Rhule talks Rocco Spindler injury, Pritchett ejection 

Nebraska lost starting right guard Rocco Spindler in the first half of the Huskers’ 24-6 loss to Minnesota on Friday night. Following the loss, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule addressed the injury to the Notre Dame transfer. 

“Our prayers are up for him, hopefully he’s ok,” Rhule said. “Know they had to take him to the hospital, sounded like.” 

Rhule added. 

“He came off the field and they just said he broke his han-,” he said before correcting himself. “Broke his finger, sounds like it was even more serious than that. I don’t want to say everything without knowing, but they had to take him to the hospital immediately.”  

Spindler was out of the remainder of the game and in his place, Tyler Knaak stepped into the right guard spot the rest of the way. After losing Spindler, Nebraska lost starting left tackle Elijah Pritchett as well, to a controversial targeting penalty. Rhule shared the explanation he got for the penalty after the game. 

“He knocked him down, when he’s down you can’t hit him, that’s the 15-yard part of it, which is the correct call,” he said. “And then they said he led with his helmet and hit him in the helmet, therefore it’s targeting. I didn’t get much else other than that.” 

Dylan Raiola was sacked a program record nine times in Friday night’s loss, the loss of two starting offensive linemen certainly contributed to the final total, but Rhule made sure to credit Minnesota’s defensive front. 

“Obviously you lost two offensive linemen that’s going to hurt you,” he said. “But we’re not going to make any excuses, they got after us.”

In addition to losing Spindler to injury, Nebraska was expecting to have linebacker Vincent Shavers to be a factor on Friday night, despite a cast on his hand. Rhule revealed after the loss why the sophomore didn’t finish the game. 

“V9 had surgery on his thumb on Tuesday and was cleared to play, was planning on playing,” he said. “As he started, was just too painful. So, just wasn’t able to play. Appreciate him for trying to play.” 

Nebraska fell to 5-2 on the season with Friday night’s 24-6 loss to Minnesota. The HUskers are back in action on Saturday, Oct. 25 in Memorial Stadium against Northwestern.