Tad Stryker: Huskers Fight Back From the Brink

The ensuing kickoff against the wind died just inside the Michigan State 30 and was muffed by a Spartan. Mekhi Nelson fell on the loose ball at the 28-yard line, and early in the fourth quarter, Kyle Cunanan kicked a 27-yard field goal to give the Huskers a 24-21 lead.

The Blackshirts re-established control of the game early in the fourth quarter and then, after a series of punts, without warning, the win was secured by a wide receiver who threw a shoe. Nyziah Hunter, a sophomore transfer from Cal-Berkley who caught four passes for 93 yards and a touchdown for the game, made the play of the day on a sideline pass from Raiola early in the fourth quarter.

Catching the ball in the left flat, Hunter stepped out of a tackle, leaving his shoe behind as junior center Justin Evans threw a beautiful kick-out block to spring him into the open field. Flashing one red sock and one white shoe, Hunter burned down the west sideline to the end zone, and the Huskers held a double-digit lead the rest of the game.

The chaotic 38-27 win improved the Huskers’ record to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten, setting up their first road game of the season at Maryland next Saturday afternoon against a Terrapin team that coughed up a 20-point lead Saturday to Washington. Without a running game to take to the East Coast, it seems that the drive for the their second October victory could be a difficult one.

Rhule confirmed as much during his postgame press conference, where he said that every conference game will be a battle. That will certainly be true if the Huskers cannot run the ball with consistency, something that seems quite likely at this point.

“We’re trying to play good football and it’s really hard, the Big Ten is hard,” he said. “It’s not like we’re not focused, they have good players too, they game-planned us, too. I think the biggest thing is we just keep hanging in there and playing. I think this is a game in previous years we might have lost.”

Rhule has a point, obviously. He also owns a win over a 4-1 Cincinnati team that’s looking better by the week. On the other hand, his offense is not physical enough to take any pressure off Raiola, who was manhandled by the first two conference opponents the Huskers have seen. The fans wishing for TJ Lateef to replace Raiola may get their wish sooner than later if the Husker offensive tackles can’t step up their game.

The Huskers removed Teddy Prochazka from the starting lineup, inserting Elijah Pritchett at left tackle and moving Gunner Gottula to the right side. It didn’t make much difference, at least for most of the game. Nebraska rushed for just 67 total yards (102 if you don’t subtract the 35 yards lost to five sacks). There could have been more mayhem had Raiola not run for his life on several occasions. As the game neared its lowest point from the Husker point of view, Evans was whistled for an inexplicable foul for unsportsmanlike conduct with his team facing a third-and-1 in Michigan State territory.

To their credit, the Huskers didn’t buckle. In fact, they finished strong, picking up 154 of their 231 total offense yards in the final 17 minutes of the game. As usual, most of them came on Raiola’s arm. The Husker defense, which had 12 tackles for loss, made three of them in a critical two-minute stretch right after Hunter’s touchdown, which gave Nebraska the ball at the Spartan 25-yard line, allowing Johnson to seal the game with an 11-yard touchdown run, his third score of the game.

Linebacker Javin Wright led the Huskers with 10 tackles, including 3½ for loss. Nebraska went plus-two in turnovers and for the first time in recent memory, and held a significant edge over a conference opponent in the kicking game, sparked by a first-quarter punt block by Jamir Conn, which turned into a 3-yard touchdown return by Carter Nelson, which gave NU a 14-0 lead at the 7:37 mark of the first quarter. The Huskers didn’t score again for well over two quarters, although Barney almost added another special-teams touchdown when he went 81 yards with a punt return, which was nullified by a penalty.

The Huskers held Michigan State to 84 yards rushing, which is a decent accomplishment against a team that averaged 154 yards a game on the ground entering the day. They had four sacks. Even more impressive was holding the Spartans to 2 of 14 on third-down conversions.

The Huskers will take a respectable defense and kicking game to Maryland, which should keep the game close. A four-win October? There’ll be plenty of adversity. If nothing else, the Huskers are well-versed in that.