It’s been a long time coming for Nebraska, but they finally found themselves on the right side of a one-possession game as they won Friday night on the road against Rutgers, 14-13.
The win snapped a streak of 10 consecutive losses in one-possession games for the Cornhuskers, which began with a 30-22 loss to Illinois in August 2021. They lost eight one-possession games that year, and two more to begin the 2022 season.
The last time the Cornhuskers (3-3) won a game by eight or fewer also happened to be at Rutgers (3-3), a 28-21 victory in December 2020. That game was also the last victory for Nebraska over a Big Ten opponent on the road prior to Friday night.
The team’s failures in late-game situations over the past two seasons is what ultimately lost former head coach Scott Frost his job. When things hit their breaking point in the team’s huge upset 45-42 loss to Georgia Southern in September 2022, the team made the obvious, if costly, move to cut their losses and relieve Frost of his head coaching duties.
Per Friday night’s broadcast, the last time Nebraska found themselves on the winning side of a game won by three points or fewer was October 5, 2019, in a 13-10 win over Northwestern.
Rutgers did have one last chance to extend Nebraska’s misery, but quarterback Noah Vedral’s desperation heave was intercepted by cornerback Malcolm Hartzog to put the game to rest.
With the victory, the Cornhuskers somehow find themselves in first place in the Big Ten West division and control their destiny as far as making it to the Big Ten Championship Game.
That might be too much to ask of this team, but there’s no mistaking the huge stride made Friday night, even with the smallest possible margin of victory.
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