Here are some instant takes and reactions following Nebraska’s loss to Minnesota on Saturday.  

Here are some instant takes and reactions following Nebraska’s 24-17 loss to Minnesota on Saturday.

The Illinois loss earlier this season was bad, but in my opinion, this one is much worse.

Minnesota came into Lincoln with just over 50 players dressed and 33 scholarship players out with COVID-19. They had not played a football game since Nov. 20.

Everything about this game should’ve set up for the Huskers. However, just like the Illinois game, the opening play was a disaster fumble that turned into a 9-yard loss. Almost everything felt hard from that point on.

The offense struggled to find any type of rhythm. Adrian Martinez was off missing wide-open receivers. The run game felt clunky. The defense didn’t force their first true three-and-out until the fourth quarter.

There are no excuses for this one. This is a bad loss, and it’s very disappointing NU didn’t come out ready to play after a promising performance at Purdue a week ago.

The turning point in this game came on a third-down tackle by junior cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt.

After the stop, replay charged him with a targeting penalty. Instead of putting the Gophers in a position to kick a field goal and putting the game at 14-13, they later scored a touchdown to go up 17-14 at halftime.

NU had a brief moment in the second quarter where it felt like they were taking control of this game, but that targeting call eventually turned into a touchdown and swung the momentum.

Not having Taylor-Britt and linebacker Luke Reimer for the second half hurt the defense. Those are two of their best playmakers they were forced to play without. Getting stops was a premium on Saturday.

Nebraska’s two redshirt freshman had a rough day on the offensive line.

Bryce Benhart gave up a pressure that allowed a sack-fumble on Adrian Martinez and he later gave up a sack on a crucial third-down play.

Meanwhile, Ethan Piper was charged with a holding call that wiped away a Martinez touchdown.

When you start young offensive linemen you are going to have these things happen, but these were mistakes at very key moments that turned the game.