Nebraska Football Head Coach Scott Frost and members of the team met with the media on Monday to discuss the loss to Michigan and how the team is preparing for Minnesota.
The Matchup
Nebraska returns to the road on Saturday when it travels to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota in a Big Ten West Division battle. The contest at UM’s Huntington Bank Stadium will kick off at 11 a.m. CT with the game televised on ESPN2 and heard on the Huskers Radio Network.
The matchup with Minnesota wraps up a stretch of eight games in eight consecutive weeks for the Huskers, and marks Nebraska’s second-to-last road game of the 2021 season. Nebraska is off next week, before returning to Lincoln for a two-game home stand against Purdue (Oct. 30) and Ohio State (Nov. 6).
The Huskers stand at 3-4 overall and 1-3 in Big Ten play after a third heartbreaking loss in the past four weeks against a ranked opponent. Nebraska put together an impressive second-half performance against No. 9 Michigan on Saturday night, before the Wolverines kicked a field goal with 1:24 remaining to escape with a 32-29 victory.
Minnesota enters the game with a 3-2 record and a 1-1 mark in Big Ten play. The Gophers were off last week, and posted a 20-13 victory at Purdue in their most recent game on Oct. 2. Minnesota lost its season opener to then-No. 4 Ohio State, but has won three of four games since that contest.
Coach P.J. Fleck’s team boasts one of the Big Ten’s best defenses, ranking second in the conference and fifth nationally in rushing defense at 77.0 yards per game. The Gophers are also strong in scoring defense (19.6 ppg) and total defense (307.8 ypg). Offensively, Minnesota features a strong run game and is among the nation’s best in ball control, averaging nearly 34 minutes per game in time of possession.
Series History: Nebraska vs. Minnesota
Nebraska and Minnesota will be meeting for the 62nd time overall and the 11th consecutive season as Big Ten opponents. Minnesota holds a 34-25-2 lead in the all-time series.
• Before Nebraska joined the Big Ten, Minnesota was the Huskers’ most frequent opponent among conference schools with 51 meetings between 1900 and 1990.
• Nebraska and Minnesota have split 10 meetings as Big Ten opponents. Minnesota has won five of the past eight matchups, following a 16-game Nebraska win streak in the series.
• Minnesota owned a 29-6-2 lead in the all-time series following a win in 1960, but Nebraska owns a 19-5 lead since 1963.
• Scott Frost posted his first win at Nebraska against Minnesota in October of 2018, recording a 53-28 victory in Lincoln.
• Nebraska’s 84-point outburst in the 1983 victory in Minneapolis is the largest scoring output by a Husker team in the modern era (since WWII).
This Week’s Numbers
5 – The Nebraska offense is one of the nation’s best in producing long plays. The Huskers rank in the top 5 nationally in plays of 20+, 30+, 40+, 50+, 60+, 70+ and 80+ yards including leading the nation in both 60-yard and 70-yard plays.
10 – Quarterback Adrian Martinez is the first Husker quarterback to rush for 10 touchdowns in a season since Taylor Martinez had 10 in 2012. Adrian Martinez is one of only three players in the nation with 10 rushing touchdowns in 2021.
21 – Nebraska’s four losses have come by a combined 21 points. Three of those four losses have come against teams currently ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press Poll, including three-point setbacks against Michigan State and Michigan.
