Nebraska Huskers Football: Minnesota postgame nuggets

Here is a quick recap of what Nebraska head coach Scott Frost and his players had to say following the Huskers’ 30-23 loss at Minnesota on Saturday…

***Frost said Nebraksa’s slow start and “little details got us beat.”

***On the fourth-and-goal from the one, Frost said they considered going under center and sneaking it, but they watched a lot of film and saw how good Minnesota had been against those plays.

He said he thought they would have scored if Jaquez Yant hadn’t tripped in the backfield.

***Frost said Rahmir Johnson would be “fine” after missing the end of the game with an apparent injury.

***Frost said they talked a lot about going for it on 4th and five instead of sending out Connor Culp for a field goal to start the fourth quarter. He was “scratching my head” that Culp hit from 50 and then struggled to make a kick after that.

***Frost said again said the slow start was as much of a problem as anything, and he said the energy wasn’t where it needed to be to open the game. “That’s on us,” he said.

***Frost said Minnesota threw many new things at them in the first half but credited the team for adjusting after halftime. “They were the better team in the first half, and I thought we were the better team in the second half,” Frost said.

***Frost said the team prepared so well all week and felt “business-like,” and he wasn’t sure if he should have been concerned about that or not. “There wasn’t as much juice as we’d had the past two weeks,” Frost said. “We needed to bring it ourselves today.”

***Frost said NU “lost a lot of one-on-one battles” in the first half with blocks and tackles.

***Frost said Samori Toure was the top option on a seam route on the play where Martinez was flagged for an intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety. He said the protection needed to be better on that play.

***On the pressure to still try and have a winning season with just four games left, Frost said: “We’re all upset. I want this for the kids, first. I want it for Nebraska, second. I’m at the end of the list. These kids won’t quit.”

***Frost said the team needs a break and will come back strong

***Frost said the past 48 hours had been emotional for the entire team following the death of Erik Chinander’s father. He said Chinander’s dad would have wanted him to coach in the game, but “it’s not easy.”

***Domann said they expected the first 15 plays to be tough with Minnesota coming off a bye week, but after that, they settled down and figured things out.

***On the slow start, Domann said: “Ultimately, it’s on us. We’re the leaders, and we didn’t show it.”

***Domann said the death of Chinander’s father put football into perspective for everyone. “I respect the hell out of him for sticking with us and coaching for us… We fought for him.”

***Domann seemed frustrated when asked about NU’s inability to take the lead in the second half. “We just have to score,” he said. “This game’s about stops and scores.”

***On how frustrating this season has been: “We’ve just got to find a way to win, and we keep finding ways to lose.”

***Martinez said even after getting stopped at the goal line, the feeling on offense was that they could move the ball on Minnesota, and they’d get another chance.

***Martinez said he felt he scored on the play before the fourth-down stop and his feet were over the goal line.

***Martinez said the team needs a few days to rest and regroup this week, but they also needed to reevaluate and “fix some things” before the next game.

***Martinez said Minnesota’s defense “did a good job of mixing things up” and taking away a lot of the check-downs he’d typically hit.

***In hindsight, Martinez said he should have stepped up in the pocket and avoided the safety he took with his intentional grounding.

***Martinez said of going shotgun on the fourth-and-goal from the one, they do work on under-center snaps, but “it takes repetition” to trust that in those types of situations. “I play on the team, and we run what is called,” but added that he would have complete confidence to rerun the same play in that situation if they did it over again.

***Taylor-Britt said the message for the entire team at halftime was that they “had to flip the switch and wake up.” He said everyone could see the team wasn’t really dialed in in the morning and Frost even said something to the team about it.

***Taylor-Britt said the Huskers “always come close, but close doesn’t count in the record books.” He said they’d been getting too many L’s and needed to turn those into W’s.

***Taylor-Britt said he played for Chinander today because Chinander “is like a father” to him. He said Chinander talked with the team before the game and told them how much he loved them.

***Taylor-Britt said the difference on his interception was “they finally threw the ball to me.”