Nebraska Football: Reliving the 2009 Big 12 Championship

Time to take a trip down Nebraska Football memory lane.

Times have changed, at least until further notice as COVID-19 has people staying in to keep their neighbors safe as well as themselves. What better way to test your emotional stability than by re-watching the 2009 Big 12 Championship game as #22 Nebraska took on #3 Texas for a shot at a BCS bowl berth. Texas had plenty on the line themselves as they were fighting to punch their ticket into the National title game against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Nebraska football was back in the limelight in Bo Pelini’s second season as head coach of the Cornhuskers.

Getting to this stage so quickly in his tenure was beyond exciting in the moment but also sprinkled a glimmer of hope on the program’s future regardless of the outcome. Even though Nebraska was a two-touchdown underdog going into the matchup, for a lot of the Husker faithful, it was just great to see them in a championship type environment once again following the previous four years with that other coach. I think you all know who I’m referring to, so I won’t waste my energy typing out his name.

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The first half had its peaks and valleys—a lot more peaks than valleys than I care to admit. Husker nation on this day witnessed a defensive battle to the likes they probably hadn’t seen since the glory days of the ’90s. However, for me, this was the best defense I have ever seen played by any Blackshirt unit throughout my 25 years of life.

The dominance of Ndamukong Suh, who at halftime had an incredible sack total of 2.5 along with a tackle on Texas QB Colt McCoy that occurred with about 5:16 left in the first half, will live on in Husker lure for eternity. We witnessed him fend off a Texas offensive lineman with his left arm and wrap up McCoy with his other arm with the sole intention of throwing him into the next century never to be seen from again.

Although your memory may trick you into thinking Suh almost single-handedly brought the State of Texas to their knees, he did have help from his buddies on the Defensive line and those in the backfield. Pierre Allen, Dejon Gomes, Prince Amukamara, Barry Turner, and Jared Crick had McCoy running for his life while making positive yardage almost near impossible to come by. Notice how I said almost near impossible, as though the Blackshirts brought what seemed to be the entire Husker defensive line at McCoy along with their back seven. They played perfect pass coverage for various stretches. Penalties assisted the Longhorns to score their lone touchdown of the game and take their first lead, despite Husker kicker Alex Henery manufacturing all of the Huskers points, helping them cling to a 6-0 lead. With 3:05 left the first half on a 3 & 13 from the Nebraska 18, McCoy fires a bullet to his receiver in the endzone with Nebraska’s Eric Hagg in on the coverage running stride for stride with the wideout. However, he forgets to look back and is called for pass interference, thus allowing Texas to start a first down inside the Nebraska 5 that leads to a McCoy two-yard touchdown run leading 7-6 heading into the locker room.

The Huskers start with the football going into the third quarter, hoping for more production from the offense behind Zac Lee as he threw for all of 8 yards in the first half. Sadly, the poor offensive execution continued as Lee completed more passes to the team in burnt orange than the team in scarlet red, picking up his third pick on the day in the third quarter. Later in the third, Texas hits a 39-yard field goal to take a 10-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The last quarter of this game is one for the history books. With 5:03 left in the contest, Huskers safety Dejon Gomes wrestles the ball away from a Texas receiver after the catch to give possession back to the Nebraska offense down by one.

The Huskers settle for another Henery field goal from the Texas 26-yard line, taking the lead 12-10 with 1:44 remaining in the game. Penalties again rear their ugly head. The Huskers kick, the kickoff goes out of bounds and gives Texas the ability to set up shop at their 40-yard line. On the very first play on the final drive, McCoy completes a 19-yard pass to his security blanket receiver, Jordan Shipley. Nebraska’s Larry Asante grabbed the back of Shipley’s collar while bringing him down and was called for a horse-collar tackle tacking on a free 15 yards for Texas. The penalty allowed them to start a new 1st & 10 inside the Husker 30-yard line.

From there, McCoy scrambles around on the next two plays gaining little to no yardage. With the clock winding down and one time out left at their disposal, McCoy elects not to use it. He gets his offense set and hikes the ball with 7 seconds left on the game clock, rolls to his right, and throws the ball out of bounds.

The clock hits :00, the husker sideline rushes onto the field in celebration, capturing what they thought to be their first Big 12 Championship since 99’, while the Texas sideline claims that there was one second left on the clock when the ball landed on the ground out of bounds. The teams went back to their sidelines, where the booth upstairs reviewed the play. After review, officials ruled that one second was left and that allowed the Longhorns to hit a game-winning field goal and beat Nebraska 13-12.

Two things you forgot about this game:

Bo Pelini had tremendous fan support and, to this day, probably still does in some respect. He was the guy hired by “The God” of Husker Football, Tom Osborne, to elevate our program from an afterthought back to a title contender (within the conference and otherwise). However, oddly enough outside of 2013, during his run, the Cornhuskers were nowhere close to having any championship aspirations.

The penalties that appeared during this game got progressively worse not only during Pelini’s run but even during Riley’s time too. Our Defensive backs, the majority of the time from ‘09 and beyond, always had trouble looking back for the ball while in pass coverage. This lead to a multitude of pass inference calls, which then led to penalties in other facets of games leading Nebraska to put undisciplined teams on the field, time in and time out thus losing close games that could have been wins.

In the end, even though the Huskers came out on the losing end, this game had instant classic type moments. Husker fans got to witness a miraculous defensive performance from not only Suh but from other vital defensive contributors that many have probably forgotten about as years have passed. It’s a shame that Suh couldn’t have thrown and caught the ball to himself on offense, to help us edge out the victory, but I’ll take what I can get. It was a great re-watch as it allowed me to feel every possible human emotion all at one time.