The Nebraska Cornhuskers came into TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday afternoon and did a pretty find job of ruining Homecoming for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, thumping Minnesota to the tune of 41-14.
The Cornhuskers scored the first 34 points of the game, taking a 34-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Gophers tried to play for a little bit of pride in the second half. The Gophers did score the first points of the second half, however, on a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback MarQueis Gray. The touchdown was set up by a reverse flea-flicker pass from Gray to Da'Jon McKnight for a 53-yard gain.
After the Cornhuskers scored again, there was a bit of a lull in the scoring, but the Gophers moved downfield on their final drive of the game, going 89 yards in 16 plays. The drive concluded with a 6-yard rushing touchdown by Duane Bennett to close the gap to 41-14, which is how things ended.
The Gophers did outscore Nebraska in the second half, however. So they've got that going for them, which is nice.
As you would expect, the overwhelming majority of the numbers did not favor the Gophers. Nebraska more than doubled Minnesota in yardage, picking up 515 total yards of offense to Minnesota's 254. 346 of Nebraska's yards came on the ground on 56 carries, giving them an average of 6.2 yards per rush. Nebraska's time of possession advantage isn't as big as you would expect, as they held the ball for 31:52, compared to 28:08 for the Gophers. Both teams were penalized five times, and the Gophers had the lone turnover of the game on a fumble by Gray that Nebraska scooped up and turned into a touchdown.
The Gophers have now been outscored 144-31 in Big Ten play this season. They will host the Iowa Hawkeyes next week at TCF Bank Stadium in hopes of retaining the Floyd of Rosedale, which they won in last year's season finale. The Cornhuskers will host Michigan State, who is currently ranked 16th in the nation and has a game against the Wisconsin Badgers in East Lansing this evening.