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Vince Kuppig
vkuppig@hastingstribune.com
LINCOLN — Somehow, someway Nebraska made it through seven turnovers with a chance to still win a football game.
But the eighth finally sealed the deal.
In a wild, wacky game that saw Huskers turn the ball over eight times compared to none for Iowa State, the Cyclones stunned Nebraska 9-7 Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
"We were lucky to be in the football game," said NU coach Bo Pelini, whose Huskers dropped their second straight after moving into the top-15 with a 4-1 start to the season. "Eight turnovers. We could have gotten run out of the stadium. I don't know if I've been around that in my coaching career.
"It's pretty obvious you can't win a football game like that."
The Huskers' first offensive play of the game was a fumble lost. Their last was an interception, letting the Cyclones (5-3, 2-2 Big 12) run the clock out to capture their first win in Lincoln since 1977.
In between, there were six other turnovers by the Huskers (4-3, 1-2). Four them occurred inside the ISU 10-yard line.
"Strange, strange day," ISU coach Paul Rhoads said. "Maybe somebody thought 32 years was long enough and we needed to come out of here victorious."
The Huskers fumbled seven times, losing five of them. Quarterback Zac Lee, who came into the week in a battle with freshman Cody Green for the starting job, threw three interceptions — two of them on balls that were in the hands of Husker receivers only to be picked off by Iowa State defenders.
Of Nebraska's 13 drives in the game, eight ended in turnovers, four in punts and one in a touchdown.
"We were our own worst enemy today," Pelini said. "You have to make plays in this game or you're going to lose."
The Husker defense held ISU to 239 total yards, one touchdown and one field goal.
NU senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh blocked an extra point and a field goal.
But it wasn't enough.
"It's tough because we expect a lot out of them," Suh said of the Husker offense. "We know what they can do as they did in the four games we played at the beginning of the season. It's different teams, but we still know our offense is still potent and will be potent again. ...
"We have to step up on the offensive side and the special teams side and pick that group up. We have to make a play whether it's get a turnover, as we did. We forced a fumble, but unfortunately didn't recover. It's things like that we have to do — put them in positions where they ultimately have no other choice but to score."
Nebraska outgained the Cyclones 249-126 in the first half but committed three costly turnovers and trailed 9-7 going into the locker room.
Two of the turnovers likely cost the Huskers touchdowns and the other happened inside the Huskers' territory and led to an ISU field goal.
It didn't get any better in the third quarter, as the Huskers turned the ball over twice more — both times inside the ISU 10.
Had Nebraska scored touchdowns on those four turnovers deep in the Cyclones' territory, the Huskers would have been up 35-9 going into the fourth quarter. Instead, they trailed 9-7.
Then, early in the fourth quarter, the Huskers lost another fumble to give the Cyclones the ball at the NU 37 after personal foul penalty pushed Iowa State back 15 yards.
Two fourth-quarter turnovers, both Lee interceptions, sealed the Huskers' fate.
The second interception, Lee's third of the game, came on fourth-and-10 from NU's own 18.
"I've just got to give a guy a chance to make a play," Lee said. "I got hit right when I threw it. I was just trying to give Wes (Cammack), who was running a crossing route, a chance. Obviously, the ball came up a little shorter than I would have liked. It was just one of those things trying to give him a shot to get it."
For the game, Nebraska held a 362-239 advantage in total yards.
But the turnover battle was won by Iowa State 8-0.
"We had plenty of opportunities to win the football game and we didn't get it done," Pelini said. "I'm very disappointed." |
