Huskers Survive and Advance Against Penn State

As snowflakes and buzzards swirled around State College, Nebraska survived a couple of very questionable late penalty calls and pulled another game out of the fire. It seems no matter what adversity Nebraska faces, the Huskers battle back.  Five freshman turnovers last week, and Nebraska still outplays Michigan State on the rest of the plays. Injuries wreaking havoc once again?  Nebraska battles through.

Third string quarterback. Patchwork offensive line. Receivers named Brandon Reilly and Sam Burtch pressed into service. This team just battles through.  Did they make it tough on themselves with crucial mistakes? Absolutely: Ameer Abdullah fumbles on the goal line when Nebraska seemed ready to take a 14-6 lead.  Ron Kellogg III fumbles inside the NU 10 yard line while being sacked, giving Penn State a short field to take a 13-7 lead.

But say one thing about Nebraska: when the chips are down, they don't give up when the ball bounces the other way. Kenny Bell takes the ensuing kickoff to retake the lead.  But the play of the game had to be that Ameer Abdullah 62 yard touchdown run with that inexplicable personal foul penalty.

Explanation Pelini received on the Sam Burtch penalty: "They said it was unnecessary." #Huskers
— Brian Christopherson (@HuskerExtraBC) November 24, 2013

Touchdown off the board, and Nebraska has to settle for a game-tying field goal.  Everybody thought it was a bad call.

Horrible, Sip. Horrible. RT @HuskerExtraSip How can you call that? A shoulder into a defender by Burtch? My god.
— Tom Dienhart (@BTNTomDienhart) November 23, 2013

That's one of the worst calls of the season, folks, against Nebraska. Mt. Pelini, erupting, and he should.
— ESPN Big Ten (@ESPN_BigTen) November 23, 2013

Well, almost everybody.

Final thought: NU won by showing more composure than some of its media. Not the worst call ever. Bad, but Burtch must be more aware there.
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) November 24, 2013

Interesting dichotomy from the ESPN team, with the former World-Herald reporter taking issue with the Nebraska media he still works next to.  Or more accurately, the Lincoln Journal-Star.  It reopens the issue of the narrative coming from 13th & Douglas Street in downtown Omaha.  The resentment from 2011 still runs very, very deep.

It's easy to dismiss this game as Nebraska underperforming once again.  That is, if you are being ridiculously superficial.  Nebraska's injury list is almost absurdly long.  Nebraska dipping to their third string at quarterback and on the offensive line.  How bad was it?

How beat up were the #Huskers? Vincent Valentine was called in to help block on the game-winning FG.
— Brian Christopherson (@HuskerExtraBC) November 24, 2013

Seriously.  In baseball, this is akin to position players having to pitch in extra innings. Except here, it's not strategy that's depleted the bench, it's injuries.  It's either this - playing guys who probably shouldn't be expected to play, or burn redshirts in the eleventh game of the season.  Bo Pelini has wisely decided to keep the redshirts intact. And it's amazing that Nebraska somehow found a way to win this game.  It speaks to the heart and passion in this program.

Of course, others will merely dismiss this as excuse making.  Call it hatred, call it trolling.  Call it myopic.  Bottom line to me is that it makes the discussion of firing Bo Pelini to be downright infuriating. 

Defensively, it wasn't a bad performance, but it wasn't one of Nebraska's better performances. The defensive line got run over at times by Penn State as Zach Zwinak frequenly hit the second and third level untouched.  But the defense did a pretty good job of containing Allen Robinson, though he still got his eight catches and 106 yards.  Props go to Ciante Evans who battled all day with a bum shoulder.

Since joining the Big Ten Nebraska is a combined 6-2 against Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State - the Big Ten's big three.
— Sean Callahan (@Sean_Callahan) November 24, 2013

Yeah, Nebraska's first three seasons in the Big Ten haven't gone exactly the way Husker fans had originally hoped. But you can't question the heart and passion of this program. And there's a lot of exciting potential in this program, as Hail Varsity's Brandon Vogel points out:

The 2013 Huskers have their flaws but there are hints of promise here at the end of autumn. If Ameer Abdullah returns, he’s likely to become the first Nebraska back to rush for 1,000-yards in three different seasons. Randy Gregory is going to be even more fun to watch in a year. Same goes for the rest of the defensive line. There are potential all-conference type players at linebacker too. The defensive improvement overall this season is probably one of Pelini’s greatest achievements.

 Am I a Bo-liever?  To me, it's a no-brainer: Why would I not be?