{"id":49888,"date":"2023-08-30T11:00:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=49888"},"modified":"2023-08-28T18:30:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T22:30:51","slug":"game-preview-gophers-vs-nebraska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/08\/30\/game-preview-gophers-vs-nebraska\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview: Gophers vs. Nebraska"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Matt Rhule<\/strong> and the<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Nebraska Cornhuskers travel to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Gophers season opener <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at Huntington Bank Stadium on Thursday night. Rhule has built programs at <\/span>Temple and Baylor<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but faces a more daunting challenge to re-establish Nebraska as a national football powerhouse. The <\/span><strong>Scott Frost<\/strong> experiment<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ended abruptly last season after a dismal 1-2 start, but the cupboard isn\u2019t entirely bare for Rhule. He inherits a decent roster while adding key positions via the transfer portal. Still, he knows that building a program is a marathon, not a sprint, and he doesn\u2019t <\/span>want to take shortcuts.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It may take time for Rhule\u2019s players to learn his style and system, so the early-season timing of this game is fortuitous for <strong>P.J. Fleck<\/strong> and the Gophers. Minnesota kicks off the 2023 season with an established identity, culture, and play style that has resulted in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/07\/19\/p-j-fleck-and-the-minnesota-gophers-the-good-bad-and-ugly\/\" target=\"_self\">three <\/a><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/07\/19\/p-j-fleck-and-the-minnesota-gophers-the-good-bad-and-ugly\/\" target=\"_self\">consecutive nine-win seasons<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/07\/19\/p-j-fleck-and-the-minnesota-gophers-the-good-bad-and-ugly\/\" target=\"_self\">. <\/a>Nebraska should improve throughout the season but won\u2019t leave Minneapolis with a win. Look for the Gophers to win their fifth straight game against Nebraska and to take home the <\/span>$5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy.<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Game Information<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Date: Thursday, August 31<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Game: 7:00 PM CST<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Location: Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TV: FOX<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Radio: KFAN<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2022 Record: Minnesota (9-4), Nebraska (4-8)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Betting Line<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spread: Gophers, -7.5<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over\/Under: 43.5<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Money Line: Minnesota -310, Nebraska +250<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Gophers Offense vs. Nebraska Defense<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minnesota will start <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/athan-kaliakmanis-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Athan Kaliakmanis<\/a> at quarterback and officially kick off a new era of Gopher football. Kaliakmanis has the tools to be elite and has a deep stable of pass-catchers to throw to this season. The Gophers have added transfers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/corey-crooms-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Corey Crooms<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/elijah-spencer-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elijah Spencer<\/a> to a receiving corp that includes rising stars <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/daniel-jackson-5.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daniel Jackson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/chris-autman-bell-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Autman-Bell<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/lemeke-brockington-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lemeke Brockington.<\/a> The biggest potential playmaker is tight end <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/brevyn-spann-ford-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brevyn Spann-Ford<\/a>, one of the country&#8217;s top tight ends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Gophers have named <strong>Greg Harbaugh Jr.<\/strong> as the co-offensive coordinator with <strong>Matt Simon<\/strong>, who will lead the offense. They are committed to running a balanced offensive and focus on getting their playmakers the ball. Kaliakmanis will spread the ball around while relying on former Western Michigan running back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/sean-tyler-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sean Tyler<\/a> as the primary ball carrier. Tyler isn\u2019t a bell-cow back like <strong>Mohamed Ibrahim,<\/strong> so expect running backs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/darius-taylor-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darius Taylor<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=zach-evans-2,zach-evans-1&amp;search=Zach+Evans&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Evans<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/bryce-williams-4.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryce Williams<\/a> to share the load.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nebraska brings a new look 3-3-5 defensive scheme to create chaos and confusion for the opposing offenses and create turnovers, sacks, and tackles for losses. Nebraska defensive coordinator <strong>Tony White<\/strong>, who came from Syracuse, will throw everything he can at Kaliakmanis to confuse the young quarterback and inexperienced offensive line. Look for the Gophers to carefully manage the offensive game plan for Kalakmanis to mitigate risks and limit mistakes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Nebraska Offense vs. Gophers Defense<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nebraska will start former Georgia Tech quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jeff-sims-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Sims<\/a>, who started 23 games over the past three seasons. The six-foot-four-inch, 220-pound Sims accounted for over 5,500 yards in the total offense for the Yellow Jackets. Despite a talented quarterback under center, new offensive coordinator <strong>Marcus Satterfield<\/strong> has his work cut out for him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Four of the team&#8217;s top five receiving leaders have moved on, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/marcus-washington-6.