Notes: NU finds way to respond in third quarter; Davis, Huskers motivated to score a lot vs. Gophers | Soccer

After all, the fans had seen the Huskers drop 10 straight, and most recently, they saw a late 10-point lead at Northwestern turn into defeat.

"I even thought it myself," Frost said after the Huskers' 53-28 win. "I've seen this movie before."

Purpose Nebraska (1-6, 1-3 Big Ten) responded in a big way. A four-play drive, capped by Stanley Morgan's 35-yard touchdown wrestling, gave the Huskers some breathing room.

NU freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez said the offense knew what he had to do when Seth Green's 4-yard touchdown pulled the Gophers to within a touchdown.

"We never lost faith," Martinez said. "I was confident we were going to go down and win the game."

The Gophers tried to answer a long distance and reached the NU 3-yard line, but a turnover on downs kept some distance between the two teams.

"One of the things we're talking about when you're in that situation, what are you thinking?" Frost said. "How are you thinking? We want to excel and we do not care about the situation.

Getting back at the Gophers: Carlos Davis said it's a lot about 2017 – a 4-8 season that ended in the end of the Mike Riley era.

It was hard, however, to forget about the 54-21 pounding at the hands of the Gophers in Minneapolis last November.

"If we could, I wish we would have 60 on them (Saturday), kept it going," said Davis, a junior defensive lineman. "Just thinking about last year (and) what happened to us last year.

"It's just in the back of your head, but I remember not losing it to Minnesota."

The 53 points posted by NU Saturday was its most against a Big Ten Conference in 2011.

"It hurts last year to see the score on us, so it's a little bit of payback," Morgan said.

Huskers target Morgan more: Morgan gets more chances Saturday, and the senior from New Orleans delivered.

Morgan finished with a career-high 10 catches for 163 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a 67-yarder that iced the game.

"Frost said," In our offense the ball is going to go where it's supposed to go based on what they're doing, and then we're trying to get them excited, "Frost said. "I was kind of disappointed ball did not find Stanley a lot last week and you see what kind of player he is."

Morgan had just two catches in the Northwestern loss. On Saturday, Morgan had two catches by the midway point of the first quarter.

Morgan said coaches moved Morgan around this week.

"It's kind of tough being out there over-the-top coverage," he said. "It's kind of tough to get the ball out there." "So the coaches just moved me around, and I'd appreciate them for that."

Washington coming into his own: Maurice Washington 's role in Nebraska' s offense has increased steadily over the first half of the season, and the freshman back to his best game on Saturday, rushing for 109 yards and a touchdown.

The 6-foot-1 back showed his electrifying skill set against Minnesota with cuts and speed and even a successful spin-off, but it's the way he's gone that he's impressed his roommate and friend Cam Taylor.

"He's grown a lot since he's here," the freshman cornerback said. "Maturewise, a lot. Schoolwise, footballwise. All around. "

Washington now has 296 rushing yards (5.6 per carry) and 92 receiving yards on the season and has scored a touchdown in each of the past two weeks.

Spielman's historic pace: JD Spielman had just one catch after halftime, but still finished with eight for 77 and a touchdown.

The sophomore reached 100 career catches, doing so faster than any player before him.

His season totals of 42 catches and 614 yards put him on pace for 82 and 1,052, respectively, and 12 touchdowns. Those totals would break Morgan's 2017 yardage mark (986) and Marlon Lucky's record reception (75 in 2007) and tie Quincy Enunwa's touchdown mark (2013).

For the fans: Inside the walls of Nebraska 's football facility, the Husker players knew what type of team they had.

The record said different, of course, which could make quotes about "being close" and "almost there" start to seem a little hollow at times.

Often, those quotes would come from Mohamed Barry, the junior linebacker who has been a vocal representative of this team as anyone.

Saturday provided the payoff to Barry's words.

"I was just proud." "I was just proud." "I'm just proud of that." "I'm just proud of that, they've been hyped the whole game, "Barry said. "This was for them because they are going to be happy tonight, they're paying off because we're paying off today and we're proud of our teammates. "

No flag, no problem: Dicaprio Bootle got in the way of Minnesota's fourth-down pass in the end zone, literally – the ball hit him in the back and fell to the ground to give Nebraska possession.

Did the defensive back worry?

"No. You know me." I'm always confident that it's not a PI (pass interference) even if people tell me it's a PI, "Bootle said. "The last couple weeks, I've been getting some really bad calls on some guys."

Barry agreed with his teammate.

"All year he's been doing those plays, and finally they did not throw a flag," Barry said. "This is the time to get it right, and we got it."

Quick hits: Barry finished with a team-high 11 tackles, marking his fourth double-digit tackle effort of the season. … Freshman Placekicker Barret Pickering hit a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter, giving him two conversions in a row dating to last week. UM receiver Tyler Johnson finished with 11 catches for 184 yards, marking the second straight week. Nebraska had just two tackles for loss and one sack.