COLUMBUS, Ohio — Beaten again but not beaten down, Nebraska football players left the locker room Saturday at Ohio Stadium and headed toward November in the same position as a year ago, 5-3, but resolved this time to do something different.
Something that last happened 15 years ago. The Huskers intend to end the regular season with a run of victories and carry momentum into a bowl game.
They did not back down against No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday. Before a crowd of 104,830 that resorted in the final minutes to throwing water bottles, alcohol containers and at least one cheese cup onto the field in protest of a penalty called against the Buckeyes, Nebraska played better than Ohio State for large chunks of this 21-17 defeat.
Do you trust the Huskers? That is the question now. Because if you do, reason exists to believe they can win any or all of their final four games. One year after Nebraska limped to the finish with four consecutive losses, this team has an opportunity to make a statement about their progress after 20 games under coach Matt Rhule.
And yes, the Huskers believe. Rhule saw it before kickoff in Columbus.
“I didn’t have to be a cheerleader,” he said. “They were like, ‘Get out of the way.’”
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Rhule has seen moments of such determination from Nebraska. But never for four quarters. For the first time on his watch, he said, Nebraska played with a championship mindset.
“I couldn’t be more proud of where we’re headed,” freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola said.
A look at the eyes of defensive end Ty Robinson told a story unexplained by consecutive road losses, as different as they were painful. In six years at Nebraska, Robinson said, he was never more proud than Saturday to put on display the Huskers’ direction.
“That’s the real team out there,” Robinson said.
If that was the real Nebraska — and the 56-7 loss a week against Indiana rates as an anomaly — then strap in for a fun ride over the next five weeks.
Nebraska can get to bowl eligibility, a major hurdle, with a win at home against UCLA in six days. Trips follow to USC, unbeaten in its history against Nebraska, and Iowa. In between, Wisconsin, unbeaten against the Huskers for the past 12 years, visits Memorial Stadium.
So yeah, Nebraska can exorcise a long list of demons before the calendar flips to December.
And why not? It came one score, one stop, one failed opportunity in the red zone from notching the biggest win for this program on Saturday since 2001 against Oklahoma.
“Keep chopping at that tree,” linebacker MJ Sherman said. “One day, it’s going to fall.”
Nebraska’s Malcolm Hartzog Jr. (7) intercepted Ohio State QB Will Howard in the third quarter of the Huskers’ eventual loss. (Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today via Imagn Images)
Rhule said he left The Horseshoe not satisfied or content but “fulfilled.”
“We expected to come here and win the football game,” he said. “We expected to win. We’re not here to lose. We’re the University of Nebraska.”
It began ominously as Kwinten Ives dropped the opening kickoff. Nebraska started at the 9-yard line, and Raiola put his first touch on the ground while trying to hand off to Dante Dowdell. Two plays later, Raiola took a sack, and Brian Buschini shanked a punt. Ohio State started at the Nebraska 36.
But the Nebraska defense, maligned last week, managed a fourth-down stop as Sherman, the vocal Georgia transfer, met TreVeyon Henderson in the backfield for a loss. If Sherman didn’t send a message, Jimari Butler surely did with his manhandling of Ohio State’s fill-in left tackle.
The Blackshirts, in fact, often had their way with Ohio State’s high-powered offense. Nebraska produced five three-and-out series and held the Buckeyes to 1-of-10 on third downs. Ohio State gained 2.1 yards per rush. First-half scoring throws by Will Howard to Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith accounted for 100 of the Buckeyes’ 285 total yards.
The big plays saved Ohio State.
Still, Nebraska was more consistent. Raiola got loose on the ground, scrambling for 38 yards to set up the first of three John Hohl field goals. Hohl, who hadn’t converted a field goal since Sept. 20, hit from 39, 54 and 47 yards.
The Huskers gained confidence and dominated the third quarter. Raiola missed Jahmal Banks, though, wide open for a touchdown on a drive that ended in a punt. And Dowdell couldn’t leap the pile on a fourth-down plunge from the 1-yard line.
Dowdell got into the end zone to cap a 74-yard drive four minutes into the fourth quarter. Nate Boerkircher took a shovel pass from Raiola for the two-point conversion. Nebraska led 17-14. The stadium fell silent.
As championship-level teams do, Ohio State answered. And at the end, Nebraska took possession with 3:43 left and the chance to grab a monumental win. Raiola, hurt on the previous drive, emerged from the injury tent. He wanted it, Rhule said.
Debris came out of the seats after a targeting call against Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese on Banks.
The scene turned wild.
But Raiola couldn’t get to midfield. Guard Justin Evans was flagged for a false start. Two passes to running back Emmett Johnson lost yardage. Jordan Hancock intercepted Raiola on third-and-19 with 76 seconds to go.
Oh, so close.
“We got two avenues that we can go from this loss,” Sherman said. “We can sit here and sulk or we can grow from it. I feel like we’re on a path to grow from it.”
Rhule’s media session after the game felt like an oral dissertation. He talked for 19 minutes, dismissing the idea of a quick exit from the stage as school officials watched and the Huskers’ charter flight out of Ohio waited.
The Huskers grew up on Saturday, he said. Rhule offered a series of statements about his method of program-building.
“We’re trying to build something sustainable,” Rhule said. “Maybe it’ll work. Maybe it won’t.”
Fans and media members have watched other coaches come and go, Rhule said.
“It hasn’t worked. So I’m trying it a different way.”
This game seemed to represent something important.
“For those of us who believe in the long way,” Rhule said, “the hard way, for those of us who haven’t had things handed to us, for those of us who believe in building, I hope while they’re disappointed, they’re proud of what they saw.”
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule with freshman DB Amare Sanders as they exit the field after this 21-17 loss against No. 4 Ohio State. pic.twitter.com/2HGqiDsgdB
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) October 26, 2024
Rhule said he challenged the Huskers in defeat to pick up against UCLA where they left off on Saturday.
“If we go out there next week and we’re frontrunners again,” he said, “then it was all for naught. This is a step. It has to be where we are now — that we play this way every week.”
Several Huskers said they expect the closing stretch to define these Huskers.
“I expect us in November to be the team we are today,” Sherman said, “but even better.”
They’re still chopping at the tree. Some day, maybe on a day next month, it will fall.
(Top photo: Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today via Imagn Images)