Scoggins: Gophers’ dismantling of Huskers begins, builds and ends in the trenches

Sometimes football calculus isn’t difficult to decipher. When one team wins the matchup along the line of scrimmage in a thorough and convincing manner, the rest is just conversation.

The Gophers beat up the favored Nebraska Cornhuskers on Friday night. That is the headline to a final score, 24-6, that reflected what took place on the field at Huntington Bank Stadium.

Football, in its essence, is won in the trenches, and the Gophers scored a knockout in that area to extend their winning streak against the Cornhuskers to six games.

The defense collected nine sacks.

The offense put together a masterful 14-play, 98-yard touchdown drive.

The Gophers held a 186-36 advantage in rushing yards.

They limited a Nebraska offense that was averaging 41 points to two field goals.

A week ago, the Gophers benefitted from Purdue’s ineptitude to pull off an underwhelming victory. Friday night, they clobbered the snot out of their opponent.

“Our players were relentless,” Fleck said. “They set the tone from the beginning.”

One play highlighted that tone in blunt visuals.

Nebraska faced a third-and-5 in the final minute of the third quarter. Gophers linebacker Matt Kingsbury blitzed up the middle. Running back Emmett Johnson braced for impact in pass protection, but Kingsbury sent him flying backward with a kaboom hit and then corralled Dylan Raiola for the seventh sack of the game.

The message was delivered and understood at that point.

Everything started in the trenches, both sides.

The defensive line began the season as a clear strength, but that group hadn’t been consistently disruptive. The Gophers made Raiola’s night miserable with relentless pressure that often ended with the quarterback staring up from the turf. Anthony Smith, Karter Menz and Jaxon Howard each collected multiple sacks.

The rush overwhelmed the Nebraska line, and Raiola made the job even tougher by holding on to the ball as if he were waiting at a bus stop. He must have left his pocket awareness back in Lincoln.

Injuries left the Gophers thin at cornerback, a dicey predicament against a top-10 passing offense nationally. The Gophers never let Raiola establish a rhythm or look comfortable because he was smothered by the pass rush and the secondary was sticky in coverage.

An equally important development happened on the other side of the ball. The Gophers offensive line finally flexed some muscle and enabled the offense to show balance.

Something clicked Friday. Darius Taylor rushed for 148 yards, including a 71-yard explosive that set up the first touchdown. The offense functions differently when Taylor is given a chance to be effective and paired with Drake Lindsey’s passing.

That combination produced a statement drive that changed the entire tenor of the game.

The Gophers led 7-6 in the third quarter when they started a drive at their 2-yard line. They methodically pushed the Huskers backward with a beautiful blend of run-pass play calls and execution. Seven runs, seven passes, nearly nine minutes drained from the clock.

The sequence ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Lindsey to Le’Meke Brockington.

“It was about putting a hand in the ground, putting the ball down and play football,” Fleck said. “That’s what we preached all week.”