10 things we learned from Nebraska's win over Michigan State

Scott Frost opened some eyes at his first Big Ten Media Days this summer when he said the conference would have to adjust to the new Nebraska more than he would have to adapt to the conference.

Frost's Huskers met the league with mixed success this season, but Saturday's 9-6 win over Michigan State - with frigid temperature, high wind gusts, and a fourth-quarter snowfall - showed that he and his system were more than capable of playing and winning in a true Big Ten style.

Nebraska's defense came up with its best performance of the season, and its offense did just enough to muster three fourth-quarter field goals by freshman kicker Barret Pickering. Making the victory even more impressive was that it came against a Spartan team - led by one of the best defenses in college football - built to play in those types of conditions.

The two teams combined for just 537 total yards and averaged 3.6 yards per play, but NU made enough crucial plays down the stretch to pull out its fewest points in a victory since a 7-6 win over Pittsburgh in 2005.

The game is also believed to be the first time Nebraska has won a game without scoring a touchdown since Nov. 27, 1937, when the Huskers won 3-0 on the road at Kansas State.

“Good teams figure out how to win any kind of game, and that’s a different kind of game that I have been a part of as a coach, winning a game with no touchdowns," I am so happy for the seniors, so happy for the Blackshirts. Some of these games we’ve won, we’ve been winning on offense, and it was great to see the defense step up today.”

On a day where Nebraska's offense was likely going to have some problems moving the ball like normally does, Nebraska's defense went into the game knowing it would have to carry the load on Saturday.

Despite two costly lost fumbles by the offense and a number of questionable calls by the officials, the Blackshirts stepped up with far and away their best overall performance of the season. They answered with two takeaways of their own, including a sack-fumble by senior safety Antonio Reed that was recovered by Damion Daniels at the MSU 20-yard line and led to Pickering's game-tying field goal.

The defense has now forced multiple takeaways in four straight games, including four in a row with two or more forced fumbles, it's longest such streak since 2012 (5).

“I don’t know if we put together a game quite like that yet this year and couldn’t have come on a better day," senior linebacker Luke Gifford said. "We knew the offense was going to need us a little bit today. It's tough conditions, a good defense.

"So yeah, we knew what we were going to have to do coming into the game. We played really hard. A couple runs got away from us, I got beat on a wheel route, but we stood up as a defense, got stops when we needed them and that’s what it’s all about.”

Over the first five and a half games of his college career, Pickering often times seemed a bit overwhelmed by the moment as Nebraska's starting placekicker.

He missed four of his first eight field goal attempts (and an extra point), and his longest make was from only 35 yards out. But since the fourth quarter of NU's overtime loss at Northwestern, the true freshman has grown up in a major way.

Pickering had already made five straight field goals going into the clash with Michigan State, and Saturday proved to be the biggest turning point yet for the Birmingham, Ala., native. Despite the brutal winter weather, Pickering was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals in the fourth quarter, including the game-winner with just over five minutes left on the clock.

He's now made eight in a row since his last miss at Northwestern, and the Huskers suddenly have all the trust in the world in their kicking game for years to come.

“Today was a good day," Pickering said. "I’d like to mention the Sadlers and the Foltzes. Today was about them, this was a game for them, and definitely I’d like to (dedicate) my performance to Mike (Sadler) and Sam (Foltz) out there. It means a lot that I go out there and represent them well.”

Neither team was able to do much of anything in the passing game given the weather, but what Nebraska did manage through the air, Stanley Morgan Jr. was the primary contributor.

The senior wide receiver ended up with a team-high four catches for 57 yards, all of which coming in the final 22 minutes of the game. His 35-yard grab in the fourth quarter set up Pickering's first field goal of the game.

Along with helping lead NU to a win, Morgan broke Kenny Bell's school record with 182 career receptions, and he's now just 23 yards away from Bell's record of 2,689 career receiving yards.

The New Orleans native also notched his 37th consecutive game with a catch, tying Johnny Rodgers' school record, and he's now caught at least three balls in 22 of the past 23 games.

Lastly, Morgan increased his season reception total to 63, making him the first player in Nebraska history to post two seasons with 60-plus catches.

"It's amazing," Morgan said of breaking Bell's record. "I have to give props to all the guys that did it before me. Those guys paved the way for me so it's amazing to go out there and get that record and to have Kenny tell me to go get it. It was crazy."

Antonio Reed has always shown the potential to be a game-changing safety during his career, but for whatever reason, it's never quite materialized the way he and his coaches had hoped.

