3 takeaways from a heartbreaking loss for Nebraska football

Nebraska football nearly shocked the college football world on Saturday, coming within a play or two of knocking off fourth-ranked Ohio State as a 25.5-point underdog.

The Huskers took the lead on a Dante Dowdell touchdown run in the fourth quarter, which followed three John Hohl field goals including a 54-yarder that tied a school long for a road field goal.

Ohio State found the end zone when it needed to though and survived with an interception late. The Blackshirts were incredible. They even gave the offense a first-and-goal in the third quarter after an interception by Malcolm Hartzog.

Nebraska didn’t score a touchdown. It did later in the fourth quarter, but that fourth-and-one run by Dante Dowdell — where he leaped and came up short — won’t stop playing back in my mind.

Here are three takeaways from a heartbreaking 21-17 loss to Ohio State.

Proud as hell

I know that Nebraska football isn’t about moral victories. The Huskers could have won that game. They probably should have won that game, but they still took a step forward.

After last week, I said it was gut check time for Matt Rhule and this program. Well, they got up off the mat and came out swinging against the team everyone believes is the best in college football, on the road.

If you can do that against Ohio State, you can do it against anyone.

Now, the Huskers just have to maintain this level of play over the last month of the season. If they do, Nebraska football will go bowling. Hell, the Huskers might not lose another game.

Moral victories can matter if you build on them. So let’s see what Nebraska football can do but I’m damn proud of the Huskers.

They gave it all they had.

The refs were bad, as usual

Nebraska football had to battle the Zebras, as well as the Buckeyes. Right before the half, Nebraska picked up a first down by a good two yards. However, it was marked short and it cost the Huskers a bunch of time and a few shots at the end zone.

There were numerous pass interference calls missed on Ohio State, and Ryan Day should have been penalized after going ballistic after the targeting call was reviewed late in the game.

Big Ten refs are usually terrible, but this was unusually bad. There were two offensive pass interference penalties where the Nebraska player barely even made contact.

For the millionth time, I wish a conference that makes more money than god would invest in some competent officials.

Still heartbreaking

As good as it was to see the Huskers battle Ohio State till the bitter end, I’ll be thinking about that fourth-and-goal for a long time.

This game showed that the Huskers have made progress, but at some point, this program needs to win a game like this.

Charlie Weiss nearly upset USC in that classic game won by Reggie Bush at the end. It was the highlight of his career for a few years at Notre Dame and I don’t want that for Matt Rhule.

Take this momentum and beat UCLA. Then, see what you can do with house money and take a real step toward getting this program back to where it should be.

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