More ‘run the ball,’ please?

With a front row seat in the bone-chilling, shaded south end zone Saturday, my mind couldn’t help but wander. 
How can a coaching staff, featuring new voices and ideas, keep getting the basic stuff so wrong which has plagued Nebraska for years? 
More so, how can a high school coaching staff look so much more buttoned up and well-rounded than a high-level FBS staff? 
For 30 minutes, Nebraska looked like a team hell bent on being the tougher team. The second 30 minutes, the two teams traded jerseys and it was Minnesota barreling down the tracks. 
Minnesota and the fighting PJ Flecks rebounded from a rocky start to dust Nebraska 20-13 in a second half where the writing was on the wall and seemingly nothing could be done to erase the outcome. 
Never mind the quarterback conversation for a minute, which is embarrassing enough. Here’s all you need to know. 
The Huskers started Saturday’s game with toughness, starting with running back Anthony Grant. Grant got the ball six times on Nebraska’s opening drive and totaled 61 yards on the Huskers’ field goal possession. 
By the end of the first half, Grant had touched the ball 14 times and was at 91 rushing yards. 
But, Grant only got the ball seven times in the entire second half and was held to 26 yards as Minnesota did what the Huskers should have done. 
This was one of those ground and pound, see who the tougher guy is games. At the very least, Grant should have had 30 carries in that game. I was thinking more around 40 myself. 
Minnesota’s Mohammed Ibrahim carried the ball 32 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns. 
For the first time all season, Nebraska’s offensive line looked like something other than inept in the first half, running over Minnesota defenders and winning the line of scrimmage. 
People will say Nebraska’s quarterback play was unacceptable, but it shouldn’t have even mattered. The Huskers’ play calling got cute, thinking it had to run everything on its play sheet when in reality, it only needed to use the first section under “ground game.”
Take all that for what you will from a guy who owns a sweatshirt inscripted “run the ball.” It seems like Nebraska is always trying to outsmart somebody and it ends up lighting our own mess on fire. 
Nebraska’s defense did its job. They held a Minnesota team which is 16th in the country rushing the ball and held them to 166 yards. The Gophers average 212 per game. 
The problem became our three offensive drives of the third quarter were three and outs followed by a three-play interception drive to start the fourth. 
By then, the Husker defense was worn out as Minnesota ended the game with over 34 minutes time of possession. 
As for Nebraska’s quarterback situation, it’s unfortunate. With Casey Thompson out, the coaches can’t get a hold on what it wants or needs. 
Logan Smothers, if you remember, played valiantly last season when the Huskers needed him in the final game against Iowa. 
This could have been the same thing. Smothers gives you the best threat of a runner at QB, and the options could have been endless between him and Grant all day. 
Instead, the Huskers went with Chubba Purdy, who played well at stages, but once things went south, the coaches didn’t know when to pull the plug. 
Mickey Joseph won over a lot of people with how he’s coached and conducted himself since taking over as interim coach. 
I belong in that camp and despite all the bad during the past two weeks, those feelings haven’t changed. What Joseph is trying to do right now is impossible -- basically in a job interview with a program trying to conquer demons of years past. 
What athletic director Trev Alberts is trying to do is nearly impossible, too. Whatever his decision is won’t be universally loved and his choice, no matter what it is, will have pushback. 
Whoever the new coach is can start simply by not being outcoached in the simplest of fashions. 
Get the basic stuff right. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.