A comeback, and a heartbreaker.

                If Nebraska could just consistently deliver the aggression and efficiency of the fourth quarter at Miami, they would be scary good.

            True, it helps if you don't let an offense barf 17 points on you in the first quarter.

            True it helps if you don't commit so many penalties. My favorite, the five-yard penalty on Luke Gifford for lining up on the kickoff more than five yards from the line. On a kick that went for a touchback. Miami got the ball at the 30. I can't even recall ever seeing that flagged, before. I especially loved the final punts of Miami's last possession, 4th & 7 at the Nebraska 47, punt, fair catch at Nebraska 10. Penalty, Running into the kicker, dodged a bullet, there. 4th & 2 at the Nebraska 42, punt, out of bounds at the Nebraska 14. Penalty, personal foul, Miami. 4th & 17 at Miami 41, punt, touchback. Three plays, two penalties, and a change of 10 yards in field position.

            True, it helps that in the fourth quarter, Miami's offense got more conservative than election day in Clay County, it was good to see that Nebraska was able to stop the run when everyone knew it was run, not like the Minnesota game, last year.

            I was wandering around town, dealing with the manic-depressive (fickle) nature of Huskerfans, who were running the emotional gamut between 'they are an embarrassment to all Nebraska fans' to 'keep fighting to the end, that's all we ask for', from the same person, in the span of 45 minutes.

About as close as Nebraska got all day

              Jake's invited me in, as it always does, and I found Lloyd happily pecking away at his laptop. "What gives, pardner? I thought you'd be in the alley looking for cats to kick."

            Lloyd looked up at me, gestured to the opposite bench, and smiled. "Nope, I'm good. Disappointed in the loss, but I get to dry my tears with about five c-notes."

            "500 bucks," I whistled low. "That's a pretty good haul. The Cowboy?" I asked as confirmation for than question.

            "Yep. When the line first hit, Miami was favored by 5, so i called up the Cowboy to get in on that. He said he wouldn't give me five, the line was dropping, even then. He settled for 3 with a hook, so I jumped on it."

            "So, how much did you bet? On a road game. In Miami."

            "200 bucks. Believe me, I was going to have to claim to be a designated driver to drink pop for free at the start of the fourth quarter. I heard Cowboy laughing in my head the whole game. When Tommy hit Zo for the touch, and then CC for two, I thought, 'OK, 33-18 is respectable, but I'm still going to lose'.

            I nodded, I was enjoying how animated he was in telling the story. I gave him the 'go-on' gesture.

            "Then Tommy hit Reilly, and I'm all, 'kick the PAT, that way we're still only one possession down, if you go for two and fail, we'll be two possessions down', we kicked it and it was 33-25, I'm still down, but we can at least hold our head up."

            "How bloody did your fingers get on that last possession?"

            "It was like Miami wanted to give it away. Tommy looked like Russell Wilson, hitting guys down the seam, running for a first down on 3rd and 13, with the 2-pointer to JW, the game was tied and as far as I was concerned, i was almost in. 75% of overtime games are decided by three points or less, so I was almost there."

            "Tell me about the overtime, for me, it was almost as bad as Matt Hasselback's, 'We want the ball, and we're gonna score', only to throw a pick six."

            Lloyd shook his head, "Almost that bad," he said, "Not quite, but almost. I saw what he was looking at, and it was a case of too much confidence in his arm, which is not a new problem. Miami was in a zone coverage, and Morgan was crossing the back of the end-zone. Tommy saw him, but was on the run to his right, he was trying to throw the ball about 45 yards without having his feet set, he didn't get as much energy into the ball as he thought he did, or needed and so under threw it by about 10 yards, the Miami defender didn't even have to move."

            "It was essentially game over at that point, the penalty on Lewis for being a big, frustrated, dumb-ass, didn't help," I said. "I don't know why Miami didn't just put the stake in on the first play. They have a good kicker, their house, spot the ball in the middle of the field, and kick a 30-yarder. Game over. They ran 4 plays to gain two yards, any of which they could have fumbled on."

