Nebraska football can’t overcome mistakes in season opening loss
The Nebraska football team should have beaten the Colorado Buffaloes. Mistake, after mistake, after mistake led to a painful loss.
For a quarter and a half, it looked as though the Nebraska football team had exercised all the demons of the Bo Pelini/Mike Riley eras in one game. Then the second half kicked off and we were all reminded there’s still quite a bit of work to do.
The Cornhuskers opened the game looking exactly like a team that didn’t get to play a season opener yet. Despite moving the ball well, they fumbled on both of the two first possessions and went down 14-0.
Both the defense and the offense woke up about midway through the first quarter and looked like they were on another level than Colorado as they scored three straight touchdowns to take a 21-14 lead.
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At the half, the Huskers held a 21-17 lead and things felt pretty darn good in Lincoln. Things changed in the second half.
While the defense still played fairly well, the offense couldn’t get out of its own way. Adrian Martinez started looking like a true freshman again.
That included a dropped pass in the end zone by Stanley Morgan. A perfect pass that would, in fact, have won the game.
Martinez also had an interception that can only be described as Tanner Lee-esque to kill another drive. A few drives later, JD Spielman dropped a 3rd and long pass that would have been a first down.
All of those mistakes, all of them and there were plenty more, were overshadowed by a defensive play on Colorado’s game-winning drive. On 3rd and very long, Steven Montez threw an incomplete pass down the middle of the field.
It should have been the icing on a season-opening win for the Nebraska football team. Instead, Antonio Reed inexplicably drilled the unprotected receiver when he didn’t need to touch him at all.
The personal foul penalty gave Colorado a first down. One play later, they scored on a 40-yard touchdown pass.
Next. Highlights of the first half against Colorado. dark
There will be a lot more to say over the next week. It sucks Nebraska football couldn’t get out of its own way. It sucks worse that the injury to Adrian Martinez we’ve been fearing happened in the very first week. Andrew Bunch tried his best, but this is one of those games that’s going to stick in the craw for a while.