As Nebraska football fans get ready for another clash with Northwestern, it’s time to take a look at the greatest game in this series.
The Nebraska football series against Northwestern has been interesting far more often than its not. Even when one team or another was decidedly inferior. Such as last year when the Huskers blew a big lead to lose its season opener in Dublin. That ended up being the official beginning of the end of the Scott Frost era.
But 10 years ago this season, the Nebraska football team played Northwestern in quite the barn burner. It was inarguably the best game that the two teams ever faced off in. The fact that the Huskers won on a Hail Mary is a big part of why that game was so great. But it was just a part.
Today, we’ll revisit that Nebraska football game and give it another look. And then hope that Saturday’s game is leaning far closer to a blowout then that game ever was.
If you’ve been a Nebraska football fan for very long at all, you probably remember how the game ended. With a long touchdown pass from Ron Kellogg III to Jordan Westerkamp. Kellogg came into that game after starting quarterback Tommy Armstrong was injured.
What many may not remember is that Armstrong played quite poorly in that game on November 2, 2013. Armstrong completed just 15 of 29 passes for 173 yards, a touchdown, and a whopping three interceptions.
Nebraska football wins in dramatic fashion 10 years ago
It was those turnovers that allowed Northwestern to stay in the game as long as it did. The Nebraska football defense played a pretty big part in the game ending with a Hail Mary as well. While it was able to shut down both Kain Colter (4-for-8 for 45 yards) and Trevor Siemian (4-for-13 for 36 yards and an interception), the Blackshirts didn’t have an answer for Northwestern’s running game.
Colter didn’t pass all that well, but he did run for 86 yards on 23 carries. In other words, he had a Heinrich Haarberg kind of game.
But it was Treyvon Green’s 149 yards (second best of his career) and three touchdowns (best of his career) that allowed Northwestern to take a 21-14 lead in the second quarter, and eventually take a 24-21 lead into the final period.
However, the fateful game-ending pass might have just taken the game to overtime, if not for a defensive stand inside the Nebraska football 10 yard line. A 3rd and goal stop of Colter on a QB keeper held Northwestern to a field goal and a 3-point lead.
And then, the drive started. On the Nebraska football team’s own 17-yard line with 1:07 to go in the game.
Kellogg started that final drive with three passes to Ameer Abdullah. He then turned to a rather unlikely hero completing his next two passes to Sam Burtch. Remember him? His name is not etched into Nebraska football history despite only ever getting 12 catches for 147 yards and 3 touchdowns in his career. In fact, he never caught another pass for the Huskers after the 2013 season.
An incomplete pass to Quincy Enunwa with four seconds left seemed to be the deathknell. And then there was “the pass.” A 49 yards pass to the front of the endzone that was hauled in for a TD and a Nebraska football win, 27-24.
You can watch the entire game below or skip ahead to the fateful drive at the 2:07 mark. Either way is a fun watch as we wait and hope that Nebraska football can win and improve to 4-3 on the year on Saturday.