            "I was just happy that the defense didn't give up and fought for those four plays. Miami kicks the field goal, wins 36-33, but with Nebraska getting spotted 3.5 by Cowboy, it was like they won, 36.5-36. Covered, baby. Covered." Lloyd smiled and pulled out a wad of 20-dollar bills."

            "You put 200 down on Nebraska, after Cowboy's handling fee, you should have about 360. Where did the rest of it come from?" I asked.

            "Ohio State and Alabama. There's a regular, here, that is always wearing his Terrell Pryor jersey on Saturdays. He was going off on how Nebraska sucks and if they played OSU it would be a total blowout again, blah, blah, blah. So I told him that they needed to take care of their own business, first. He laughed and said OSU would beat Northern Illinois by 56, easy. I told him I had 50 bucks that said that it wouldn't be that bad. We had Melissa hold the money, and told her the conditions."

            "Ah, you had the Kraken hold the cash, very nice," I said.

            "Yep, she put my money in one side of her bra, and the OSU dude's in the other side. I didn't mind. Not. One. Single. Bit."

            "I'm sure you did. Did you tip her?"

            "More than I should have, I think," he said smiling.

            "What about Alabama, how did you make money with them?"

            Lloyd frowned. "There was this loud, smartass kid, in here. He went to school at Alabama and his current football knowledge is ok, but to him college football started the day he became an Alabama fan, all of 6 years ago. So, I made a little wager with him about Ole Miss beating Alabama, strait up, no points. He was so confident in Alabama at home, he said 'Roll Tide' as we shook on it. I told him I'd start an on-line petition to replace Franklin on the hundred with Bear Bryant if it made him feel better. He flipped me off after throwing the money at me and storming out of here." Lloyd chuckled.

            "So. Moving forward," I said. "What does Nebraska need to do, 'cause the natives are restless and talk is drifting back to a 6-6 season. Even though you and I both know that this wasn't one of the 'count it' games on the schedule."

            "I think they gelled, a bit, in Miami," Lloyd said. "I think Daniel Davie lost his starting gig, and that is a positive. Kaaya completed 1/3 of his yardage in the first quarter, when Davie was back there. From the second quarter on, Nebraska outscored Miami 33-16. I know, lots of other factors played into that, but the pass defense was a lot better."

            "What else do they need to work on?"

            "I can give you four things that need to be fixed, three of which can be done, easily."

            "Hit me, what do you fix?"

Stanley Morgan, Jr. is going to be a good one.

      "First, the dropped passes. This was the first game where it was a problem, and was probably more a result of being on the road and getting too excited for a big game. They looked flat and complacent for the first quarter. Experience takes care of that. Second, the stupid penalties. 13 of them, most of which were just plain dumb, or lack of discipline. There was a play in the third quarter, I think, where Tommy hit JW down the sideline for a first down in the red zone. It got called back, for a personal foul, instead of 1st and 10 inside the Miami 20, it became 2nd and 25 at the Nebraska 34. Essentially, a 46 yard penalty."

            "That's been a problem for years, now," I said.

            "That will get fixed as they get used to the new offense, so it is a more long-term project."

            "What else?"

            "I do believe that Tommy will continue to get better. He has great confidence in his throws, but sometimes it's too much confidence Two of his three interceptions were a result of him trying to do too much. The other one was an early Christmas present from the football gods for the Miami defender. Tommy needs to learn to set his feet and put his whole body into the throws when he's scrambling, he might take a hit, but he will deliver the ball, better."

            "What is the last thing, the other easy fix?"

            "Please, please, please, for the sake of Bob Devaney and everything else that is sacred for Nebraska football, stop wearing the all-white surrender uniforms. They look bad, and the play in them is even worse. Even in the 90's, when the Huskers were the meanest, baddest mothas on the block, white-on-white was a bad combo. Georgia Tech, Washington, Iowa State, just to name a few. On the road, it should be mandatory, from this point forward, that white jerseys will be paired with red pants."

            With that, I decided to see if Melissa could deliver a drink saved from the watery depths. I needed some bourbon, but not as much as I thought I would need at the start of the fourth quarter.