Post Michigan State

            Because of a previously scheduled engagement, where I ended up helping a colleague, Joe Hardman, solve a 70-year-old cold case, I was not able to watch the Michigan State Game, live. That led me to a conclusion, based on a theory that has been bouncing around my noggin for a while now.

            It's me. I wasn't able to watch the biggest win for Nebraska since 2001. I wasn't able to watch the Minnesota game, the best performance, this year, prior to MSU. I wasn't watching the 4th quarter of the Miami game, but came back to watch the overtime period.

            To paraphrase a well-known, pipe-smoking, violin-playing, coke-addicted, fellow investigator; when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Therefore, I will not watch another game, live, until Nebraska loses again, exonerating my mojo as the culprit.

            Biggest win? Yes, indeed. Nebraska hasn't beaten an opponent ranked 7th or higher since, 2010, when Roy Helu ran through Missouri like von Manstein on a French holiday excursion. Nebraska hadn't beaten an opponent ranked 6th or higher (in another poll), since 2001, when Eric Crouch caught the throwback pass to beat Oklahoma. A play, coincidentally, that Oklahoma tried to run, but the field turf tackled the quarterback before he could catch the ball. First win over a Top 7 team when unranked, since 1977, when Alabama came to town and Nebraska ruined their season and somebody stole Bear Bryant's hound's tooth hat.

            Yep, it was big.

            For one week, football was fun, again. Huskerfan doesn't, or hasn't gotten to experience this feeling, too often. That feeling of victory against all odds. Winning, when no one, not even your mom, gives you a chance of pulling out the victory. The ebb and flow of the game proved it. Nebraska got up to a 10-0 lead, Huskerfan thought it was a maybe. At the half, MSU was up 17-13, close, but Nebraska has not been comfortable in close games, this year. Punch in an early, second-half score, and it was 20-17, Nebraska. The Spartans responded, and how. 20-24, became 20-31 at the end of the third quarter. Michigan State was in control. Fans got up, as Brandon Reilly said, 'Maybe they had something more important to do'. Fear and doubt took hold, along with the sense of resignation and bitter acceptance of it being over.

            Nebraska came back. The scrappy bastards made it 26-31, and tried, but failed for two. Down by five and needing a stop, the defense rose up, right? Wrong. Sparta marched down the field, taking almost nine minutes off the clock and leading 26-38, with just over five minutes to go. You expect the Huskers to quit, at this point, right? Wrong again. Ten play drive, Tommy scores on a qb sweep that looked like it surprised MSU. I have a sneaky feeling that was the play Tommy was supposed to run against Illinois, but that's just a hunch. 33-38, a skosh over two minutes left. Onside kick didn't work, they rarely do. Two timeouts, one Michigan State first down, and the game is over. First down run; timeout. Second down run; timeout. Third and 8, run, holding penalty on MSU, they are forced to punt.

            Nebraska gets the ball back, 91 yards away, no time-outs, 0:55 on the clock. They're dead, right? First and 10, own 9, 23 yard pass to Jordan Westerkamp. First and 10, own 32, 38 yard pass to Westy. First and ten, MSU 30, Tommy fires into the end zone, where a defender has both hands on the ball, but let's it pop free upon hitting the ground. Nebraska goes, 'whew'. Second and ten, MSU 30, 0:17 on the clock. Tommy launches a pass down the sideline to Reilly, who makes the grab, and hits pay dirt for a touchdown. 39-38, Nebraska, it's not over yet. Squib kick, doesn't quite work. Sparty gets closer, a field goal wins it. 0:07 on the clock, Connor Cook drops back to pass, can't find anyone, pressure gets to him, he bobbles the ball, launches it to get one last play off before the clock expires.

            Too late. When the ball came down, there is no time left. Game over.

