This single-digit loss for Huskers is as painful as the other 13

Garrett Nelson took two long, deep breaths.

The Huskers were minutes removed from yet another soul-crushing, frustrating, single-digit loss, and Nelson’s mind began to ponder the existential.

“Sometimes in life, you don’t get the things you think you deserve or earn,” Nelson said. “You don’t always get your way all the time with life or with football.”

Not much has gone in Nebraska’s favor in the past two seasons. Fourteen single-digit losses in the past 23 games, and this one feels as painful as any of them.

Tied for 23 minutes, 20 seconds. Led for 36:05. Trailed for 0:35.

Final score: Wisconsin 15, Nebraska 14.

It stings. It’s a gut punch. A kick in the shins.

A one-point loss. Not once in the painful cavalcade of single-digit losses had Nebraska lost by one. Not until Saturday, anyway.

To pour an entire canister of Morton in the wound: Nebraska held an 11-point fourth-quarter lead against Wisconsin, a team the Huskers hadn’t beaten in 10 years. On Senior Day.

For a class that’s seen more than its fair share of letdowns, a win Saturday could have been the cherry on top of what had been an underwhelming sundae. But alas. Instead, another heartbreaker.

“Guys are emotional, upset,” Nebraska senior Travis Vokolek said, appearing to fight back tears. “It just sucks because it’s not a very good way to go out for the seniors. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

There were so many positives for Nebraska in the first three quarters.

The senior ceremony. A sort-of-healthy Casey Thompson making his much-awaited return. Freshman Ernest Hausmann playing lights-out. Two touchdowns for Trey Palmer. An interception for Malcolm Hartzog. Wisconsin missing a field goal due to the swirling winds in the north end zone. Nebraska’s defense, despite being on the field for more than 27 minutes, held Wisconsin to 199 net yards of offense.

But it all began to unravel for Nebraska in the fourth quarter.

From there, Wisconsin trudged down the field to slowly wear down Nebraska’s defense. An 8-yard gain. A 9-yard gain. A 5-yard gain. A 4-yard gain. A 7-yard gain. A 22-yard gain. A 4-yard gain. A 3-yard gain. A monotonous chiseling of the game clock that ultimately brought Wisconsin within five points.

The Huskers and Badgers exchanged empty drives from there before Nebraska got the ball back with 4:58 to play.

A methodical drive there for Nebraska could have effectively ended the game. Huddle up, run the ball effectively, get a couple first downs.

However. To quote acclaimed Millennial philosopher, Taylor Swift, I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending.

Three-yard loss. 6-yard gain. Incomplete pass. A poorly-timed three-and-out.

“In a perfect world, we get that first down,” Vokolek said. “‘The game’s over,’ is what we really thought. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. And that’s our fault.”

That gave Wisconsin the ball back, and, well, you all know what happened next.

Wisconsin chewed up the clock and scored, giving the Badgers a one-point lead with 35 seconds left to play.

Close, but — just like in the other 13 single-digit losses in the past two years — close doesn’t quite cut it.

That’s a wrap on Memorial Stadium this season. Two wins in the friendly confines in 2022 with five losses.

But it’s not quite a wrap on the season. Nebraska’s 33rd Black Friday extravaganza is on deck for next week in Iowa City.

But until then, we continue our holding pattern for what’s going to be a tumultuous next few weeks.

One more game. A head coach announcement. Players transferring in. Players transferring out. Early Signing Period.

The stress of all the unknowns ahead isn’t lost on anyone. Just ask Thompson.

He didn’t walk at Texas last year, even though he graduated. So, with being just weeks away from graduating with his Master’s degree, Thompson chose to walk on Saturday with the seniors.

“With a lot of uncertainty right now, I just thought it was best to go ahead and walk on Senior Day,” Thompson said. “And then just take my time after the season to evaluate everything and see where my head is at.”

There’s a lot of thinking to do for everyone — both of the existential variety and otherwise. Let’s just hopefully avoid the spiraling.