Nebraska 45 Bethune Cookman 9: Recap and Reaction Thread

Husker fans are feeling good about the chances for win #2. This team has not made things easy for themselves. Will the Huskers cruise or will Bethune Cookman find a way to add some drama to Nebraska’s day?

Bethune Cookman won the toss and deferred. The Huskers will start the game on offense. The kickoff went out of bounds and the Huskers got good field position - the 35 yard line.

First Quarter

BCU forgot to cover Stanley Morgan Jr. on the first play...oops...and he took one out to midfield and then added another 9 yards on the second play. We also saw JD Spielman, Devine Ozigbo, MOAR Stanley, penalty (getting the bingo cards out early today), and a Ziggy run up the middle for an easy touchdown. The balloons were released with 12:37 left in the first quarter. Barret Pickering’s kick was good.

Nebraska 7 BCU 0

BCUs dangerous return man Jimmie Robinson was brought down at the 20 yard line with a nice open field tackle by freshman defensive back Cam Taylor. After a three-and-out by the Blackshirts, BCU punted to JD Spielman who ran it back 77 yards. TOUCHDOWN NEBRASKA!

There was no flag - can you believe it?!?

Nebraska 14 BCU 0

BCU’s quarterback David Israel connected bigly with Steffon Francois to get into the red zone. The Blackshirts held up and forced the kick. The Uriel Hernandez 28 yard field goal was good.

Nebraska 14 BCU 3

On the ensuing drive Adrian Martinez found a wide open JD Spielman. The ball was fumbled but went out of bounds, thankfully. After that, it was Maurice Washington, Austin Allen, and EVEN MOAR Stanley. Touchdown Huskers. The offense went 76 yards in six plays.

Nebraska 21 BCU 3

The Blackshirts forced a three-and-out, a series that saw Ben Stille bat down a pass. On the ensuing Husker drive Nebraska faced their first third down and converted with a pass to Morgan. They continued to feed the senior as Stanley caught his second touchdown pass. There were a couple of passes where Martinez didn’t see the defense very well, one could have been picked and the other was an incomplete ball into double coverage. Yes, I’m being nitpicky here, but hopefully he doesn’t keep taking chances like that when we get back to B1G play. He’s 11 of 14 with over 150 yards passing in 13 minutes of work, so I’ll stop here.

Nebraska 28 BCU 3

The Wildcat offense found a little bit of rhythm and was moving the ball. We got a Mick Stoltenburg sighting as the senior was taking his first game snaps after missing the past four games. End of the first quarter.

Second Quarter

Mohamed Barry notched a tackle for loss to open the second stanza. It was followed by a big pass play to Robinson as Nebraska’s blitz didn’t get home. The Wildcats were nearing the red zone. Then Big Ben Stille batted another pass that landed in the hands of Bigger Peyton Newell. The Huskers took over on their 12 yard line.

Ozigbo, Spielman, more Ozigbo, 50 yard line, offensive penalty, sigh, Martinez sacked, Martinez tackled for loss, third and 22, Interception by BCU’s Tydarius Peters.

The Wildcats take over on their 45 yard line.

Have yourself a game Mo Barry! #7 sacked Israel to force a third and very long. Israel nearly picked up the first down on the scramble, but BCU was forced to punt - they punted away from Spielman.

After a steady diet of Mo Washington, we had a Bryan Reimers sighting. He made a difficult catch as the ball initially popped up and he caught it while sitting on the ground. Jack Stoll nearly took one to the house, but got caught on a shoestring tackle. First and goal Nebraska. Martinez’s first down pass was tipped - I was holding my breath. Incomplete.

Mo Washigton took a wicked goal line hit but got the touchdown. The Husker offense is over 300 yards.

Nebraska 35 BCU 3

BCU also has a running back by the name of Washington, Isaac Washington. The Wildcats worked their way to midfield and fumbled. It was recovered by JoJo Domann who was cnoverted to outside linebacker from his original DB positions due to depth issues.

