Dave Feit: Huskers Flip the Script in Win at Maryland

"I've seen this movie before."

How many times have you said that in the last decade as Nebraska blew a lead, turned the ball over, made a quarterback look like an all-star, or otherwise found painful new ways to lose a football game?

Heck, that was the entire premise behind the I-80 Club's excellent "Groin Kick Chronicles" podcast series this summer.

Saturday's game at Maryland had all the hallmarks of a groin kick loss. Nebraska was favored and jumped out to an early 10-point lead. They turned it over three times. The defense struggled to consistently get stops as a true freshman QB looked like a veteran. Heading into the fourth quarter, it looked like the 71st installment in the Groin Kick series. The only question was what the "obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet" would be.

After a pick-six put the Huskers down 31-24, Nebraska drove down the field and kicked a field goal. The defense got a stop and put the offense in a familiar situation: less than four minutes to go, down by one score, ball in your hands. Can Nebraska score the winning touchdown?

We've seen this movie so many times. Since the start of the Scott Frost era, Husker stats whiz @Stewmanji has been keeping a spreadsheet of the THIRTY-THREE times Nebraska had the ball when tied or trailing by one score at the end of a game. You won't be surprised to learn that Nebraska was 1-32 in these games (the lone win coming versus Northwestern in 2019). The spreadsheet is a living history of Nebraska's failures in the Groin Kick Era.

The only drama was how the comeback would fall short: Another interception? A fourth-down failure? Perhaps an uncalled penalty? How would the failure be documented on the spreadsheet?

But instead of doing another sad sequel, Nebraska decided to do a reboot. Same cast, same costumes, but an exciting new outcome. The Huskers flipped the script.

They drove 81 yards in seven plays and scored the go-ahead touchdown. Was it perfect? Far from it. There were ill-advised passes, moments of near disaster, and clock mismanagement. But they scored.

Dane Key scores the game-winning touchdown with a little over a minute remaining. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Now it was the defense's turn. We’ve also seen the movie where the defense gives up a late, walk-off score - or worse, goes to overtime. Gird your loins, because the boot is drawing back for a big kick.

Except… Nebraska got the stop. This, too, was not easy. But the Blackshirts got it done. The Huskers took a knee and improved to 5-1.

After the win at Maryland, Stewmanji put the spreadsheet into a shredder. Is the Groin Kick Era finally over?

I'll let you decide that for yourselves. I'll note that two of the top five games in the Groin Kick Chronicles - 2018 Northwestern (#5) and 2019 Colorado (#1) - had the same score as Saturday's game: 34-31.

Personally, I would say the Groin Kick Era is not quite over. The final boss - Nebraska's abysmal 0-8 record in overtime without a single first down - has yet to be defeated. That said, winning this game (and avoiding overtime) is a gigantic victory worth celebrating.

"It's better to give than to receive" is advice for a good life. I recommend it for groin kick losses too.

Things I believe

I'm not worried about Dylan Raiola's performance.

Based on the in-game reactions I saw on Twitter, I would have assumed Dylan Raiola had the worst game in program history. People were lining up to tell me how much Raiola sucks, how he hasn't gotten better, and why Nebraska should be playing TJ Lateef at quarterback.

Excuse me while I roll my eyes.

Let's start with some perspective. Think back to the last time Nebraska played Maryland. The trio of Jeff Sims, Heinrich Haarberg and Chubba Purdy had a combined line of 10-21 for 86 yards and four interceptions. The final interception occurred in the end zone on third and goal. Maryland then drove down the field for a game-winning field goal. The quarterbacking in that game was much, much worse than anything I saw Saturday.

