ooc: yeah...even getting into a bowl now is looking like it won't be easy. Iowa's in an eerily similar situation to us; at 1-3 now with losses to both Wisconsin and Buffalo. Difference is, somehow they're still ranked. It's cool though, 'cause...
NCAA Scoreboard - Nebraska (2-3) at Michigan (2-3)
| September 18, 2010 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | | Nebraska | 7 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 30 | | #13 Michigan | 17 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 27 |
Top Performers | Nebraska - Stats | | WR J.Swayne - 3 rec, 104 yds, 2 TD | | DE E.Boutwell - 4 tak, 1 sack, 1 stf, 1 hurry, 1 defl, 1 FF | | Michigan - Stats | | HB W.Martin - 28 car, 186 yds, 2 TD, 5 rec, 52 yds | | ILB J.Wansley - 12 tak, 2 sack, 1 INT, 1 PD |
| Team Stats Comparison | NU | MICH | | First Downs | 18 | 19 | | 3rd Down Efficiency | 7-16 | 4-15 | | 4th Down Efficiency | 0-1 | 0-0 | | Total Yards | 383 | 465 | | Passing Yards | 295 | 280 | | Rushing Yards | 88 | 185 | | Penalties-Penalty Yards | 5-56 | 6-35 | | Turnovers | 3 | 2 | | Time of Possession | 31:29 | 28:36 |
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Scoring Summary | First Quarter | NU | MICH | | NU | 12:28 | J.W. Swayne 58 YD Pass from T.J. Flutie (James Stewart PAT) | 7 | 0 | | MICH | 10:50 | Tom Bailey 64 YD Pass from Devone Joe (Golden Bulluck Kick) | 7 | 7 | | MICH | 4:38 | Golden Bulluck 19 YD FG | 7 | 10 | | MICH | 0:59 | Wayne Martin 50 YD Run (Golden Bulluck Kick) | 7 | 17 | | Second Quarter | NU | MICH | | NU | 9:11 | Thad Abdullah 52 YD Pass from T.J. Flutie (James Stewart Kick) | 14 | 17 | | NU | 1:31 | James Stewart 34 YD FG | 17 | 17 | | Third Quarter | NU | MICH | | NU | 9:53 | Doug Lenda 15 YD Run (James Stewart PAT blocked) | 17 | 23 | | MICH | 7:47 | Golden Bulluck 40 YD FG | 20 | 23 | | NU | 0:00 | J.W. Swayne 18 YD Pass from T.J. Flutie (James Stewart Kick) | 20 | 30 | | Fourth Quarter | NU | MICH | | MICH | 5:03 | Wayne Martin 1 YD Run (Golden Bulluck Kick) | 27 | 30 |
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Nebraska | Passing | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | | QB T.Flutie | 15/33 | 295 | 3 | 3 | | Rushing | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | HB D.Lenda | 11 | 66 | 6.00 | 1 | | HB F.Quander | 16 | 34 | 2.12 | 0 | | FB G.Asari-Dokubo | 2 | 9 | 4.50 | 0 | | QB T.Flutie | 6 | 2 | 0.33 | 0 | | Receiving | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | WR T.Abdullah | 4 | 113 | 28.2 | 1 | | WR J.Swayne | 3 | 104 | 34.7 | 2 | | WR R.Alexander | 4 | 60 | 15.0 | 0 | | HB D.Lenda | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | | HB F.Quander | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 | | TE R.Krepfle | 1 | 2 | 2.00 | 0 | | Kicking | FGM/A | XPM/A | PTS | LONG | | K J.Stewart | 1/1 | 3/4 | 6 | 34 | | Punting | NO. | NET | AVG | IN 20 | | P B.Haselrig | 7 | 31.7 | 39.9 | 0 |
Michigan | Passing | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | | QB D.Joe | 18/34 | 280 | 1 | 1 | | Rushing | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | HB W.Martin | 28 | 186 | 6.64 | 2 | | QB D.Joe | 2 | 8 | 4.00 | 0 | | RB T.Hasselbeck | 2 | 1 | 0.50 | 0 | | Receiving | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | WR T.Bailey | 7 | 137 | 19.5 | 1 | | WR M.McDonald | 5 | 58 | 11.6 | 0 | | HB W.Martin | 5 | 52 | 10.4 | 0 | | WR C.Lyman | 1 | 33 | 33.0 | 0 | | Kicking | FGM/A | XPM/A | PTS | LONG | | K G.Bulluck | 2/4 | 3/3 | 9 | 40 | | Punting | NO. | NET | AVG | IN 20 | | P R.Ligon | 7 | 33.9 | 42.3 | 1 |
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T.J. Flutie was vital to the Huskers' upset win over Michigan
J.W. Swayne has gone from unheralded walk-on to a dangerous 6'6 presence in the slot
Bo Pelini's Huskers showed they weren't up for a letdown after last week's
Wisconsin debacle, and the Pelini-squared defense finally won a game for this bedraggled squad.
