Gophers come back to stun Nebraska 13-10 in 2023 opener
Tyler Nubin #27 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers celebrates his interception against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the first half at Huntington Bank Stadium on August 31, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ((Photo by David Berding/Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota football team opened the 2023 season on a gorgeous summer night in front of a sellout crowd of more than 53,000 at Huntington Bank Stadium Thursday, hosting Nebraska led by first-year coach Matt Rhule in a critical early game in the Big Ten West.
The fans who stayed got a thrilling finish after a dud for three quarters. The Gophers rallied with 10 fourth quarter points for a 13-10 win over the Cornhuskers in the most thrilling of fashions. It wasn't pretty, but they're 1-0.
"I hope nobody left. I’m so proud of our football team, what resiliency they showed. We’ve talked about the word poise since January, and they had a lot of gut checks throughout that entire football game. I thought we held our cool, we were poised and nobody stopped believing on that sideline," Gophers coach PJ Fleck said after the win.
Athan Kaliakmanis hit Daniel Jackson, who dragged one foot in, for a game-tying touchdown on 4th-and-10 from the Nebraska 13-yard line with 2:32 to play. Dragan Kesich made sure the Gophers survived the scare, drilling a 47-yard field goal as time expired to give Minnesota the win and a 1-0 start.
"You’ve got to go to your best player. Athan just said give me another shot at it, and Daniel runs a really good post corner. That is an unbelievable catch. That’s a catch that goes on the wall forever," Fleck said. "That’s one of those catches, you’ll see that one up there. That’s a special moment, that’s a catch he’ll never forget. One of the best catches that I've seen in 11 years when it comes down to special moments. That'll be in our home forever, you'll know what that catch was, that's when we beat Nebraska."
In his first start as the Gophers’ new quarterback, Kaliakmanis was 24-of-44 for 196 yards, one touchdown and a third quarter red zone interception that halted a potential scoring drive. Jackson finished with nine catches for 68 yards and the game-tying score late in regulation. Corey Crooms had seven catches for 63 yards in his Minnesota debut, and Brevyn Spann-Ford had five catches for 45 yards.
The Gophers’ defense kept them in the game with four turnovers, as Tyler Nubin had two interceptions. Tre’Von Jones added an interception, and Justin Walley forced a fumble that Aidan Gousby recovered. Nubin’s second interception with about a minute to play set up the game-winning field goal for Kesich.
"It meant everything, man. This is what I came back for. It’s always been a dream of mine to make a play and have Gus Johnson’s high-pitched voice on the TV screen. I’m going to definitely have to watch that one back. It means the world," Nubin said.
"It was before Nubin’s pick, I told Crawford be ready, we’re going to have another opportunity to go out there. Nubin gets the pick, offense does what they do, got us into field goal range and from there everything went black," Kesich said. "That’s the moment kickers dream of is a nice walk-off field goal like that."
In the first game without Mo Ibrahim, Sean Tyler and Bryce Williams had a combined 16 carries for 55 yards.
The Gophers were also without starting linebacker Cody Lindenberg, who was deemed unavailable for the game two hours before kickoff.
Nebraska took the lead early in the third quarter after a 63-yard kickoff return to open the second half. Jeff Sims dropped a lateral, then hit a wide open Alex Bullock in the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown on a broken play. The Cornhuskers added a field goal early in the fourth quarter to lead 10-3.
That set up the heroics between Kaliakmanis and Jackson, who somehow got one foot inbounds with control of the ball for the game-tying score.
"I trust that if it’s 1-on-1 and he’s not open, I’m going to give him the ball. He’s proven to everybody that he can make plays in big-time moments. That wasn’t a good ball from me on that fourth down, he was wide open," Kaliakmanis said. "But for him to make a catch like that, that’s why we call plays to him."
"There was no doubt in anything. Everything is like we did in practice. I’m happy I could do it for my brothers and I could come through when my name and my number is called," Jackson said.
The Gophers got the win despite being out-gained 295-241, and Sims going for 205 total yards and a passing touchdown. Nebraska also ran for 181 yards.
The Gophers got the win, and that’s all that matters. Minnesota is 1-0 and hosts Eastern Michigan next Saturday night.