Yes, Raiola threw three interceptions. I won't argue that is acceptable, but I will offer the opinion that they weren't all his fault:

Interception 1: This one was the worst. Raiola had an open receiver, but seemed to lock in on Jacory Barney. The defender read Raiola's eyes and jumped the throw.
Interception 2: We've all been asking Raiola to throw it away instead of taking sacks. Unfortunately, Raiola did so throwing off his back foot, falling away from the line of scrimmage. The ball did not make it out of bounds. Maybe taking a sack isn't such a bad thing after all?
Interception 3: BTN's Jake Butt speculated that Raiola's intended receiver (true freshman Cortez Mills Jr.) was not where Raiola expected him to be. I don't know if that is true or not. I do question why Mills and the lightly used Keelan Smith were the receivers on that play, instead of Dane Key, Barney or Nyziah Hunter.

Look: I know the expectation is that a five-star quarterback should look like a future first-round draft pick, so it can be hard to deal with the times when he makes mistakes. Personally, I think that expectation isn't fair (for every Vince Young or Cam Newton there's a Davis Mills, Xavier Lee or Justin Zwick), but that's part of the deal with top recruits.

In the end, the ups outweighed the downs for Dylan Raiola against Maryland. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

I think back to the touchdowns to Luke Lindenmeyer and Hunter, as well as the throws on the final drive. Few - if any - of the Husker quarterbacks in my lifetime could have made the throws. If folks don't see his growth and progression, I don't know what to say.

I know the backup quarterback is always the most popular guy on the team. Heck, it was that way when Tommie Frazier was the QB. But those of you hyping TJ Lateef need to choose one of these statements and ride with it: a) Akron (2-5) and Houston Christian (2-4) were strong opponents who played Nebraska tough for four quarters, or b) our excitement for Lateef is based upon garbage-time reps against two bad teams.

Nebraska's pass defense is human after all.

Coming into the Maryland game, I asked if Nebraska's pass defense was for real, or if there were asterisks on their previous statcally impressive performances.

Personally, I thought the answer was a little bit of both. Nebraska's pass defense has been excellent, but some things - such as the wind in the Michigan State game and Michigan not really needing to throw it - helped their impressive numbers. I knew Maryland's pass-first offense would provide a legitimate, asterisk-free challenge. Malik Washington might be a freshman, but he's been impressive.

Before the game, I saw that a prop bets website had set the line for Washington's passing yards at over/under 230.5. If I were a betting man, I would have taken the under. Thankfully, I don't gamble. Washington completed 27 of his 37 throws for 249 yards.

Despite the season high yielded in passing yards, I'm not worried about the pass defense. It was alarming to see receivers running wide open, but I'm more concerned about the inconsistent pass rush. The Huskers had just one sack and were not credited with any quarterback hurries.

The Husker secondary may not be super-human, but they're still the strength of the defense.

Nebraska continues to struggle in the red zone.

Glass half full: Nebraska entered the red zone five times and scored five times. Glass half empty: two of those were field goals and NU's run/pass splits in the red zone are curious.

Nebraska's red zone struggles are a mix of curious play calls, penalties and being overly reliant on the pass.

First off, I'm not a fan of how Nebraska is running the wildcat with Heinrich Haarberg. He's a dynamic player, but with Raiola split out left on the wide side of the field it all but guarantees that the play is going up the middle or to the right. Maryland knew this too and stuffed Haarberg for a two-yard loss.

Red zone penalties are a drive killer. The offensive pass interference on Emmett Johnson was accurate by the letter of the law, but was clearly unintentional. Regardless, that play took a touchdown off the board and - combined with a false start - gave NU a third-and-22.

But my biggest concern is with Dana Holgorsen's apparent reluctance to call a running play inside the 20. Emmett Johnson had a career day, and got two carries in the red zone. Haarberg had one. Raiola kept it when it didn't see anybody open. Nebraska's eight other red zone plays were passes.

At the end of the game, I really wish Nebraska had run the ball at least once. In a vacuum, I like the play action throw to Lindenmeyer. But at that moment in the game, you've got to either burn some clock or force Maryland to use a time out.

All in all, getting 27 points on five red zone trips is pretty good. But there's room for improvement.

