Breaking Down the Biggest Comeback In School History!
By Jimmie Allen
The speculation was out all week. What happens if Nebraska comes out flat against Ohio State,and how would they respond? A lot of people in Husker nation felt it would be similar to the Wisconsin game. If the Huskers fell behind early they would stay behind. Well, freshman quarterback Braxton Miller and the Buckeyes came into Lincoln with just that intention.
On the opening drive the Buckeyes went 56 yards in 13 plays and took an early 3-0 lead off a 41-yard Drew Basil field goal.
After a quick 5 play drive that ended in a field goal for the Huskers, the Buckeyes stormed right back with a 7 play, 80 yard touchdown drive. That was capped off with a Miller touchdown pass to Jake Stoneburner. After going back and forth on stalled drives, the Buckeyes punched it into the end zone one more time on a Carlos Hyde 58-yard touchdown run on Ohio States first play of the 2nd quarter. The Buckeyes led 17-3 with 12:41 left to go in the half.
By half time each team had tacked on a field goal. The game plan for the Huskers to be successful had to be get Rex Burkhead and the run game going. At the half Miller had more rushing yards than the entire Nebraska team. Burkhead had 11 attempts for 14 yards. Freshman Ammer Abdulah had 2 carries for 16 yards.
Quarterback Taylor Martinez started the game 10-1o passing, but finished the first half 10-13 for 80 yards, and one interceptions. The good news for Nebraska fans was, aside from that interception Martinez was making smart decision with the football and doing it quickly. Checking down to his backs and tight ends often. He also had 5 rushes for 17 yards.
The Buckeyes had ran 5 less plays, but put up 129 more yards of offense in the opening half.
The start of the third quarter was more of the same. Miller put the Buckeyes on his back and took the opening drive of the 2nd half 47 yards on 7 plays. With the highlight being a 27 yard pass from Miller to Corey Brown. Hyde ran the touchdown in from 1-yard out with 10:46 left in the 3rd quarter.
After a quick 3 and out by the Husker offense, the game flipped on it’s ear. Ohio State started the drive from it’s own 12 yard line. On 3rd and 5 Miller rushed off the right tackle on a quarterback draw when senior linebacker, Lavonte David gave the Blackshirts the spark they needed, by stripping the ball from Miller and giving the offense the best field position of the night.
On the ensuing drive after a Burkhead 5 yard run, Martinez took the ball 18 yards for the first touchdown of the night for the Huskers. Trailing 27- 13 with 7:17 left in the third quarter, there seemed to be some light at the end of the tunnel for Nebraska.
After a 5 play drive that ended with Miller being injured, and forced to leave the game. The Buckeyes were forced to punt with 4:21 left in the third quarter.
Taylor Martinez and company started from their own 20 on the next drive. After leading the team 36 yards on 6 plays, Martinez topped the drive off with a 34 yard touchdown pass to sophomore Quincy Enunwa. The Huskers trailed 27-20 with 1:37 left to go in the third.
With the loss of Miller, who at this point had racked up 190 yards of offense by himself, the Buckeyes were forced to turn to senior Joe Bauserman.
Senior quarterback on the road, hostile environment, no problem right? Bauserman didn’t complete a pass in the fourth quater, and finished the game 1-10, with an interception. An interception that sealed the fate of Ohio State fans everywhere.
After a great 7 play 72 yard drive that was highlighted by Rex Burkhead making a defender look silly in the open field, on a 30 yard swing pass play. Bauserman and the Buckeyes got the ball back with 7:29 left in a tied game at 27 all.
All season Nebraska has been looking for someone to play opposite of pre-season All-American Alfonzo Dennard at cornerback. A couple weeks ago junior college transfer, sophomore Stanley Jean-Baptist converted from wide receiver to corner, and defensive coordinator Carl Pelini has done nothing but rave about him. We seen why Saturday night, and Husker fans realized they may have a star in the making. After two straight run plays, Bauserman thought he would pick on number 16 at corner, because he hadn’t seen him all night. Unfortunately for him, 16 is Baptist number and the 6-foot-3 Miami, Florida native made him pay for looking his way. Baptist picked Bauserman off at Nebraska 22 yard line.
With 6:29 left in a tied ball game, Martinez and crew had 78 yards to go. Offensive coordinator Tim Beck had a plan, run, run run, Rex. 3 of Nebraska’s four plays on the drive went to Burkhead, including a 17 yard touchdown run that gave the Huskers the final lead of the game with 5:03 left on the game clock.
After a 3 and out that consisted of 3 incomplete passes by Bauserman, the Buckeyes punted and the Huskers took 10 plays to run out the final 4:02 left in the game.
BOX SCORE
Nebraska
Rushing No. Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg Burkhead, Rex 26 131 12 119 1 22 4.6 Martinez, Taylor 17 110 8 102 1 18 6.0 Abdullah, Ameer 2 16 0 16 0 12 8.0 Green, Aaron 1 7 0 7 0 7 7
Passing
C-A-I Yds TD Long Sack Martinez, Taylor 16-22-1 191 2 36
Receiving
No. Yards TD Long Burkhead, Rex 5 59 1 30 Bell, Kenny 3 33 0 20 Reed, Kyler 3 28 0 12 Kinnie, Brandon 2 14 0 10
Ohio State
Rushing
No. Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg Hyde, Carlos 13 107 3 104 2 63 8.0 Miller, Braxton 10 95 4 91 0 29 9.1 Hall, Jordan 17 51 2 49 0 9 2.9 Bauserman, Joe 1 0 1 -1 0 0 -1.
Passing
C-A-I YDS TD Long Sack Bauserman, Joe 1-10-1 13 0 13 1 Miller, Braxton 5-8-0 95 1 32
Receiving
No. Yards TD Long Brown, Corey 3 61 0 27 Stoneburner, Jake 1 32 1 32 Boren, Zach 1 11 0 11 Smith, Devin 1 4 0
By-Jimmie Allen
Photo provided by ESPN.com