Final take: Learning how to win

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Learning how to win is not easy. For Nebraska (3-1, 1-0), they are coming off back-to-back 4-8 seasons and they had lost eight consecutive road games before Saturday night's 42-38 win at Illinois (2-2, 0-1).

That's what makes NU's victory in Champaign that much more special. The Huskers had to overcome a litany of mistakes. Four turnovers on offense, an assignment bust on defense that allowed Illinois to jump on Nebraska from the game's opening possession. There were four different times in the game the Illini held a 14 point lead on the Big Red, but still, Scott Frost's team was able to overcome.

This was a game a year ago NU would've lost. It was a game they lost earlier this year at Colorado. Finally, when it mattered, things came together on Saturday night and Frost's offense exploded for 28 second-half points and nearly 700 yards of total offense.

"It was an emotional game," Frost said. "I'm really happy with overall how we played and how much better we played this week as a team.

"We talked all week about finishing when we had a chance to finish. This week it was about everybody no matter what the situation is, falling back on your training, doing your job and executing with speed. Nobody panicking and just going out and playing. On our sideline I didn't see anyone panic, I didn't see anyone worry. I'm really happy for the guys to overcome what they overcame. We just don't want to be in that spot very often."

Saturday was also a potential season-changing moment for quarterback Adrian Martinez. The sophomore led NU with 327 yards passing and 118 yards rushing, becoming just the second quarterback in school history to throw for 300 and rush for 100 yards in one game.

His 445 yards of total offense was the third-best game in school history.

"We answered the call tonight," Martinez said. "Our guys stayed confident. We didn't let it get to us, we were down a couple of touchdowns. No one lost faith in our team. We were confident and we executed. We had that faith in our ability to go out there and still win the game."

Now the page turns to Ohio State. College GameDay will be coming to Lincoln for the first time since 2007.

NU won't have much time to even think about this game when they get off the plane in Lincoln.

"Listen, we are where we are," Frost said "We could easily be 4-0 and everybody would be saying we are a top 15 team. We could easily be 2-2 and we are talking about how it's not any better and the sky is falling. We are where we are. We are a lot better than we were Week 1, we are a lot better than we were four games into last seasons for sure.

"As long as we keep getting better, good things are in the future. We are going to do the best we can every single week. We have a great team coming in next week. Watching (Ohio State) a little on tape, I think they are as good of a team as I've seen since I've been in the Big Ten. We've got a huge challenge, and we've got to get back to work."

Now on to the breakdown...

***Welcome to the party Wan'Dale Robinson. Saturday was the first time he ever was able to get enough offensive touches in one game to get into a flow. It made a huge difference as he kept the offense on schedule and in rhythm. I'll be curious how he's used next week vs. Ohio State.

***What's interesting about Robinson is he didn't take any team running back reps during the practice week. He's just that natural of an athlete. The good ones as Frost said on Saturday make everything look easy.

***Both Brenden Jaimes and Cam Taylor-Britt started for Nebraska on Saturday. In fact, Taylor-Britt made the game's opening tackle on kickoff coverage.

Junior tackle Matt Farniok said Jaimes practiced all week for NU, and there was really never any doubt he was going to be out for Saturday.

***Illinois won the coin toss and took the ball. That was a surprise to some that know Lovie Smith, as he typically likes to defer. However, people know Frost wants the ball first and they took the ball. It paid off as the Illini marched down the field on two plays to score.

***Maurice Washington was clearly hobbled at times Saturday. He took a good shot to his leg, and he was able to overcome it and play through the injury most of the first half. However, right before halftime, he was sent to the locker room with an apparent head injury.

***Give Nebraska's defense a lot of credit. They held up in a lot of very tough situations on Saturday. You aren't going to see a team win a game very often that loses four fumbles.

***Illinois's safeties were physical. They brought the wood on multiple occasions. This is where NU's lack of physicality at split end hurts them at times. They did a good job though of holding onto the football after some very hard hits.

***Jack Stoll's third-down catch with one-hand was a game-changing play on Saturday. Stoll played one of the better games of his career with three catches for 45 yards on three targets.

***It was a pretty collective effort for Nebraska's defense on Saturday. Seven different players recorded a tackle for loss. I thought both JoJo Domann and Will Honas made some pretty big stops. Lamar Jackson led the Huskers with two tackles for loss, to go along with two pass break-ups.

***College GameDay is coming back to Lincoln for the first time since 2007. The announcement was made during NU's post-game press conference on their Twitter handle. It's crazy to think how much the college football landscape has changed since 2007.

Rushing offense: B-

It's hard to look past four fumbles, but Nebraska made up with it by rushing for 370 yards (sack adjusted total), averaging 6 yards per carry. NU got 118 from Martinez, 89 from Robinson, 89 from Washington and 62 from Dedrick Mills. This was the first time all season NU had a consistent presence in the run game where they got a quality 4 to 6 yards or more on early downs.

Passing offense: A-

Martinez finished 22-of-34 for 327 yards and three touchdowns. He missed a couple of key throws, but NU was 11-of-19 on third downs. This was an area I thought Nebraska could get over 300 yards, and they were able to do that.

Rushing defense: C+

Nebraska gave up 134 yards to Reggie Corbin, but over half of it came on the game's opening drive. Illinois finished with 235 yards rushing, but when it mattered NU got the key stops.

Pass defense: A+

Brandon Peters was just 9-of-21 for 78 yards. The only big-time throw he really made was his touchdown pass over DiCaprio Bootle in the first quarter. He had just 32 yards passing after the first quarter. Illinois was just 1-of-11 on third downs.

Special teams: F

Nebraska lost this phase of the game Saturday. They missed a field goal, had an extra point blocked, gave up 179 kickoff return yards to Dre Brown and let multiple punts hit the ground that took away field position. There really weren't any positives you could take away from NU's special teams play on Saturday. This has to get a lot better with Ohio State coming to town next week.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 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 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET's Big Red Wrap-Tuesday's at 7 pm.