Things I don't know

Why are the Huskers slumping for large chunks of the game?

With 5:37 left in the second quarter, Raiola hit Hunter for a 12-yard touchdown that game Nebraska a 24-14 lead. The Huskers were playing very well, moving the ball with relative ease, and looked to be in control of the game.

And then, the Big Red Express went off the rails. The Huskers couldn't consistently move the ball. Across Nebraska's next four possessions, they gained 68 yards on 15 plays. Those possessions ended with two interceptions (one of which was returned for a touchdown), a 20-yard punt and a sack before halftime.

On the other side of the ball, the Blackshirts struggled to get a stop. Maryland scored 17 straight points with the Terps picking up 163 of their 379 total yards. The Cornhusker drought lasted over 20 minutes, stretching into the start of the fourth quarter.

On its own, a slump like that isn't too concerning. It happens. But coming a week after a historically bad stretch against Michigan State, it's worth looking at.

The causes for the ruts ultimately boil down to sloppy play: penalties that get Nebraska behind schedule, turnovers, poor tackling, etc. These are correctable issues.

Like last week, I continue to be fascinated with Nebraska's ability to flip the switch from bad to good. Ultimately, the goal is to avoid second- and third-quarter slumps, but I'll take encouragement that this team appears able to pull themselves out of a tailspin.

What's going on with Nebraska's fourth-down failures?

On Nebraska's opening drive, the Huskers sputtered out at the edge of field goal range. With fourth-and-two from the Maryland 31, Rhule opted to go for it instead of attempting a 48-yard field goal.

Emmett Johnson - who had 32 yards on the drive - was stuffed for no gain. It's not the first time that has happened.

The Huskers have been stopped on fourth down in every game this season. In five of those fourth-down failures, the Huskers needed two yards. Nebraska is 4-11 on fourth down in 2025.

Late in the game, it looked like Nebraska was going to go for a fourth-and-goal before a delay-of-game penalty forced Rhule to kick the field goal.

In general, I'm okay with Nebraska going for it. Rhule will often point to the analytics of going for a fourth-and-two instead of punting or trying a long field goal. I like to think that Nebraska can get two measly yards anytime it wants.

But the Huskers may want to reconsider their offensive approach. Lining up and running it directly at their opponent is not working.

Should Nebraska have been more aggressive before halftime?

Maryland kicked a field goal with 24 seconds left. Their short kickoff was fielded by Caleb Benning, who returned it to midfield with 19 seconds to go and two timeouts in the Huskers' pocket.

As we saw against Michigan, the Huskers are capable of getting the ball to the end zone on a Hail Mary. Kicker Kyle Cunanan has hit from 52 yards, so the Huskers would have needed about 15 yards to give him a shot.

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

But on the first play of the drive, Raiola - taking his first snap since going into the medical tent - was blitzed by the Terps. Less than two seconds after Raiola took the shotgun snap, a Maryland player was wrapping him up for a sack. Nebraska let the clock run out and went into the locker room with a seven-point lead.

Had Nebraska used a timeout, they would have had second-and-20 from Nebraska's 40 with about 13 seconds to go. Assuming Maryland would have blitzed again, do you really want to expose Raiola to another hit? Speed him up and risk a bad throw across the middle of the field? Run a draw play that gets you back to where you started with six seconds to go?

I know we want Nebraska to be aggressive. If I had that situation in a college football video game, I'd like my chances to come away with points. But real life is not a video game. Sometimes you have to know when to take your foot off the gas.

Huskerigami Update

A “Huskerigami” is a final score combination (win or lose) that has never happened in the 130+ year history of Nebraska football.

Final score: 34-31

Is that a Huskerigami? No. It has happened three times before. The first time was a 2005 home loss to Texas Tech (known among my friends as the "Le Kevin Smith game"). The most recent was a 2019 overtime loss at Colorado, picked as the biggest groin kick loss of the last decade.

