LINCOLN — To think the Nebraska football team simply moved on following its 24-6 loss at Minnesota, you would be mistaken.
The days following the Huskers’ second loss of the season was filled with soul searching, according to quarterback Dylan Raiola.
They sat on the loss on Saturday. Had a team meeting on Sunday, where they went through and voiced every concern needed. There was even a player’s only meeting mixed in.
While that may not sound like a good sign, as Nebraska looks to get back on the right track this Saturday against Northwestern with a chance to achieve bowl eligibility, Raiola said it was needed so that the Huskers could all move forward as a group on the same page.
“Now its about fixing (things),” Raiola said. “And I know those guys in the locker room will get it done.”
For the second time this season the Huskers were put in their place. Beaten at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, spelling disaster for their chances of winning a game.
But this was different from Nebraska’s loss to Michigan. The Wolverines may have simply been the better team. Minnesota, in its win, showed it had more effort. And in Raiola’s eyes, that can’t happen again.
“Not just taking punches and not swinging back,” Raiola said. “Goes back to having pride for our university, team and the work we put in.”
Raiola said Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule was leading the charge for a lot of it. Rhule, according to Raiola, showed the Huskers clips and tape of everything they did wrong. It was hard for them to watch.
“At the end of the day all the players aren’t pointing the finger,” Raiola said. “We are taking the blame. We all put our bodies on the line to win a football game and have to wear it.”
There was a lot for Rhule to show. The Huskers, like the Michigan game, lost at the line of scrimmage.
They gave up nearly 200 rushing yards and allowed Raiola to get sacked nine times, which was a focus within the offensive line’s room.
“It sucks,” Lutovsky said. “It’s like your little brother is back there and just got knocked down., He is family to us. It’s a terrible feeling but makes you feel like you need to get better for him.”
Lutovsky said throughout Friday’s game, Nebraska’s offensive line played like they didn’t trust what they had trained to do since the start of preseason camp. And it certainly showed.
Over the past couple of days, there were some tough conversations within that room, with coaches making it clear to each player what they needed to improve on in order to keep Raiola off the turf.
“The only place to go is up,” Lutovsky said. “Taking that mindset every day, attacking everything that is thrown at us in practice or in film and individually fixing what needs to be fixed.
“…We can either be complacent with where we are at or fight back. I know what we are going to do.”
Nebraska’s defense plans to have that same mindset going against Northwestern’s rushing attack, which just like past opponents — like Michigan and Minnesota — will test the Huskers throughout the course of 60 minutes.
“It’s just recognition,” linebacker Marques Watson-Trent said. “Everybody needs to understand that they are going to run outside zone (plays). This is a copy cat league and there are smart coordinators. If there are successful plays in Week 1, they are going to run it in Week 8 and 9. It’s just going to happen. We gotta all communicate, get off blocks and win. That's what it narrows down to.”
Watson-Trent reiterated that stopping the run has to be a defensive-wide mentality, and at times this year, that has been lacking. It was certainly one of the many things discussed in Nebraska’s meetings over the past 72 hours.
Eventually, Nebraska’s attention had to turn to Saturday’s game against the Wildcats, because the only thing worse than Friday’s loss to the Gophers would be for Nebraska to lose the game twice.
It’s easier said than done. Last season, the Huskers allowed a 5-1 start to spiral to a 6-6 finish. Going through that was a tough ride for Nebraska’s players, but it helped them learn that only they are capable of turning the tide back in the right direction.
“Nobody is going to pull us out of it, we have to go do it ourselves,” Raiola said. “Thats simple as that. You got to take what you want and we will be hungry to do that on Saturday.”
