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Nebraska Football: Cornhuskers can’t get out of their own way

By Leigh Oleszczak

EVANSTON, IL - OCTOBER 13: Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Scott Frost leads his team onto the field before a college football game between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Northwestern Wildcats on October 13, 2018, at Ryan Field in Evanston, IL. (Photo by Daniel Bartel/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
EVANSTON, IL - OCTOBER 13: Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Scott Frost leads his team onto the field before a college football game between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Northwestern Wildcats on October 13, 2018, at Ryan Field in Evanston, IL. (Photo by Daniel Bartel/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Nebraska football lost again on Saturday and now they’re 0-6 on the season. They had Northwestern painted in a corner yet couldn’t close things out.

Another week, another loss for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who fell 34-31 to Northwestern in overtime on Saturday. While some who didn’t watch the game might think “Well, at least it was close!”, that was not the case.

Nebraska had a two touchdown lead in the fourth quarter and yet somehow lost this game. They allowed Northwestern to stay in the game and couldn’t close out the Wildcats in a must-win scenario for the Cornhuskers.

No, Nebraska isn’t going to make a bowl game this year, but when I say “must-win game”, I mean for the morale of the players and coaches. I’m sure it’s no fun being 0-5, let alone 0-6 and a win on Saturday might have done wonders for this Huskers team.

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In the fourth quarter, Nebraska led 31-21. Northwestern was then able to make it down the field and kick a field goal to make it 31-24. Nebraska had a quick three and out and then pinned the Wildcats deep into their own territory.

Northwestern had burned all of their timeouts and had a little over two minutes remaining in the game, so Husker fans had every right to get excited. A win might be on the horizon and that was a good feeling. Unfortunately, it didn’t end up that way, as Northwestern went 99 yards down the field to tie things up. They did this without any timeouts.

From there, Nebraska had first possession in overtime and opted to go for it rather than attempt a field goal. Barret Pickering hasn’t been on point in his first year as the Cornhuskers kicker, but you HAVE to kick it there. They didn’t convert on fourth down and Northwestern went on to kick the game winning field goal and hand Nebraska yet another loss.

Nebraska had this game. They freaking had it right in their hands and couldn’t get out of their own way. From questionable play calling to poor defensive performance down the stretch to a slew of other problems, the Huskers handed this one to Northwestern.

Big Red returns home to Lincoln next week for a date with the Minnesota Gophers. Minnesota is 3-3 on the year and I’d say they’re a winnable game, but I’ve said that about Colorado, Troy, Purdue, and Northwestern, so maybe I should keep my mouth closed this time.

Starting off 0-6 sucks, but can things really get much worse? There’s no way Nebraska can go winless (especially with Bethune Cookman on the schedule still), but after seeing them blow a two touchdown lead, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Huskers win just one game this year. Not a good start to the Scott Frost era at all.

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