5 Things I loved

Emmett Johnson. On the first play of the game, he gained 13 yards. On the second, he got 11 more. By the time his day was done, EJ had a career-high 176 yards on 21 carries, with another 20 yards on two receptions. Johnson rarely went down on first - or even second - contact. He truly carried the Huskers to victory.
Nyziah Hunter. Hunter got the scoring started with a 64-yard touchdown on a screen where he simply ran away from everybody. Lest you think he's just a speed guy, he also made great catches on an end zone fade route and on the winning drive. With 125 yards on five catches and two touchdowns, he's making a strong case as Nebraska's best receiver.
Offensive Line. Let's give credit where it is due. Nebraska rushed for 193 yards against Maryland, 83 more than the combined total against the two Michigan teams. Raiola was sacked just once. Justin Evans and Elijah Pritchett had great open-field blocks on Hunter's long touchdown. Rocco Spindler played at a high level, and Turner Corcoran was very good in relief of Pritchett.
Kenneth Williams. Days before the game, there was speculation that the Huskers would return a kickoff for a touchdown, which is absolutely wild considering no Husker has done it since JD Spielman in 2017. But in the second quarter, Williams nearly pulled it off. He was 10 yards away from being the first Lincoln High grad to score for the Huskers since… Troy Hassebroek in 2002? But his memorable day was just getting started. After the game, he was placed on scholarship in front of the entire team. The video was a highlight of the day.
Husker fans in the stands. The attendance Saturday was listed at 39,623. Estimates had as many as 10,000 of those being Husker fans. I don't know if they traveled from Nebraska or if the alumni/fan contingents on the East Coast and the DMV area showed out in force. Regardless, they made a ton of noise and had an impact on the game. Afterward, Rhule sent the team back onto the field to thank and celebrate those who were there.

Honorable mention: Dane Key, Luke Lindenmeyer, Cade Pietrzak, Javin Wright, Dasan McCullough, Vincent Shavers, Jacory Barney, Heinrich Haarberg, DeShon Singleton, Isaiah Mozee, Marques Watson-Trent, Dylan Raiola's "proposal" celebration with Lindenmeyer, and Mike Locksley's beard.

Linebacker Javin Wright and receiver Dane Key celebrate with fans after Nebraska's win at Maryland on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025 — Javin Wright and Dane Key celebrate with fans after Nebraska's win. | Nebraska Athletics

5 Areas for improvement

Tackling. Maryland's offensive game plan put pressure on Nebraska's ability to make open-field tackles and not give up extra yards. While there were several times when the Blackshirts made some big stops, there was an equal number of times where defenders were grasping at air.
Rush defense. Coming into the game, the Terps did not have a reputation as a team that a) ran the ball well, or b) really cared to try. But they clearly saw the potential to change that against NU's defense. The Terps ran it 30 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns - all season highs against an FBS opponent. The Blackshirt run defense needs to match the intensity of the pass defense.
Dylan Raiola. Despite the three interceptions, he wasn't nearly as bad as some folks thought. But he did have some regrettable throws. One that sticks out came on Nebraska's second drive. Raiola had Hunter streaking down the sideline. If he leads him, it's a touchdown. Raiola underthrew it. Hunter drew a pass interference penalty, but Nebraska ended up settling for a field goal on the drive. Raiola needs to take advantage of these situations.
Cam Rice. After throwing his second interception, Raiola landed oddly. He got up, clearly limping, and started to hobble toward the sideline. Apparently, this was an invitation for Maryland's defensive lineman to blast Raiola to the ground. Rice got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but that kind of cheap shot should earn a player a suspension.
Debbie Downer fans. My social media feeds were full of fans who were bashing coaches and players anytime something did not go Nebraska's way. Spoiler alert: There will be ebbs and flows in a 60-minute game. Nebraska is not going to score on every play. Mistakes will happen. It would be nice if fans could watch a game without doom-and-gloom overreactions that need to be deleted or walked back afterward.

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