Nebraska Football Miniseries: Down Goes Sparty Part 2

Nebraska Football completes the upset!

Tommy Armstrong and company refused to quit, as their four minute and eight-second drive ran over to the start of the 4th quarter and ended with Armstrong rolling out to his right and  lowering his shoulder into an attempting tackler for six points. On the proceeding play, Nebraska elected to attempt a two-point conversion. However, his intended pass for a wide-open Jordan Westerkamp fell incomplete as the pass was out of the receivers reach. Nebraska still trailed 31-26 with 13:06 to go in the contest.

The following drive is where the game began to pick up. Michigan State converted on three third downs and one fourth and one to eventually score on a one-yard TD run by their running back. This capped off a 16-play 75-yard drive that lasted eight minutes, 50 seconds. This methodical drive left Nebraska down 38-26 with 4:16 left remaining in the game.

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The Huskers again responded with a TD of their own, Armstrong again ran the ball in for six points off a one-yard run. With only 1:47 left Nebraska was down by five. Michigan State followed up the Nebraska TD by forcing the Huskers to use up their two remaining time outs, while trying to run as much time off the clock as possible.

The Spartans punted the ball back to the Huskers, placing the ball at Nebraska’s nine-yard line. Nebraska would have 55 seconds to drive 91 yards to take the lead with no timeouts at their disposal.

On the first two plays of Nebraska’s final offensive drive of the game, Armstrong connected with Westerkamp on back-to-back first down plays that went for a combined 61 yards. After the second completion to Westerkamp, he fell to the turf injured, stopping play with 37 seconds left. Westerkamp got up under his own power.

What happened next only added to the fun of an already exciting game.

Armstrong snapped the ball with 31 seconds left and fired a ball that was caught and then dropped by a Michigan State defensive back (DB) in coverage. If the DB had completed the catch, the game would most likely have been out of reach for the Huskers.

Instead, the Huskers got another opportunity to score. On a second and ten from the Michigan State 30, Armstrong fired yet another pass downfield. This time, Brandon Reilly was the intended receiver with a Michigan State defender running stride for stride with him. Reilly went out of bounds somewhere around the 10-yard line and came back in the field of play to catch the ball and step into the end zone for a touchdown.

The official call on the field was a touchdown. Shortly after the officials huddled to discuss whether Reilly was forced out of bounds by contact made by the defensive back (If the receiver is touched by a defender and forced out of bounds the receiver is eligible to make a play for the ball), or if Reilly went out of bounds on his own and came back in (If he went out of bounds on his own power, he is ineligible to make the catch).

The announcers and everyone outside of Nebraska didn’t believe the officials made the correct call, as they thought Reilly was not forced out by the defender but instead went out of bounds on his own. However, according to an article written by Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, the BIG 10 told ESPN, the officials took the correct steps to make the right call saying,

“If the player went out of bounds without contact, he may not return to the field to make the catch unless it has been touched first by an opponent. The instant replay crew did confirm contact between the players, that the wide receiver reestablished himself in the field of play and completed the catch. After the replay review, the referee announced that the play stands as called on the field. The intent of instant replay is not to review all judgment calls.”

“The league’s statement notes on-field officials used “proper officiating mechanics” to determine Reilly had stepped out of bounds before returning to the field, but the ultimate ruling was a judgment call.”

Cook and Sparty would get one more try to answer. Pressure applied by the Blackshirts forced Cook to throw the ball away, and the ball sailed out of bounds with the clock at zero.

I was in attendance for this one, and let me tell you TV did not do the celebration, for what took place after the clock ran out, any justice. As the song Let Me Clear My Throat blared through the loudspeakers, fans were standing up on bleachers in the stands high-fiving and jumping up and down in pure excitement as if the Huskers had just captured a championship.

The party for many in Lincoln probably carried on into the early morning hours, and why shouldn’t it have, given the devastation that came with the season? Do I believe Reilly was forced out? No, but my only rebuttal is Nebraska was due for a victory. This one ranks second on my list of best games I’ve been to, only behind the Miami game in ‘14.