Five burning questions heading into Minnesota week

Here are five of the biggest questions still facing Nebraska as it gets ready for this week’s road game at Minnesota…

Even after yet another crushing loss, the hope for Nebraska to finish above .500 and make its first bowl appearance since 2016 is still alive.

However, for that to remain the case, this week’s road game against a struggling Minnesota is the definition of a must-win situation.

Saturday against the Gophers and then the Oct. 30 home game vs. Purdue are the two contests left on the schedule where the Huskers will be clear favorites.

Win those, and NU would need to get one more against Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Iowa to get to the postseason.

A loss to the Gophers or Boilermakers would make an already uphill path even steeper. Nebraska has already let several golden opportunities slip through its fingers, and the margin for error is now smaller than ever.

Saturday night was the latest example of Nebraska being good enough to compete with almost anyone for most of the game but finding a way to lose when it mattered the most.

All four of the Huskers’ losses this season – three of which coming against ranked opponents – have come by a combined 21 points and were all one-score games.

Since head coach Scott Frost took over in 2018, NU has lost a whopping 16 one-score games, more than any team in the country.

Nebraska has proven it can hang with anyone in the Big Ten, but until the Huskers learn how to finish, the story will continue to have the same ending.

Just when Nebraska looked to have found the right combination on its offensive line, an injury to left tackle Teddy Prochazka could shake the unit up once again.

The true freshman, who made his first career start last week vs. Northwestern, went down during a pass play late in the second quarter.

He was down for a few minutes before walking off the field under his own power, and he even waved his arms to fire up the crowd as he left. But Prochazka did not return the rest of the night, and Frost had no update on his status after the game.

However, Prochazka’s mother posted an update on Facebook on Sunday confirming that he “tore his ACL, MCL, and meniscus.” Assuming that is true, Prochazka would obviously be done for the season.

In his absence on Saturday night, the Huskers went back to Bryce Benhart, who was benched after starting the first five games, at right tackle and moved Turner Corcoran – who Prochazka replaced at left tackle – back to his old spot.

The o-line held up well despite the changes, allowing just one sack on 28 pass attempts. But NU vaulted Prochazka up the depth chart for a reason, and now NU will likely have to go back to its original pairings at tackle.

Nebraska went out of its way to try and establish the running game against Michigan’s stout defense in the first half. It also went into halftime down 13-0.

The Huskers then dialed things up offensively in the second half and immediately started moving the ball and putting up points.

Minnesota hasn’t done much well this season, but it has been as good as anyone in the Big Ten at stopping the run. The Golden Gophers have allowed an average of just 77.0 rushing yards per game (2.8 ypc), ranking second in the league only behind Wisconsin (41.4 ypg).

Nebraska wants to try and stay balanced on offense, but how long will it stick with its traditional run game on Saturday if it struggles early like it did vs. Michigan?

Many considered Cam Taylor-Britt Nebraska’s best all-around player going into the season, but he unexpectedly struggled to start the year.

Not only did he have glaring issues as a punt returner, but he seemed to try and compensate for those mistakes by trying to do too much in coverage at cornerback.

The fourth-year junior looks to have settled down the past few weeks and is now playing by far his best football of the year.

Along with his career-high 11 tackles vs. Michigan, Taylor-Britt also had a quarterback hit, two STOP tackles, three pass breakups, and allowed just two completions for 14 yards on a team-high eight targets per PFF.

Having a true shutdown cornerback to take away one side of the field would be a massive boost to a defense that has already been strong all season.