Nebraska’s offense has regressed in 2020. Saturday’s loss to Minnesota was ugly. What’s next? | Football

Almost any direction you look, NU’s offensive efficiency has regressed from 2019 to 2020.

“I watched on film on Sunday morning and I’m seeing the whole play executed perfectly and then there’s one guy that misses his block, one guy that runs the wrong way, gets the wrong signal, that screwed up the whole play and it’s just frustrating because we’re so close,” junior tight end Austin Allen said. “If I could go back in the play in that time, just make sure everybody’s got the right thing. This offense is built to execute based on 11 guys doing the right job. It can’t happen with just 10, but we’re so close.

“I’m seeing that on film every week. It’s frustrating that we can’t get that one guy to get it done, but that’s on us as leaders to make sure that doesn’t happen in practice, so it carries over to the game, so all 11 are executing at all times.”

That’s part of the frustration for Frost and company. In the two games before Saturday, for instance, NU’s passing game showed signs of life, averaging 7.7 yards per attempt and the Huskers turned the ball over just one time. Then against Minnesota, a pair of giveaways — one each by junior Adrian Martinez and redshirt freshman Luke McCaffrey — and 3.8 yards per attempt, by far the worst efficiency mark of the season.

“We started the game off so bad by not hitting a simple play that killed the drive, had a tipped interception that killed another drive, a bad punt,” Frost said. “We didn’t protect well enough and we missed some open guys. We had some guys running open. I think the receivers are doing a lot better job this year of getting the spots and getting there fast and being where they’re supposed to be. We’ve got to protect a little better and we’ve got to make sure we don’t miss (receivers).”