What? In a game where
Wayne Martin ran wild, even by his standards, and
Devone Joe further showed that Michigan has a bright future at QB after currently-injured senior Darrell Lee graduates? Those two accounted for 466 yards of net offense, not counting sacks. So why the credit to Bo's D?
This was perhaps the best example of bend-but-don't-break D we've seen all year. It was a heck of a lot of bending, but then, it's Nebraska's misfortune to run into two of the Top 6 backs in the nation in consecutive weeks. Nebraska won because it held Michigan to 3 total points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters combined. Martin broke his long gainers, but the Huskers stiffened past midfield, and Devone Joe had a miserable day on third down passing. Michigan was batting just .267 on third downs, to Nebraska's .438. In other words, it was all about making the most of the opportunities.
Rich Rodriguez has got to be disappointed with the outcome, as the opportunities were many for his squad. T.J. Flutie had two first quarter interceptions in a game that looked like it was going to get out of hand quickly. But the Huskers made a goalline stand, and freshman kicker
Golden Bulluck converted the field goal from extra point distance. But Bulluck would go on to miss two other field goals, and Michigan failed to make good use of the three Flutie interceptions that would come their way.
After scoring 17 - and coming close to making that 21 - in the first quarter, Michigan took an inexplicable 40 minute leave of absence. Frankly, a 2-2 team ranked 13th in the nation should have played with more urgency. Instead, they allowed a Nebraska team - already 1-3 and desperate to not let that turn into 1-4 - to win the battle of will. Flutie had a rough day overall, but found his receivers on enough occasions deep to keep the drives moving when they had to. Even the Husker ground game got a little spark from
Doug Lenda, whose 15-yard score in the third put the Huskers on top, and whose 37-yard romp later that quarter set up the Huskers' final score.
This game played out probably about as perfectly as
Bo Pelini could have envisioned. Michigan's back seven are fast, roaming ballhawks. But his offense put up some opportune scoring strikes, ground a good amount of clock, and then the Blackshirt defense held on for the win. It's all-of-a-sudden a different outlook the next few weeks for 2-3 Nebraska, which has four now very winnable games before an Oct. 23 showdown at Penn State.
How did taking those knees feel, T.J. Flutie?
2010 - Week 6 NCAA Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25
| RANK | TEAM | LAST WK | RECORD |
| 1. | UCLA | 4 | 4-0 |
| 2. | Oklahoma | 1 | 3-0 |
| 3. | Texas | 2 | 3-1 |
| 4. | Wisconsin | 5 | 5-0 |
| 5. | Notre Dame | 7 | 4-1 |
| 6. | Penn State | 8 | 4-0 |
| 7. | Georgia | 3 | 3-1 |
| 8. | Florida | 6 | 3-1 |
| 9. | LSU | 9 | 3-1 |
| 10. | Miami | 15 | 3-1 |
| 11. | USC | 12 | 3-2 |
| 12. | Utah | 11 | 3-1 |
| 13. | Boston College | 10 | 3-1 |
| 14. | Tennessee | NR | 4-0 |
| 15. | Florida State | 14 | 2-2 |
| 16. | Oklahoma State | 16 | 2-1 |
| 17. | Ohio State | 17 | 4-1 |
| 18. | Purdue | 18 | 2-1 |
| 19. | Michigan | 13 | 2-3 |
| 20. | Washington State | NR | 4-0 |
| 21. | Virginia Tech | 21 | 3-1 |
| 22. | Iowa | 19 | 1-3 |
| 23. | Clemson | 20 | 2-2 |
| 24. | Arizona | 24 | 4-0 |
| 25. | Alabama | 22 | 3-1 |
Cal (23), Colorado (25)
A couple of big movers this week. 4-0 Tennessee was on the cusp of the Top 25, but debuted at 14 after a shocking 22-19 upset on the road against #3 Georgia. 4-0 Washington State also gained momentum, leapfrogging a hefty handful of teams to debut at #20 after its handy 25-10 dispatching of #23 Cal, also on the road. UCLA gets some momentum after a 14-9 victory on the road against #11 Utah, and grabs the top spot in this week's AP. Oklahoma is still #1 in the BCS standings, however.