Reilly's Game Winner

             

There has been a lot of ranting, mainly from northeast of here, about Reilly's touchdown catch. The Big Ten officiating Big Bosses stated that the crew called it correctly, reviewed it correctly and ultimately enforced the rule correctly. The key element of the play is when contact between Reilly and the defender was made. Any contact, is considered sufficient enough to 'force' a receiver out of bounds. He doesn't have to be shoved with both hands, or driven like a getaway car, or bodily hugged like the defender was hallucinating Lana Turner running down the sideline. All-in-all, 'Nuts' to Sparty fans.

            Not going to say the game was well officiated, there were several head-scratchers. I don't think I've ever seen 'off-setting' interference penalties. How was Zo not interfered with, in the 4th quarter, when the defender held his arm down? Sparty got away with having 12 men on the field, twice. Both o-lines were holding, but, in theory, you could call holding on just about every offensive play if you wanted to. Shilique Calhoun, MSU's outstanding defensive end, is still whining about getting held, even posting pictures. I don't know what his exact snap-count was, but Nebraska ran 69 plays, and Calhoun's stat sheet was goose-eggs, all across. 0 tackles, 0 sacks, 0-0-0. I haven't seen that many Zeroes since watching 'Baa Baa Blacksheep', and those weren't even real Zeroes.

            In addition to Calhoun playing Houdini, and disappearing, let's not blame the refs for one's inability to cover porn-stache king, Jordan Westerkamp. Nine catches for 143 yards. 61 of those yards on the final drive. I'm not getting big-time defensive coordinator bucks, but I would have double-teamed JW on that final drive. If Stanley Morgan, or Brandon Reilly or Lane Hovey beat me, fine, I'll live with that. I'm not going to let the known go-to guy, and the quarterback's roomie, get open by playing soft zone, where do you think you are, the NFL? I guess I can't put too much on the coach, the MSU secondary was a train wreck, by the end of the game, and made Nebraska's secondary look like the Legion of Boom.

             At the end of the game, the Huskers celebrated. The players who put in the blood and sweat danced with joyous abandon. The coaches, who have taken a lot of heat, who came up with the game-plan, and called just enough right plays, felt 30 years melt off in an instant, and danced with their kids, who they want to see successful. The fans (those that stayed, anyway), who didn't give up hope, who didn't care what the odds were, young and old, danced and jumped and cried and felt as if they were part of the team, as well.

     'Let Me Clear My Throat', by DJKool, might just become a thing. Maybe 'Sirius' is due for retirement. We acknowledge that Huskerfan gets wrapped up in the Game, too much so, sometimes. Part of the reason I pull for a Husker win, is that it puts everybody in a much more pleasant vibe. I don't have little old ladies in Husker gear telling me to 'get the fuck out of the way', at Target. True story. Even on gloomy, rainy, November days, when the bone-chilling winds sweep into Nebraska from Mountain State, there is a spring in the steps and a cheerful hale from Huskerfan after a big win. Let's keep it up, lads.

            This game may have been the turning point, I know, I know, I said that after Minnesota, but Sparty was a different beast. Sparty has been one of the better teams in the Big 10 for years, now. They have been to two of the four B1G Championship games, and won one, with Connor Cook. This game has all the appearances of being that moment, that game, that vibe, where it all fell into place. Where the players 'got it' and started playing instinctively, instead of thinking about every little thing. This game was a huge trust-builder, too. Trust between players, between squads and between players and coaches. Most importantly, this game was a huge trust builder between the Staff and the Fans, yes, I capitalized both. On the one side, the Staff was able to fill their credence bank with some desperately needed cache, yes, cache. On the Fans side, they now get to tell the staff that they should beat anyone, anyone, ranked 7th, or lower now, no excuses. Time to set sights on bigger game.

            Michigan State has good traditions, and probably the best nickname, in terms of football, in the Big Ten. A couple of years ago, they wore alternate uniforms with a Spartan credo, Molon labe, come and take, on the helmet inset above the facemask. It's origins go back to the Battle of Thermopylae, in defiance of the Persians, and has a distinct level of badassery.

            I love the attitude, but on Saturday, Nebraska said, 'peerame', we took.