Huskers rally back for thrilling OT win over Iowa

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The light had all but been turned off on Nebraska's 2014 season as the third quarter neared a close in Friday's annual post-Thanksgiving showdown with Iowa.

Trailed 24-3 and showing zero life on offense, the Huskers appeared destined to end their regular season with three consecutive losses, which would have marked the longest losing streak of the Bo Pelini era. Instead, they managed to rally back and tie the second-biggest comeback and the biggest road comeback in school history with a 37-34 victory overtime victory over the Hawkeyes.

With key starters Randy Gregory, Corey Cooper, Mark Pelini, Zach Sterup and Alonzo Moore all sitting out with injuries, the undermanned Huskers were able to keep the game close with a defense that was the definition of bend but don't break. That allowed NU to stay within striking distance and set up a a 24-7 run to close out regulation and send the game to extra time.

From there, quarterback Tommy Armstrong found receiver Kenny Bell in the corner of the end zone for a nine-yard touchdown pass to seal the victory.

"I've been around a long time and coached for many years, but I don't know if I've ever been more proud of a group of guys than this one," Bo Pelini said. "We had a lot of things go against us, but this team showed a lot of fight and character, and that's all you can ask for as a coach."

On the opening drive of the game, Nathan Gerry stepped in front of a Jake Rudock pass in the end zone and returned it out to the NU 10. Nebraska was forced to punt on its ensuing drive, but came up with another big break when punter Sam Foltz forced a fumble from Iowa returner Matt VandeBerg and Chris Jones jumped on it at the Hawkeye 34.

Once again, though, the Huskers were unable to capitalize, as Drew Brown shanked a 49-yard field goal. Iowa again put together a methodical drive down the field and wound up inside the NU 10. And once again, Nebraska's defense came up with a huge turnover just in time. Zaire Anderson sacked Rudock from behind and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Trevor Roach and returned out to the 11.

Not only couldn't the offense turn the takeaway into points, it ended up spotting the Hawkeyes the first lead of the day when Armstrong was hit as he threw and linebacker John Lowdermilk picked it off and returned it 17 yards for a pick six with nine minutes left in the second quarter.

Even though the defense was again able to hold firm inside its own 10 for a third time, Iowa still bumped it's lead up to 10-0 on a 22-yard field goal by Marshall Koehn with 1:44 left in the half. Armstrong followed that up by throwing his second interception of the day to Desmond King at the Iowa 41 on Nebraska's third play of its next drive.

Just when it seemed the momentum was completely on Iowa's sideline, Nebraska finally put it together in the final minute before halftime. The Huskers were able to get the ball right back when Joshua Kalu stripped UI wide out Damond Powell and recovered the fumble at the Iowa 39. Armstrong then finally came up with a big play on third-and-long and hit tight end Cethan Carter on a 34-yard pass down the sideline to the five.

On the next play Armstrong found Ameer Abdullah alone in the back of the end zone, and Abdullah made a nice catch on a pass thrown behind him to bring Nebraska back to within 10-7 with 20 seconds on the clock.

When all was said and done, Iowa had run 40 plays to Nebraska's 21 in the first half, had 13 first downs to NU's three, and held a 20:01-9:59 edge in time of possession. The Huskers also were out-gained 178-92 in total offense, and 39 of their yards came on the final touchdown drive. Had it not been for the Hawkeyes' four turnovers, the three-point deficit likely much worse.

Nebraska opened the second half with a major blow, as center Ryne Reeves - who filling in for injured starter Mark Pelini - went down with a right leg injury. That left third-stringer Paul Thurston to handle the snaps for the rest of the game. With the offense even more diminished, Nebraska's defense made matters worse when Rudock found Tevaun Smith in the right flat, and Smith broke a Gerry tackle to take it 37 yards for a touchdown and increase the lead to 17-7.

That deficit grew even more when Foltz bobbled the snap on a punt and ended up kicking the ball into the back of one of his blockers. Fittingly, Giltner, Neb., native Drew Ott picked up the ball and ran it in from 12 yards for a touchdown to make the score 24-7 with 8:45 left in the third.

"We had some missed opportunities and left some points out there on the field," Bo Pelini said. "It's hard to overcome a 24-7 deficit, but we made some plays. We thought we could get some things done in the punt return game, and we did. We made enough plays to win the game."

Nebraska failed to do anything with a 53-yard run by Abdullah that set up first and 10 at the Iowa eight-yard line, as the Huskers couldn't get the ball into the end zone and Brown's field goal attempt from 27 yards out was blocked. Oddly, Andy Janovich recovered the ball after the block behind the line of scrimmage, meaning he could have advanced it and probably would have scored. Instead he was wrapped up by an Iowa defender until the whistle blew to end the play.

Needing someone to play a play, Armstrong was able to get it back to 24-14 with a 34-yard touchdown pass to Taariq Allen with 1:44 to go in the third, and early on in the fourth De'Mornay Pierson-El ran back a punt 41 yards to the Iowa 32. On the first play following the return, Armstrong connected with Kenny Bell on a 32-yard touchdown strike in the back of the end zone in which Bell out-leaped two Hawkeye defenders and managed to get a foot and hand down inbounds.

Lightening then struck twice after a defensive stand by Nebraska, as Pierson-El broke away from a crowd on the ensuing punt and ran it back 80 yards for a touchdown to give the Huskers their first lead of the game at 28-24 with 12:06 left to play.

Nebraska couldn't stop Iowa on a fourth-and-one with under five minutes remaining, and the Hawkeyes powered the ball down to the NU five-yard line for a crucial third-and-five play. Rudock found a wide-open running back Jordan Canzeri along the right flat for the go-ahead touchdown to put UI up 31-28 with 1:49 to go.

The Huskers started their final drive at their own 28 with 1:42 remaining, and they quickly moved down the field with a pass interference penalty on Iowa and a 14-yard pass to Carter over the middle to the UI 47. Armstrong then hit Brandon Reilly on a 35-yard pass down the right sideline to the Iowa 12 with 58 seconds left.Runs by Armstrong and Abdullah moved it to the three to set up a third and one with 20 seconds to go, but Abdullah was stuffed for no gain with 12 seconds to make the game come down to one play.

The third time was the charm for Brown, who connected on a 20-yard field goal to tie the game up at 31-31 and force overtime after a wacky series of laterals from the Hawkeyes that ended up with offensive tackle Brandon Scherff getting the ball with one defender left to beat before getting knocked out of bounds.

Nebraska won the toss and elected to defend to open overtime, and the Huskers once again held strong with their backs against the goal line and held Iowa to a a 25-yard field goal by Koehn. Facing a third and five, Armstrong found Bell on a 12-yard pass to the nine. The very next play, Armstrong rolled right and found Bell again in the front corner of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

"I knew our kids would keep fighting," Bo Pelini said. "You just keep playing and that's what they did."

With the win, the Huskers finish the regular season at 9-3 to give them their seventh straight nine-win season under head coach Bo Pelini, a feat only matched by Alabama's Nick Saban. Nebraska won't know its upcoming bowl game destination until after next week's Big Ten Championship.