Huskers beat Colorado, 40-31. Wooooo!
In a traditional day-after-Thanksgiving matchup, my Nebraska Cornhuskers hosted the Colorado Buffalos (whom I despise). The Buffs got out to an early lead, and I fell into a despair from which only Dr Pepper could rescue me. Late in the game, Colorado had the lead, 31-30.
After a series of not-so-great plays and about 2 minutes left, Nebraska found themselves in a 3rd and 25 situation. Joe Ganz tosses the ball up the middle for Mike McNeill. At first I thought he caught it – still well short of a 1st down – but it had actually bounced off his hands.
That brings up 4th and 25, and Nebraska coach Bo Pelini calls a time out. My family agrees that the Huskers HAVE to go for it at that point. Down by 1 with that little time left? Had to go for it.
Come out of the timeout and….kicker Alex Henery is on the field? What? That would be a FIFTY-SEVEN yard attempt. Earlier in the game NU ran a fake FG play on 50-yarder because it was “out of Henery’s range.” That play was a bad decision, because NU ran it just 2 weeks ago so Colorado knew what was coming. As soon as holder Jake Wesch tossed the ball over to Henery, the Buffs’ defender was right there to take it and run it all the way back for a TD.
So there was no way the Huskers could run a fake play now, and…..57 yards, really? No way! The team lines up, and it is indeed not a fake. Henery kicks the ball and it’s in the air for at least 4 years. The ball wobbles, heading toward the right side up the uprights. If Henery misses this kick, Colorado will most assuredly win the game. Ewwww! It keeps flying, flying, flying, slowly meandering toward the goalposts.
And then…the ball sneaked into the bottom-right corner and the officials raised their arms – it’s good! 33-31 Nebraska.
Now it’s time for the defense. If they fail here, and Colorado scores, there’s no time for a comeback after that. And BOY did they come through: Zach Potter tipped the pass from CU QB Cody Hawkins, and Ndomukong Suh snatched it from the air and lumbered to the endzone. On his way, he crossed paths with Hawkins, and destroyed him with an expert stiffarm.
After both the field goal and the Suh pick-6, I was elated and screamed and hollered an embarrassing amount, given that I was indoors. Sure, it shouldn’t have come to that - Colorado scored two touchdowns in the first few minutes of the game even though their offense is awful - and I had hoped the Huskers would run away with a big win. But if it had to come down to late-game shenanigans, the way it unfolded was a perfect. A perfect mess.
As CBS pointed out, Nebraska - 18-point favorites in Vegas - set themselves up for disaster “thanks to a couple big offensive plays in the first quarter, a botched Nebraska fake field goal that led to a CU touchdown and Ganz’s fumble early in the fourth quarter.”
Yes, the Huskers should have won by more. But golly, it was still fun to win like that instead.