It Was the Best of Games, It Was the Worst of Games: Two Sides to Huskers vs. Sparty

The first wave on the “Michigan Invasion” ended in heartbreak for the Big Red. The second wave? Despite pitching and rolling like a plane in a thunderstorm, the Huskers emerged victorious with a 38-27 victory over the Spartans of Michigan State.

First Quarter: Dylan Raiola looked calm, collected, flipping passes downfield, stretching the Spartan defense like taffy. Receivers beat press coverage, found gaps, and the Spartans looked helpless. After an Emmett Johnson touchdown, the Husker special teams did their thing and blocked a punt - resulting in a scoop and score for a 14-0 lead. Bob and Jay (who were predicting a big day for the Huskers) turned to each other and said “this might be a little easier than we thought!” Oh, optimism, you are such a fickle beast!

Second Quarter: To (almost) quote Bob Seger, “we’re still (passing) against the wind.” Against all forms of common sense, the Huskers largely abandoned the ground game and tried passing against a stiff 30-40 mph breeze. From there, the game unraveled into the…

Third Quarter: What looked like a blowout suddenly found the Huskers down 21-14! What happened? The backslide brought memories of game after game that Nebraska has dropped over the last several years. Fortunately, Raiola completed a long pass off a scramble and Emmett ran it in again (THAT’S HOW YOU BEAT THE WIND!!) to knot the score at 21 going into the…

Fourth Quarter: Once they had the wind at their backs, the Huskers attacked, ringing up another 17 points and letting all Husker fans breathe a tremendous sigh of relief! The Spartans scored a late touchdown that did only one thing - it made sure that SMQ would not get the correct score for the fourth time in five games!

Final Score & Takeaways: Nebraska 38, Michigan State 27. It was closer than it appeared, yet also further than it appeared … it was that sort of game. It was a game we would have probably dropped in the past. But not this year!

While there’s a lot to pick on, the fact is the team showed fight and resilience to pull victory from the jaws of defeat! Go Big Red!

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