BLACKSBURG, Va. -- After collecting their emotions, the brokenhearted Nebraska Cornhuskers promised to learn, be better and, most importantly, finish games. Nebraska was just under two minutes away from a statement victory over 13th-ranked Virginia Tech here at Lane Stadium Saturday when the Hokies, out of thin air, crashed the party. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor relied on his athletic skills to miraculously drive Tech 88 yards in five plays for a 16-15 victory that sent shock waves from the southwest Virginia mountain to the Midwestern flat lands.
"It was tough, but that's the name of the game -- you have to finish it until the end and we obviously didn't do that," said Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, brushing the frustration from his forehead with his right hand. "So, we ended up losing, even though we played a great game. It's something that we have to move forward on and let it make us stronger."
Virginia Tech's offense had struggled most of the game against Nebraska's physical defense, managing just 195 yards in three quarters and only one real scoring drive. After a slow opening quarter, Nebraska's offense found its rhythm and outgained Tech 343-278. But mistakes, missed opportunities and, in the end, missed chances to get the elusive Taylor on the ground ruined the Cornhuskers' upset.
No excuses, said stone-faced head coach Bo Pelini.
"We all take responsibility for not finishing the deal," he said, arms folded across a table.
"You have to finish the job and we didn't do that. Each and every guy that walked on the field had a hand in us not winning that football game. Coaches included. They made the plays. We didn't. Pretty simple. In a game like that, you've got to make a play.
Nebraska actually had two chances to make a play in the game's closing two minutes as it tried to protect a 15-10 advantage.
Faced with 2nd-and-6 at his 16, Taylor found receiver Danny Coale behind the Cornhuskers secondary for an 81-yard completion down the right sideline. Coale was caught from behind and tripped up at the 3-yard line by cornerback Matt O'Hanlon, who had briefly lost sight of Coale to take a peek at Taylor as he scrambled and avoided pressure in the pocket.
Despite the long gain, Suh still felt great about Nebraska's chances with 1:11 remaining.
"I told my guys all we have to do is hold them to a field goal. We're good," Suh said.
"It's going to be four plays and they have to score (a touchdown). That's the only thing they can do to beat us. ... he (Taylor) ends up making a great play. We can't do anything about it other than learn from it and move forward. To play so great; we were that close and we just didn't finish it."
After being sacked on the first play from the 3-yard line on an 8-yard sack by O'Hanlon and then rushed into throwing the ball way, Taylor scrambled for what the school said was nine second before throwing a dart to Roberts on the right side of the end zone with 21 seconds left.
Suh had a hand on Taylor as he released the winning pass. Again, Pelini didn't want to debate what-ifs or close calls.
"You have got to go make the sack," Pelini said. "You have to go get them. We didn't do it. The guy was scrambling and he got them to stop and hesitate. The guy made a play; good job by them."
Suh agreed.
"The situation is tough because he's scrambling and I personally had a great shot but I didn't get there in time," said Suh, who finished with eight tackles, including one tackles for loss and a half-sack.
"So I will be back, working and hoping the next time I am in that situation I make the play. (Taylor's) a great athlete but we had shots, we had opportunities to make plays. I am not going to take anything from him -- he's a great athlete -- and he alluded me and other guys. We had opportunities to get him and we just didn't.
"We all have to man up and not look to blame each other. Take the blame on yourself and see what you could have done to get it done and move forward. We can't do anything about this game. We have to move forward and look towards the next game."
The last time Tech (2-1) came from behind to win in the last minute was in 1999, when Shayne Graham kicked a 44-yard field goal as time expired to life the Hokies to a 24-22 win at West Virginia. The Hokies, who open ACC play Saturday at home against Miami, have won 32 consecutive non-conference games dating back to 1998.
Nebraska (2-1), meanwhile, looks to regroup at home Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette before traveling to Missouri for its Big-12 opener on Oct. 8.
"There's only two ways you can go -- you can either go up or you can go down," linebacker Phillip Dillard told HuskersIllustrated.com. "This team's going to choose to go up, and we're going to keep fighting and we're going to keep proving ourselves, because it's not over.
"It's a long season. I believe in my teammates, and everyone else should. Regardless of whether we won or lost, you saw the fight in us. That's something you didn't see in us for a long time."
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
If you can't get the ball into the end zone you'll give a weaker opponent a chance to win, plain and simple.
Nebraska is over rated and is not the Cornhusker teams of the Tom Osborne era. They also screw recruits at the last minute leaving them to search for another program with no schalorship. So it's great to watch Nebraska suffer a heartbreaking loss. Hope their are many more to come.
Yeah, the Husker defense blew the coverage at the end of the game. Noticed that it was a little fishy that the obvious TD from VT was reviewed at the end of the game, but the officials didn't review the Nebraska TD that would wasn't reviewed. My Huskers got screwed.
No whining, can't pick-up 4th and 2 to seal the game, Got what you deserved.