe.

Alex Hickey
Saturday Tradition
Just

Sims completed 11 of 19 passes on Thursday night. Three of his eight incompletions were interceptions — and each one more confounding than the last.

Amie Just *
Lincoln Journal Star
McMaster

The rumblings of [Anthony Grant’s] protection issues are no longer rumblings. They are reality.

Matt McMaster
All Huskers/KLIN
McHugh

Sadly, we blame an entire program when one guy fumbles the football.

Nate McHugh
Corn Nation
Sherman

t’s on the Huskers to convince themselves that a path past the self-inflicted pain exists.

Mitch Sherman *
The Athletic
* Article may require subscription