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcus Washington<\/a> the returning leader in receptions and yards. Washington only accounted for one touchdown a season ago, on a career-high 31 receptions. The Cornhuskers were expecting contributions from wide receiver <strong>Zavier Betts<\/strong>, who <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/202\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unexpectedly left the team<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in early August. Satterfield also inherits an offensive line that struggled recently, much to the ire of Cornhusker fans. The Cornhuskers bring back three of their top four running backs from last year, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/anthony-grant-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Grant<\/a>, who led the team in attempts, yards, and rushing touchdowns with six.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defensively, the Gophers will use <\/span><b>Joe Rossi<\/b>\u2019s<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> bend-but-don\u2019t-break philosophy to prevent explosive plays and keep Nebraska out of the endzone. Last year, the Gophers held opponents to 13.8 points per game, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ranked third in FBS<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The Gophers ranked ninth in FBS in allowing plays of over 10 yards and eighth in allowing plays of over 20 yards. Satterfield\u2019s offense isn\u2019t expected to be explosive, but the Gophers will focus on preventing chunk plays.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Gophers&#8217; defense is led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/tyler-nubin-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-28_cfb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Nubin<\/a>, who is on the preseason watch list for the top defensive player in the country. Minnesota needs to improve its pass rush, which was ranked last in the Big Ten in 2022. The Gophers should improve their pass rush but don\u2019t expect any eye-popping stats from the season opener. Look for the Huskers to rely on Sims to make quick throws while establishing the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/08\/28\/how-nebraskas-offense-will-quell-the-minnesota\/\" target=\"_self\">run game<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Background Information &amp; Stats<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Gophers own a 36-25-2 edge all-time against Nebraska and are<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 7-5 against the Cornhuskers since they joined the Big Ten in 2011.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thursday night\u2019s game at Huntington Bank Stadium is the first sellout since the 2021 season opener against Ohio State.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The $5 Bits of Broken Chair trophy is a fan-created rivalry<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to raise money for childhood cancer organizations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minnesota\u2019s four-game win streak against Nebraska is tied for its longest current streak against a Big Ten team.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minnesota has no Nebraskans on its roster, while Nebraska has three Minnesotans: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/omar-brown-3.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Omar Brown<\/a> (Minneapolis North), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/emmett-johnson-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Emmett Johnson<\/a> (Holy Angels), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/bryce-benhart-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryce Benhart<\/a> (Lakeville North)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gopher running back Williams is 26 rushing yards away from becoming the 48th Gopher to reach 1,000 career yards.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Huntington Bank Stadium&#8217;s capacity is 50,805, slightly less than the University of Minnesota\u2019s enrollment of 52,017.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Prediction<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Huskers\u2019s defense will cause problems for Minnesota, but the Gophers\u2019 depth, experience, and home-field advantage will prove too much. The game might not be pretty, but the Gophers will come out on top.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gophers win 27-13<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-49924\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/USATSI_19694219_168400542_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/USATSI_19694219_168400542_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/USATSI_19694219_168400542_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/USATSI_19694219_168400542_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/USATSI_19694219_168400542_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/USATSI_19694219_168400542_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/USATSI_19694219_168400542_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/USATSI_19694219_168400542_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matt Rhule and the Nebraska Cornhuskers travel to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Gophers season opener at Huntington Bank Stadium on Thursday night. Rhule has built programs at Temple and Baylor but faces a more daunting challenge to re-establish Nebraska as a national football powerhouse. The Scott Frost experiment ended abruptly last season after a dismal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4644,"featured_media":49924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[8189,10453,3994,8000,351,10181,167,3541,800,2484,9817,10454],"class_list":["post-49888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","tag-big-ten-west","tag-greg-harbaugh-jr","tag-joe-rossi","tag-marcus-satterfield","tag-matt-rhule","tag-matt-simon","tag-minnesota-golden-gophers","tag-mohamed-ibrahim","tag-p-j-fleck","tag-scott-frost","tag-tony-white","tag-zavier-betts"],"modified_by":"Maggie Yarnell, Senior Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4644"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}