Nebraska Football: Huskers showed progress despite missed opportunity

Nebraska football fell short against Ohio State Saturday in Columbus, however, you can’t deny that the Huskers looked much improved against a top-10 team.

For one half, it looked like the Nebraska football team was going to beat Ohio State. Yet, at the very least, the Huskers proved they belonged with the Buckeyes.

Moral victories don’t matter in college football. We all know that. But this Nebraska football program is trying to build something. It’s a product that is far from finished and despite the 36-31 loss to Ohio State, the Huskers have taken a step forward.

A loss is a loss. You will get no argument from me there, but not all losses are the same. You can’t tell me you don’t feel better about Nebraska following this loss to Ohio State than you did when Michigan drubbed the Huskers 56-10.

Nebraska wasn’t ready that day in Ann Arbor and clearly wasn’t on the level of the Wolverines. Saturday in Columbus though, the Huskers were. Ohio State is a top-10 team and the Buckeyes were also fresh off a loss.

Normally, in those situations, the Buckeyes roll. But not Saturday, not against an improving Nebraska football team.

Instead, the Huskers got the running game going. Adrian Martinez ran for two touchdowns and Devine Ozigo also hit paydirt. The freshman quarterback also engineered a touchdown drive down 36-24, finding JD Spielman for a touchdown that got Nebraska back within five, 36-31 with less than three minutes left.

Unfortunately, Martinez and the offense wouldn’t get the ball back. However, it was still a very good day for the quarterback, who threw for 207 yards, ran for 78 more and scored two rushing touchdowns.

While the offense played well, the defense was outstanding, at least compared to previous outings against Ohio State. In the last two meetings, Ohio State didn’t punt and averaged 60 points a game vs the Huskers. Saturday in the Horseshoe, the Huskers forced three turnovers and four punts.

The job of the defense was to do enough to give Nebraska a chance to win and in that regard, it was mission accomplished. Were it not for a blocked punt and a safety, as well as a red-zone fumble by Martinez that cost Nebraska at least three points, the game could have been tied.

Of course, Ohio State can say the same thing, the point is, Nebraska leaves knowing it had quite a few missed opportunities.

Ultimately, the biggest missed opportunity was the chance to score a top-10 win on the road, something Nebraska hasn’t done in a long time. Even beating a ranked team on the road is something the Huskers haven’t done since 2011.

Unfortunately, the loss Saturday means Nebraska won’t be going bowling for the second straight year, however, with three games left, the Huskers are at least trending in the right direction.