Final take: Never count a Pelini team out

IOWA CITY, Iowa - With 8:45 left in the third quarter, Nebraska native and Iowa defensive end Drew Ott ran a deflected punt by Sam Foltz in for a touchdown to put Iowa up 24-7. On NU's next drive it had a field goal blocked. The clock now read 3:19 in the third quarter with the Huskers down 24-7.

 

That was it. Game over. After watching Nebraska the last two weeks fight adversity, on top of how it was playing against the Hawkeyes on Friday, it was hard to think the Huskers had enough in them to come back from a 17-point hole with just less than 20 minutes of game time left.

 

I was wrong. Even with three starting offensive linemen out and All-American candidate defensive end Randy Gregory unavailable, head coach Bo Pelini's team fought like we haven't seen all season in its 37-34 overtime win over Iowa on Friday.

 

We've seen a lot of crazy comebacks under Pelini since 2012, but this one has to rank up there near the top. The 17-point deficit tied for the biggest road comeback and the second-largest rally in school history. 

 

"There was a little deflating feel on the sideline," defensive coordinator John Papuchis said of when the deficit grew to 24-7. "But I give a lot of credit to our senior leadership in terms of our defense.

 

"They all got together and said no matter what this is our last regular-season game and we are going to go out swinging. That mentality and that approach is what allowed us to stay in this football game."

 

In a week filled with negativity after two straight losses and speculation about Pelini and his coaching staff's future, this team and staff found a way.

 

With all the emotion they were fighting, I tweeted during the game that I wasn't surprised to see Nebraska "crumble" when it was down 24-7. Boy was I wrong. Nobody could've predicted this. We haven't seen this type of comeback from NU all season. It was fueled by three big punt returns by freshman De'Mornay Pierson-El that gave the whole team life.

 

Senior wide receiver Kenny Bell caught the game-winning touchdown, and even he was questionable this week after suffering a concussion against Minnesota. 

 

"I don't think it was just this week, it was the past three weeks," Bell said of fighting the emotion levels this week. "It's tough, man. The negativity that surrounds it - I'm not blaming fans, I'm not blaming players and I'm not blaming coaches. Losing is cancerous and makes everyone not happy. It's tough for everyone involved. It's frustrating for fans, it's frustrating for players to have two losses.

 

"Let me tell you about a Coach Pelini-coached football team. We are down by 17 with six minutes left in the third quarter. A lot of people would roll it in. There's no Big Ten Championship or accolades or awards for winning this football game. We just rolled up our sleeves and we kept fighting like we always do. That group of guys was unbelievably resilient and I can't really tell you how thankful and appreciative I am of every single man in that locker room."

 

Bell is right. Losing is cancerous. I've seen and witnessed more negativity and personal attacks about the football program on our website and on social media than ever before.

 

These last three weeks have not been fun for anybody around the program. Still, through it all this team somehow found a way to win.

 

What does that mean going forward? Nobody knows. But if you fire a coach that has won nine or more games seven straight years I don't think that is going to be perceived well nationally. Yes, the Wisconsin and Minnesota games were tough pills to swallow, but what I saw Saturday was a team that hasn't quit. If this staff and team had checked out, there is no way they would have had that type of comeback in them. 

 

As Pelini walked off the field on Friday, he didn't really smile and showed very little emotion. He was reserved in his post-game press conference. Nobody really knows what's next. When Pelini steps off that plane back in Lincoln, really only one man knows what's next. 

 

"I haven't had any conversations with (Eichorst)," Pelini said. "That's the furthest thing from my mind.

 

"I know what we have going. People can make their deductions any way they want and they are going to say whatever they want. I could care less."

 

Now on to the post-game breakdown….

 

What I saw on Friday

 

***Of all the back-up guys that stepped up Friday, I was probably the most happy for offensive linemen Matt Finnin and Paul Thurston. These two guys have had little to no chance for playing time, but they stepped in like veterans when this offense needed them.

 

***Talk about a roller-coaster week for Pierson-El. He went from having two key fumbles that played a hand in last week's loss to Minnesota to arguably one of the best games by a punt returner we've seen at NU in quite some time. 

 

***Pretty crazy to think two defensive ends from Central Nebraska in NU's Jack Gangwish (Wood River) and Iowa's Drew Ott (Giltner) had the type of impact they did on Friday.

 

***Welcome back to the offense, Cethan Carter. It was great to see the tight end get involved after a very quiet sophomore season. The kid has major talent.

 

***I thought Tommy Armstrong's game-winning touchdown pass in overtime was his most impressive play of the day. The way he kept that play alive and improvised was unreal. I was standing field level at the 20-yard line and I didn't think there was any way he was going to find somebody open when he started to scramble.

 

***Defensive end Randy Gregory told me he missed today's game recovering from a concussion and bronchitis.

 

***When I asked Bell what bowl game he wanted to go to, his response was "some place warm." Right now it looks like the Holiday Bowl in San Diego is the most likely destination.

 

The final grades

 

Rushing offense: B

 

Ameer Abdullah looked the best he's looked since the Rutgers game, giving the Huskers 106 yards on 13 carries, including a 53-yard run.  With the way the Huskers fell behind, they couldn't go to him as much as they probably would've liked to in the second half.

 

Passing offense: C

 

It was a very shaky day for Armstrong in the second half, but his 3-of-5 finish for 81 yards in the fourth quarter to go with his touchdown pass to Bell in overtime were extremely clutch. He threw two interceptions, but his four touchdown passes were a career high. It was also good to see more guys involved in the offense.

 

Rushing defense: B+

 

Iowa finished with 2.8 yards per carry average on 50 rushing attempts. Most importantly, Iowa's running backs were held to just 3.4 yards per carry and the longest run of the day was just 15 yards.

 

Passing defense: B

 

The Huskers gave up a some big third down plays and also got a few very costly penalties in pass defense, but I thought Joshua Kalu's fumble strip before halftime was an early spark that helped the Huskers go into the locker room down just 10-7. When it mattered the pass defense showed up.

 

Special teams: B-

 

The Huskers missed a field goal, had a field goal blocked and had a punt taken back for a touchdown after it deflected off one of their own players, but Pierson El's brilliance brings the grade up. Without him, it's hard to imagine the Huskers winning this game.

 

 

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:50 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 TV in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET's Big Red Wrap Tuesday's at 7 pm.

 

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