Nebraska’s third-year charm under Matt Rhule came to a halt in Week 8. The Huskers fell to Minnesota, 6-24. While the defense had its share of issues, the game will be remembered for how poor the offense looked. This is probably the first time under OC Dana Holgorsen that Nebraska fans thought they were in the first half of the 2024 season. After the game, fans took to X to show their frustration.

Among all the offensive stats yesterday, the most worrying was about the imbalance in playcalling. Nebraska called 38 passes and 16 runs in their loss to the Golden Gophers. When you look at the final score, that makes sense to a degree. When you are chasing a game, you are bound to prioritize pass plays. Interestingly, the score at the end of the 3rd quarter was 6-14. The Huskers were down by a touchdown. In that context, calling just 16 run plays makes no sense.

Against Maryland, Dana Holgorsen called 27 run plays, which went for 194 yards. Emmett Johnson had 176 rushing yards on 21 carries. Johnson carried the ball just 14 times for 63 yards against Minnesota. It made the offense one-dimensional, and as a result, Dylan Raiola had to run for his life all game.

Nebraska QB1 was sacked 9 times during the game. Holgorsen’s bad decision-making was on full display against Minnesota. When he failed to understand the flow of the game and forced the team into difficult situations. Keeping aside the fact that he called passes on 70% of the plays and pinning down their defense. While the productive run game at 4.4 yards per carry was abandoned, and an explosive slot threat remained underutilized for an entire half. 

The broader consequences of his inability to learn from mistakes and tactical inefficiency have resulted in the erosion of team morale and identity. All while Nebraska’s defense and special teams have played their hearts out. They have carried the load and ranked among the best in the nation. Even though the offense under Holgorsen remains ineffective and indecisive without a clear identity. Yet his tactical rigidity has resulted in the Cornhuskers being unable to manage the clock or the line of scrimmage effectively. 

Fan backlash erupts over Holgorsen’s play-calling

Nebraska fans pitched in with their humorous take on his playcalling and rigidity. “Three straight passes 3 and out to start the game. Holgorsen never looked back after that.” Highlighting how Holgersen was unable to learn from a poor start. Yet he kept on calling passing plays throughout the game.

Another pitched in while calling out his hesitancy to stick to the run, saying, “Dana seems to have a very hard time committing to the run. If the holes aren’t there early, he seems to think we can’t run, as opposed to Osborne’s method of wearing teams down.” One fan chipped in with a similar tweet questioning his decision to call fewerrunning plays. The tweet read, “That one is on the OC. It wasn’t like the run wasn’t working. He just didn’t stick with it.”

A frustrated fan summed up the night’s difference in coaching: “Terrible coaching performance from NU. Fleck’s teams are organized and execute their plan. Nebraska looked like they didn’t have any clue what they wanted to do last night. Polar opposite coaching abilities.”

That chaos translated on the scoreboard. While Minnesota under Coach Fleck seemed to know its game plan, Nebraska looked clueless. Nebraska converted just 20 percent of third downs, averaged a meager 3.3 yards per play, and managed only 36 rushing yards, failing to sustain a single drive longer than nine plays.