The Nebraska football song remains the same in game they had no business losing
Any belief that Nebraska football had exercised its demons with the blowout win over Wisconsin last week was promptly stomped out on Friday night. In a game, the Huskers had no business losing; they found a way to lose. 13-10 for the second straight year. In a remarkably similar way they lost it a year ago. And for what seems like the 100th time in a row, all the Cornhuskers had to do was not make the worst mistake possible. So that’s exactly what they did.
Before the Huskers' final drive, which ended with a strip sack, I tweeted out that, at the very least, they could not turn it over on their own side of the field. So, of course, they did.
No, I don’t have ESP. I’ve simply watched this Nebraska football program get in its own way. Over and over and over and over.
Nebraska football loses another game it should have won
While some will look for a player or staffer to blame, this loss is one every single member of that program.
From the coaches who for some reason forget how to manage the clock in the final two minutes of any half, to the players who seem to play as poorly any group of players in the country when the game is close late.
Yes, this kind of stuff has happened for years. I don’t get it. I don’t know why the faces change and the story remains the same. But the fact of the matter is, Matt Rhule is paid handsomely to make it stop. And he doesn’t seem to have any idea how to do that.
It’s got to be exhausting to go through this over and over for the players. It’s infuriating to watch it, that’s for sure.
It wasn’t just the final drive either. It was the inability to hold a 10–0 lead thanks to a muffed punt, that wasn’t really a muffed punt until a Husker player decided it was, and tried to jump on it, getting a finger on it before Iowa recovered.
It was the one decent offensive play Iowa ran all night (they had 5 first down, by the way. Nebraska lost a game where it allowed 5 first downs.) Kaleb Johnson had been bottled up all game. Then he broke either 5 or 6 tackles and took a little dump off pass that should have gained 1 yard, for 72 and the tying touchdown.
The good news is that this game doesn’t keep the Huskers out of a bowl game. The bad news is that they end the regular season with a bad taste in fans’ mouths not because of the loss, but because of how they lost. How they found a way to lose when just not making massive, bizarre mistakes would have led to the win.
It’s going to be a long offseason. No matter when it starts. And that stinks, because bowl season for a Nebraska football program that’s gone so many years a row of sitting at home in December should be fun.