Nebraska Football: Grading the Huskers win over Michigan State

Nebraska football won its fourth straight home game Saturday against Michigan State and here are the grades for the offense, defense, coaches and special teams.

The Nebraska football team had won games previously this season, but the Huskers had really only won one way, by outscoring teams in track meets, scoring 45 points or more in all three wins prior to Saturday.

However, it was clear early on Saturday at Memorial Stadium that Nebraska football wasn’t going to get into a track meet with Michigan State. With the wind, the snow and the weather in general, it was going to be a slobberknocker.

Michigan State doesn’t have a great offense. The Spartans didn’t have their best receiver or their best running back. But Nebraska also didn’t have JD Spielman. Adrian Martinez and Rocky Lombardi both struggled to throw the football and at the end of the day, neither team scored a touchdown.

It was an old-school football game. It was a game that the Blackshirts had to win and despite not winning this kind of game for quite some time, the Huskers did it — correction — the Blackshirts did.

The defense forced a huge turnover in the fourth quarter and made two huge stops at the end of the game, not to mention holding the Spartans to field goals twice instead of touchdowns.

More than any of that, it was sweet beating a tough team like Michigan State. It feels like an accomplishment, more so than Illinois or Minnesota. And it was on senior day. For Scott Frost and those 19 seniors, the home schedule could not have ended any better.