Minnesota Football: Three keys to beating Nebraska

The Gophers haven’t played for a few weeks and we finally get to see them play again. Would be fantastic to end the “regular season” with a win at Nebraska. But what will it take to win?

3 KEYS

• Contain Martinez - The athletic quarterback is a key component of the Husker offense. Giving up chunk plays to his legs is going to be killer against this defense that has not been great against lateral offensive attacks.
• Make Nebraska one-dimensional - The Gopher defense has been kind of ugly this year, but some how, some way, they need to make Nebraska one-dimensional and then get stops.
• Find offensive rhythm - Very likely that some offensive starters are going to be out for this game due to Cocid protocols. So if we need to air it out, if we need to grind it out on the ground...doesn’t matter but we need plenty of offense today. This may be a shootout (bet the over) and the more the Gophers can have a controlled offense that is scoring, the better.

OPPOSING PLAYERS TO WATCH

• #2 QB - Adrian Martinez - After being benched earlier in the season, Martinez has been playing much better. Containing him is absolutely key.
• #5 CB - Cam Taylor-Britt - Junior corner who has a pick and a few pass breakups while being the Cornhusker’s best corner.

PREDICTION

To be honest, I’m not all that confident that the Gophers are going to come away with a win. Shut down Martinez, make them pass more than they want and perhaps we have a chance. But offensively we will be without Bateman and potentially a couple starters along the offensive line. I’m nervous that we won’t be able to stop the run AND we won’t be able to move the ball enough offensively.

Minnesota - 23 (3 TDs, FG, missed PAT)
Nebraska - 35