With a credit to Sonny & Cher’s mid-1960s song, “the beat goes on” for the Nebraska football team.
I’m still trying to process this, as you probably are, but Nebraska lost to Illinois in Champaign Friday night 24-13. It wasn’t a one-score game, as the previous three losses were.
But it could have been … and in my apparently distorted opinion, it should have snapped the Huskers’ losing streak instead of extending Illinois’ winning streak to four.
Consider some of the unlikely things that happened to tilt the game in favor of the Illini.
John Hohl, who replaced Kyle Cunanan as Nebraska’s field goal kicker after Cunanan missed a 36-yarder in the fourth quarter of last week’s 17-10 loss to Washington (Hohl came on to kick a 42-yarder with time running out), missed two field goals, of 45 and 54 yards, in the first half. The 54-yarder, granted no gimme, was with 11 seconds remaining in the half, keeping the score tied at 7.
Illinois received the kickoff to start the second half and drove 75 yards on 13 plays for a touchdown and the lead. On fourth-and-12 at the Nebraska 32-yard line, the Illini lined up as if to attempt a field goal. But holder Lars Rau picked up the ball and ran 29 yards to the Husker 3-yard line.
Three plays later, Katin Houser passed 5 yards to Jordan Anderson for the touchdown.
The Huskers’ only possession of the third quarter was an 11-play, 50-yard drive that ended at the Illinois 25-yard line. On fourth-and-1, an Anthony Colandrea pass to Jacory Barney Jr. fell incomplete.
The Illini then began an eight-play, 74-yard touchdown drive, capped in the fourth quarter with Houser’s 6-yard pass to Collin Dixon, who finished with eight catches for 129 yards and Illinois’ first touchdown as well. The touchdown receptions were Dixon’s 11th and 12th of the season.
Nebraska went into the fourth quarter trailing (21-7) for the first time this season. But the Huskers responded, driving 91 yards on seven plays, in 2:48, the touchdown on a 51-yard Colandrea pass to Barney. They were right back in the game. Except instead of kicking the extra point, they went for two and Colandrea’s pass failed, meaning if they scored another touchdown, they’d have to go for two to tie.
A tie would require more than a touchdown, however. Illinois took the kickoff and drove 76 yards on 10 plays, also in 2:48, to increase the lead with a 21-yard field goal.
The Huskers had 8:33 remaining but couldn’t capitalize. Their subsequent possession reached the Illinois 25-yard line, ending with an incomplete Colandrea pass on fourth-and-1.
“In the critical moments, I have to play better,” Colandrea said.
Colandrea and Dawson Merritt were the only Huskers to speak in the formal press conference setting, aside from Matt Rhule. There was little they could say to shed light on the outcome. But they were willing to face questions while dealing with the ongoing disappointment of a team that had great expectations after a 5-0 start.
Rhule talked for about 10 minutes but provided little insight. “It was a good football game for a long time,” he said. And then it wasn’t from Nebraska’s point of view.
Nebraska had 426 yards of offense, but points not yards are what matter, Rhule said. And penalties were again an issue. The Huskers committed 11 penalties for 82 yards, Illinois six for 55.
Among the adjustments Rhule made following the Washington loss was moving offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen from the field to the press box. What adjustments Rhule makes next week before going to Piscataway, N.J., to play Rutgers, who knows? But something needs to change.
If you’ve made it this far, let me quote the late Jack Buck, the KMOX radio voice of the St. Louis Cardinals: “Thanks for your time this time, ’til next time, so long.”