With two minutes left in the half, the Huskers kept the ball on the ground with Ozigbo toting the rock. He moved over 100 yards rushing. The Huskers were in the red zone. Frost and Co. tried hard to get Bryan Reimers a touchdown, but the passes fell incomplete. The Pickering field goal was good.

Nebraska 38 BCU 3

BCU had 12 seconds, ran one play and the half was over. The Wildcats will get the second half kickoff.

Halftime

-Spielman had 72 receiving yards in the first half, moving him into the top 10 on the Nebraska career receiving yardage list at 1,516 yards. In the first half he broke a tie with Maurice Purify (1,444) and passed Matt Davison (1,456) on the receiving yardage list.

-Stanley Morgan Jr. had two first-half touchdown receptions to increase his career total to 20 touchdown catches. He is the fourth Husker with 20 career TD catches and is five from Johnny Rodgers’ school record of 25 touchdown receptions.

-Adrian Martinez passed for 213 yards in the first half to give him 1,656 passing yards this season, setting a Nebraska freshman record for passing yards. The previous record was 1,632 yards by Taylor Martinez in 2010.

Third Quarter

Starters were on the field for both teams. BCU marched down the field and were gashing the Blackshirts through the air. Inside the red zone, they ran out of room to operate. Luke Gifford brought down Israel for a 20+ yard sack. BCU had to punt on fourth and goal. The ball rolled out of bounds inside the five yard line.

Noah Vedral came out at quarterback and the starter’s day was done, on offense anyway. Wyatt Mazour lined up in the backfield. One third and one, John Raridon drew a false start and Vedral was unable to complete the third down pass. Isaac Armstrong came out to punt (from his end zone) for the first time today. It took a great Husker roll and was downed at the 18 yard line. The Huskers thought it touched the BCU player and picked it up before it was done rolling. The stripes didn’t agree (that appeared to be the right call on replay). Armstrong’s punt netted 73 yards.

DiCaprio Bootle and JoJo Domann nearly caused an interception, but then Israel uncorked one to Francois to get out to midfield. On a third and long, we got to see Caleb Tannor as he chased Israel out of bounds. A penalty on Lamar Jackson gave the Wildcats new life in the red zone. Ben Stille took down Israel for a sack. That was followed by a tipped pass by Deonte Williams. Frustrated that he couldn’t get his hands on the ball the first time, he followed that up with an interception in the end zone.

Vedral was promptly sacked as the offense again went three and out. Armstrong booted another good one and BCU started on their 15 yard line. Jacob Weinmaster and Collin Miller came out at ILB for the defense as did several other reserves. They forced a three and out against the BCU first team offense. The punt was not good and Nebraska got the ball on the BCU 36. Miles Jones got one carry before the third quarter ended.

Nebraska 38 BCU 3

Fourth Quarter

Mazour got the Huskers to the red zone then Noah Vedral took a keeper and dove for pay dirt to notch his first Husker touchdown.

Nebraska 45 BCU 3

The Blackshirts forced a punt and Mike Williams was back to receive. After a nice carry by Miles Jones, the offense went nowhere. Vedral fumbled but the ball was fortunately picked up by Raridon. BCU fair caught the punt on their 40 yard line.

BCU trotted out their second string offense (technically 3rd string quarterback in Jabari Dunham as their starter Akevious Williams was injured and the backup, Israel, started today). Matt Jarzynka notched a sack on the way to a three-and-out for the Husker defense.

Another Nebraskan, Wyatt Mazour, powered the Husker offense to midfield. I’m just typing names now to get some of these backups in the recap. Katerian Legrone, Andre Hunt, Hunter Miller....Vedral throws a pick.

BCU takes over on their 20 yard line with seven minutes left in the game. Alfred Adams broke a big one to the Husker 30 yard line. With one second left in the game, the Wildcats finally found the end zone. Touchdown BCU.

Nebraska 45 BCU 9