Quarterback Kyle Vantrease ran for an 8-yard touchdown with 36 seconds left to give Georgia Southern a 45-42 win over Nebraska and its second all-time win over a Power Five Conference opponent on Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.
The Eagles drove 75 yards in 11 plays to regain the lead after Nebraska had gone ahead with 3:05 remaining. Nebraska hurriedly moved it to the Georgia Southern 34, but Timmy Bleekrode missed a 52-yard field goal at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime.
Vantrease completed 37 of 56 passes for a career-high 409 yards and one touchdown for the Eagles (2-0). Derwin Burgess Jr. caught a school-record 12 passes for 119 yards and Gerald Green carried 10 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
Nebraska (1-2) quarterback Casey Thompson completed 23 of 34 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown and ran for three scores. Anthony Grant carried 27 times for 138 yards and one touchdown and Ajay Allen ran eight times for 76 yards and one touchdown.
The teams combined for 689 total yards in a wild first half and finished with them deadlocked at 28-28.
Georgia Southern scored first on a 2-yard run by Jalen White and Nebraska answered on an 8-yard keeper by Thompson.
White put the Eagles ahead again with a 26-yard run, but Nebraska scored on its new two possessions, a 21-yard pass from Thompson to Brody Belt and a 4-yard run by Grant.
Georgia Southern scored the next two times it had the ball, with Green scoring from the 1 and the 47 to give the Eagles a 28-21 lead. Nebraska tied it when Thompson scored on a 2-yard run.
Southern took the lead on a 10-yard pass from Vantrease to Amare Jones and Nebraska tied the game at 35-35 on Allen's 7-yard run.
Georgia Southern went ahead 38-35 on Alex Raynor's 19-yard field goal and was driving for another score when Vantrease was intercepted by Marques Buford Jr., his second of the night, and took over at the 2. Nebraska then went ahead on Thompson's 1-yard sneak.
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