That all changed in his final home game as a Husker on Saturday, as the senior racked up a season-high seven tackles, a career-high three tackles for loss, a career-high two pass breakups, and his first career sack.

Best of all, Reed forced both of Michigan State's fumbles on the day, including his sack-fumble in the fourth quarter, and picked off his second interception of the season at the end of the first half.

“I think it was more credited to the rest of the defense," Reed said. "Seeing them jump around made me more energized and had me making plays I made today, so I give credit to them.”

Given how well he had been playing the past few weeks, Devine Ozigbo's 18 carries for 74 yards seemed relatively quiet. But the senior running back did his job and jumped up the school record books as a result.

Ozigbo was at his best as the game wore on. His 15-yard run in the fourth quarter set up Pickering's tying field goal, and then he powered his way to runs of five and eight yards when Nebraska needed a first down to seal the victory in the closing minutes.

The Sachse, Texas., native is now up to 1,032 yards on the season, making him Nebraska's first 1,000-yard rusher since Ameer Abdullah had 1,611 yards rushing in 2014.

"There’s some tough hitters (on MSU's defense) and Devine didn’t back down," quarterback Adrian Martinez said. "He ran hard especially when we needed him too and at the end there. You know, our guys knew we needed one first down. I think we wanted it more at the end of the game and Devine just put his head down and ran as hard as he could for us.”

He won't get the same postgame hype as some of his teammates, but in a game where every bit of field position mattered, Isaac Armstrong's punting was an extremely valuable component to Nebraska's victory.

The junior averaged 41.0 yards on five punts, a number far more impressive considering he was at times kicking into wind gusts upwards of 30 miles an hour.

He also pinned two of his punts inside the Michigan State 10-yard line, including a 53-yarder near the end of the first half. The Spartans started inside their own 38 after all five of Armstrong's punts.

"Some of the punts that he hit into the wind made a difference in field position," Frost said. "It was a field-position game... So, you could pick about a dozen guys on our team that have gotten just infinitely better as the year has gone along, and those guys (Armstrong and Pickering) are kind of representative of our whole team.”

After being listed as questionable all week with a foot injury, sophomore receiver J.D. Spielman was a game-time scratch for Michigan State, leaving Nebraska without one of its top offensive weapons.

His absence clearly had a major impact on the Huskers, especially with how much they were relying on the perimeter passing game due to the high winds.

A team that has been waiting for a No. 3 receiver to emerge all season, NU had to start walk-on Kade Warner in Spielman's place. Warner caught three passes for 23 yards, but he also coughed up a fumble in the second quarter.

Morgan was targeted 13 times in the game, while Warner was thrown to four times. Other than that, Mike Williams (two catches) was the other receiver targeted in the game.

One of the biggest questions facing Michigan State all week was what it was going to do at quarterback with Brian Lewerke and Rocky Lombardi.

Head coach Mark Dantonio ended up giving the nod to Lombardi over the more experienced Lewerke, and the redshirt freshman ended up going 15-of-41 passing for 146 yards and an interception while rushing nine times for 53 yards.

Dantonio said Lombardi got the call because he thought the Clive, Iowa, native would be better suited for poor winter weather than the Phoenix, Ariz., native Lewerke.

Lombardi didn't do much through the air, but he did give MSU's offense a boost with his legs, especially with multiple quarterback draws to pick up third-down conversions.

"I feel good about Rocky," Dantonio said. "He's played in bad weather before, he's from Iowa and the wind is going to blow out there and everything. I thought he was prepared for that. As far as when we made that decision, I just felt we needed to rest Brian until he was able to settle himself a little bit and settle his shoulder. He could've played, though."

There's something about a snow game at Memorial Stadium that sticks with you, and Saturday is going to live in Nebraska fans' memories for a long time.

Those that braved the elements and stayed through the snowy fourth-quarter comeback got to experience one of the more unique home game settings in recent Husker memory. The fact that NU won made it different from games like Texas in 2006.

Seeing the reaction of fans leaving the stadium after the game and on social media, this didn't seem like a program that only improved to 4-7. They could tell this game meant in terms of Nebraska's long-term rebuild.

“Every week I have been coaching them, I think there is a little more fight," Frost said. "Today was certainly the most I’ve seen. I haven’t seen these guys quit. I’ve seen them keep practicing better and better. I’ve seen them keep playing harder. I’ve seen them come together better as a team.

"That’s a hard game to win. It would’ve been even harder to lose. Our guys had to stick with it. Offensively, we had to keep grinding and the defense had to keep coming up with stops. They found a way to get it done.”