Minnesota Husks the Huskers

Iceland12

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There's a thread about "fake headlines" for the Lincoln Newspaper's game story. The above-headline is the real headline for the CFN story on the game.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/1339979.html

Long snaps

Gopher it. That's what Minnesota's football team and coaching staff is doing for head coach Jerry Kill, sitting in the booth looking on as he treats his latest scary episode with seizures. He had to be looking on with utter glee today, as his coaching staff bull-whipped that of Nebraska and Minnesota got arguably their biggest win since Kill was hired.

There were a lot of telling moments in this game, but the yawning chasm between Minnesota's preparation and adjustments and that of Nebraska came at halftime. An on-field reporter asked Bo Pelini going into the locker room about the first half and Pelini readily admitted that Minnesota was doing things that they hadn't seen on film before, but professed everything would be okay.

Two things here. One, that's fine, but as a staff, you still need to be prepared for the fact that an unranked team with no cardinal wins over the last few years was going to throw the book at your ranked ball club. And two, there wasn't much adjustment in-game as it was happening and there wasn't much in the second half, as Minnesota continued to go all 1995 Nebraska on the Huskers' defensive line.

Meanwhile, with Kill looking on, Tracy Claeys coached a brilliant football game all the way down to the end. His clock management (admittedly aided by being able to run the ball at stinking will) coupled with creative play calling (even when it didn't work, like a put-away pass dropped late that could have spurred the Huskers to a game-winning drive) really were the difference.

This was a game that bad teams or teams still learning how to win almost always lose.

Nebraska got up 10-0 and it looked like it'd remain since 1960 that the Golden Gophers would best the Huskers. But a defining drive came after that, one pass, the rest just old school "you line up, we line up, and we're running over you, nothing you can do about it" type football that made it 10-7.

At any rate, Minnesota is bowl-eligible in late October after shocking Northwestern and Nebraska in consecutive weeks (10.5 underdogs this week), and Nebraska is left to go home with so ..


And this:

E-mail Matt Zemek

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More college football coverage: additional analysis and commentary at Campus Insiders

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have not enjoyed many mountaintop moments in the past half-century of their football history. Moreover, it’s clear that the Nebraska Cornhuskers are nothing like the colossus they once were. Yet, on one afternoon in Minneapolis, it was startling to see how two teams handled adverse situations, and those responses tell you everything you need to know about two programs that are headed in opposite directions.

It’s true that Nebraska entered this game as the team with more pressure on its shoulders. Beginning the tough stretch of a back-loaded Big Ten schedule, the Huskers carried the burden of having to prove to themselves and the nation that they were worthy of the Nebraska name. Yet, it’s not as though Minnesota entered this game free from anxiety. The Golden Gophers have had to continuously wonder if their head coach, Jerry Kill, could perform his duties every week. Kill, in fact, has had to step away from his team in order to receive more extensive treatment and care. Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys was forced to take over the responsibilities of a head coach, leaving the Gophers shorthanded in a very real sense. When Minnesota then fell behind Nebraska, 10-0, in the first eight minutes of this contest, the Gophers had more than their fill of adversity...
 




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