Nebraska came into the season having lost 35 of its last 45 one-score games, a dubious distinction that inspired a popular T-shirt for fans that reads, “We Almost Always Almost Win.”
The tens of thousands of Cornhuskers fans who filled up Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night must have had that familiar here-we-go-again feeling as Cincinnati drove the field in the final minutes.
For a program that believes it's on the cusp of breaking through in Matt Rhule's third season, it would not be a stretch to
say a crisis was averted when fourth-year safety Malcolm Hartzog Jr. intercepted Brendan Sorsby's pass to the end zone to secure a 20-17 win.
“Everybody says we can't finish games,” running back Emmett Johnson said, “and that's what we did tonight.”
The Huskers had been 2-10 in one-score games under Rhule before they held off Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl last December. They squandered most of a 20-2 fourth-quarter lead in that game, giving up two touchdowns before running out the last four minutes to preserve a 20-15 win.
The gut punches came in waves before the bowl. A late missed field goal put Illinois in position to win 31-24 in overtime. The Huskers led eventual national champion Ohio State on the road midway through the fourth quarter, gave up the go-ahead touchdown and saw Dylan Raiola intercepted with 1:16 left.
Down 28-20 at Southern California, Raiola drove the Huskers to the 14 in the last two minutes and was intercepted in the end zone. Border rival Iowa came back from a 10-0 halftime deficit to win 13-10 on a 53-yard field goal as time expired after Raiola was sacked and fumbled. The year before the Huskers turned over the ball late and lost to Iowa by the same score on a last-play field goal.
Rhule said he and his players would leave it to others to opine on whether the Huskers have put their one-score-game woes behind them. He was eager to get on the bus for the three-hour trip back from Kansas City, Missouri, to Lincoln. He said his players would be in the weight room by 11 a.m. Friday to begin preparing for next week's home opener against Akron.
“It was Game 1,” Rhule said. “We won the game, and we believe we make the biggest jump from Week 1 to Week 2. When our guys start putting these labels on things is when we get in trouble. We beat Rutgers last year in a close game but then we lost" 56-7 at Indiana.
The offense looks promising. Johnson is a threat running and catching the ball, transfer receivers Nyziah Hunter and Dane Key appear as good as advertised and tight end Luke Lindenmeyer is playing a bigger role. The downfield passing game needs work. Defensively, the front seven had trouble stopping the run and the unit as a whole struggled against Cincinnati's tempo offense.
“Let’s not forget, we’re the youngest team in the Big Ten still,” Rhule said.
Rhule indicated many of his players were wide-eyed during pregame warmups. Kansas City Chiefs players and coaches, not to mention the newly engaged power couple Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, were in the house and the Husker faithful outnumbered Cincinnati fans by an overwhelming margin.
“I told our guys we're getting a little bougie around here,” Rhule said. “We played our last game at Yankee Stadium. We show up yesterday and Andy Reid shakes everybody’s hand. We go in there and Patrick Mahomes is on the sideline. It's kind of cool to be a Husker right now.”
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