After being forced to punt, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have given up a touchdown to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. . .but they probably shouldn't have.
After stoning Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead on third down, the Huskers faced a 4th-and-1 at the Minnesota 13-yard line. On that fourth down play, Taylor Martinez pitched the ball back to one of Nebraska's backs, who had the ball bounce off of his hands and roll forward out of bounds. What appeared to be a stop for Minnesota, however, was quickly ruled to be a first down for Nebraska. Because the pitch was a backward pass and not a forward one, the ball was spotted at the place where it went out of bounds, and since that spot was beyond the first down marker, Nebraska was allowed to keep the ball.
Two plays later, Martinez flipped one to running back Tyler Legate, who rumbled for a 10-yard touchdown and gave the Huskers a 10-0 lead.
That was a huge momentum killer for the Gophers, and helped the Huskers to increase their lead. I don't understand how a team can benefit from a fumble like that, but apparently they can.
With 3:22 left in the first quarter, the Minnesota Golden Gophers trail the Nebraska Cornhuskers by a score of 10-0.