Call it good karma, call it administrative brilliance, call it whatever you want.
There’s quite a comeback story being written in Lincoln.
Nebraska football may be coming back from the dead.
While one man seemingly neglected the responsibility of the task at hand, another man has taken on the burden of reviving the once proud college football blue blood.
As soon as Nebraska’s interim head coach took the reins, it became clear even to those of us outside the football program that the leadership factor increased.
That new leader has quickly engineered a preposterous turnaround.
Mickey Joseph has won his first two Big Ten games as head coach at Nebraska. This win, a 14-13 New Jersey rock fight over Rutgers, was simultaneously ugly and beautiful.
As he wraps up his first four weeks in this job [interview], he has broken through in many ways.
For the first time in 11 games, Nebraska won a one-score game.
For the first time since the last time Rutgers was the opponent – December 2020 – the Huskers won a game after trailing at any point.
For the first time since 2018, NU earned back-to-back Big Ten wins.
Nebraska’s 3-3 overall, and 2-1 in Big Ten play, leading the West division as of Friday evening.
When Husker Athletic Director Trev Alberts fired Scott Frost on September 11, three weeks before the infamous half-of-the-buyout October 1 deadline, this performance is perhaps what he envisioned.
Resolve.
Focus.
Toughness.
Attitude.
Teamwork.
Perhaps he saw a path to winning again.
Mickey Joseph is the new variable in this Big Red equation, the new data entered into the formula. All of a sudden, folks in the state of Nebraska are enjoying the results of this little experiment.
Where late-Frost-era teams would fold in the 4th quarter, Mickey’s team has hardened and met the moment.
Big Ten coaches had learned by the end of Frost’s tenure to wait out the big mistake, and the Huskers usually obliged. Friday night, it was Rutgers committing the late game-sealing errors.
The most critical penalty was committed not by the hapless Huskers, but by the Rutgers defender who swung Oliver Martin to the ground out of bounds. The unnecessary roughness foul – after a 3rd down stop – awarded a fresh set of downs to Nebraska, and more importantly cost the Scarlet Knights two minutes on the clock. It was one of three first downs Rutgers’ defense handed Nebraska via penalty, the only three of the game.
Two first-half NU interceptions allowed RU to own the turnover advantage at halftime, 2-0. By then end of the game, they gave that lead away, too, as the retooled NU secondary nabbed three 2nd half interceptions.
UCF transfer cornerback Brandon Moore, a walk-on who landed in Lincoln in August, and who was only playing due to a Quentin Newsome injury, intercepted Evan Simon first.
Starting safety Myles Farmer picked the second one.
Finally, true freshman Malcolm Hartzog sealed the W in the final minute with his INT.
Neither Moore nor Hartzog played significant defensive snaps under Frost.
With Mickey, Nebraska is starting to figure out how to consistently do the little things so they can add up to big wins.
The little things, like Blaise Gunnerson making a TD-saving tackle after a blocked punt, add up in games like this.
So do plays that set the tone, like running back Anthony Grant’s trucking of a timid defensive back near the sideline on the second play after halftime. That drive also featured a 4th down conversion by Grant and a Thompson-to-Vokolek touchdown, cutting the deficit to 13-7.
Speaking of the captains, they all raised their game as Coach Joseph’s on-field leaders.
Senior quarterback Casey Thompson played through what seemed like a dozen different injuries, offsetting his two first-half interceptions with a pair of second-half TD passes. The second was an aggressive shot to the end zone for Trey Palmer that gave NU the only lead they would need with 8:54 to go.
Senior tight end Travis Vokolek scored his first touchdown as a Cornhusker while leading the team in receiving with 46 yards on 6 receptions.
Fifth-year junior Garrett Nelson & fourth-year sophomore Nick Henrich led the team in tackles with 11 and 9, respectively. Nelson’s sack shortly before halftime probably saved three points, as Rutgers would miss a 58-yard field goal made more difficult by the 8-yard loss.
Each team made one trip to the red zone: Huskers scored a touchdown, Scarlet Knights settled for a field goal.
Credit to Bill Busch, who migrated from overseeing Special Teams to managing a broken bunch of Blackshirts. He started by taking them away after a rough showing against Oklahoma. After two consecutive scoreless second halves, he may be poised to hand them out again.
While the Scarlet Knights owned the first half with 263 yards, 6.4 yards per play, and no turnovers, NU flipped the script out of the locker room by holding them to just 85 yards, 3.1 yards per play, and the three interceptions in the second half.
Mickey Joseph preached finishing to his team. They finished in the 4th quarter, better than anyone’s seen the team in scarlet and cream finish for almost two years.
Joseph finished his night with the media by downplaying Nebraska’s 2-1 conference record, which at the time was good for first place status in the Big Ten West standings. He called it “fake first place.”
Whatever you call it, it’s better than a moral victory.
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