How Minnesota adjusted at halftime after throwing plan ‘out the window’

Football is a game of adjustments and Minnesota made a bunch of them after Nebraska opened up a 10-0 halftime lead Saturday.

On the defensive side of the ball, those changes allowed the Gophers to hold Nebraska to just 14 yards in the third quarter, turn a fourth-quarter interception into a touchdown and hold the Huskers to three total points in the second half.

On offense, the Gophers brought in quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis for the injured Tanner Morgan, got the ball downfield in the passing games and figured out the Nebraska defensive scheme that had held running back Mohamed Ibrahim to 18 yards in the first half.

“It was just more of a reset,” Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. “It was really, truly defensively get in there and redo everything. On offense. It was like “Okay, here’s how we’re being played. We’re gonna have to take advantage of down-the-field plays.

“They knew that wasn’t our best half of football. That’s what’s great about this team. That’s why they’re fun to coach… They just came in there and knew what we had to do on the first drive in the second half. We had to get points on that first drive. That was critical and we went down there and got three, which is huge.”

That field goal was the first of 20 unanswered points for the Gophers, who defeated Nebraska for the third straight season.

Defensively, the adjustments were necessary because Minnesota had had to prepare for three Nebraska quarterbacks — “(Defensive coordinator) Joe Rossi, he made the statement up in the press box, that you might as well just throw our game plan out the window right now. Because of what we prepared for on film was not necessarily exactly what we saw based on who they had on the field,” Fleck said.

Those adjustments began late in the first quarter after Nebraska went up 10-0 and continued at halftime, said defensive lineman Tanner Rush.

“We talked about the 10 points and maybe you don’t get things you like,” he said. “But just our ability to come back to the benches and just make adjustments and then go out there and wipe it clean and guys execute their responsibility.

The adjustments, however, weren’t what got Ibrahmin going in the second half, where he put up 110 of his 128 yards and scored from 3 yards out to put the Gophers up 20-10 early in the fourth quarter.

“I came out slow, I’ll be the first one to admit that,” Ibrahim said. “Going into the locker room, (running backs) coach (Kenni) Burns got me to the side and had a heart-to-heart with me. It was like, ‘Let’s go.’ That’s all I really needed. He knew that I felt that I let my team down.”

The come-from-behind victory in a hard-fought, physical game had Fleck fired up after the game.

“That’s a gutsy win by a really good football team. Ours,” he said. “It was tough. It was gritty. It tested our character and I thought they passed the test… We had to grit, grind, fight, scratch, claw, especially when a lot of things weren’t going our way. I’m really proud of the resolve of our team, the courage of our team and the heart of our team and I think it showed.”