Like a car that had seen better days, Nebraska football needed a win as badly as my Pontiac Sunfire need a tow when I wrecked it in college.
I flagged down some help that evening. Husker football flagged down a win Saturday night.
It wasn’t easy for Big Red on Homecoming. Nebraska (2-3, 1-1 Big Ten) had to fight through changes on the offensive line, an ejection, and a dozen penalties en route to the 35-21 win over Indiana (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten).
“If you look around the conference, everything’s a tight game like this,” interim head coach Mickey Joseph said. “You gotta win the fourth quarter, and we did.”
The Huskers started strong on both sides of the ball.
The defense forced six consecutive punts. The offense scored in 47 seconds on their first drive.
But both sides also showed how sporadic they could be.
After the first touchdown, the offense went punt, punt, fumble, then punt, before adding a touchdown and another punt ahead of halftime. That fumble resulted in a Hoosier touchdown.
The third quarter saw just 12 yards of offense.
The defense gave up back-to-back touchdowns to close out the first half. Both drives were fairly easy for Indiana.
Despite that spurt of Hoosier scoring, the Blackshirts forced seven three-and-outs. Almost half of the Indiana offense came on their two touchdown drives.
A true freshman defender making his first career start, Malcolm Hartzog, picked up the football after a blocked punt by Chris Kolaravic and returned it for a touchdown. That was Nebraska’s first blocked punt return for a touchdown since Justin Blatchford had one at Baylor on Oct. 31, 2009.
“My eyes got big,” Hartzog said. “I knew I had to get the ball and get into the end zone because I don’t play offense anymore so I had to get (a touchdown) somehow.”
Tied 21-21 going into the fourth quarter, Nebraska took over the game.
Indiana managed just five yards in the final frame. Nebraska put together a quick-strike drive with a 71-yard touchdown pass from Casey Thompson to Trey Palmer. On the next possession, the Huskers took 6:05 off the clock before punching in another score.
Despite the penalties and the miscues, Nebraska football emerged victorious over a conference opponent for the first time in 364 days.
“1-0 this week,” Joseph said. “I’m happy for the kids. I’m happy for the coaches.”
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The Husker offense posted 385 yards, with 115 of that coming on the ground. Take away the four sacks and Nebraska’s rushing total hit 163.
Leading that rushing charge was Anthony Grant. He broke the 100-yard barrier for the fourth time this season, rushing a season-high 32 times for 136 yards.
Thompson completed 18 of his 27 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns. He added a touchdown on the ground as well. Thompson was intercepted on the first play after Luke Reimer picked off Indiana to start the third quarter.
Palmer was the favorite target of Thompson’s on the evening. The transfer wideout was targeted nine times, reeling in eight for 157 yards and a touchdown.
Oliver Martin added three receptions for 65 yards and a score.
Garrett Nelson had a pair of sacks, a career-high. It was his 25th career start.
Reimer tied for the team-lead with five tackles. That brought his career total to 203, making the 41st Husker with more than 200 career tackles.
The game took more than three-and-a-half hours in part to the officiating. Maybe the crew wanted to impress Big Ten Conference Commissioner Kevin Warren, as he was in attendance. Maybe there really were constant penalties that deserved to be called (there weren’t).
Either way, Nebraska and Indiana combined for 23 penalties, resulting in 203 yards. That is just the fourth time since 2000 that a game featuring two Big Ten teams saw them both eclipse 90 yards in penalties.
“I’ve gotta do a better job with this team,” Joseph said. “We have officials at practice Tuesday and Wednesday, so I’m probably gonna have the officials at practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I gotta do a better job of getting them to play under control.”
Two of those penalties came against lineman Turner Corcoran as personal fouls. The first was for a small shove to an Indiana player in an attempt to clear the pile. The second, just a play later, saw Corcoran ejected for punching, though to call the more appropriate hands to the face “punching” would be a stretch. Joseph said that’s something they’ll look at.
“Turner said he didn’t punch him,” Joseph said. “If it was a bad call we’ll turn it in (to the conference office).”
With the victory, Nebraska sits at 1-1 in league play and joins a six-way tie for first in the West Division. Wisconsin is alone in the basement at 0-2.
The win was also the first for the interim head coach. Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts joined the team in the locker room after the game, where he awarded Joseph the game ball.
A short week has the Huskers going on the road Friday night. Nebraska will face Rutgers in Piscataway with a 6 p.m. CDT kickoff.
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