Defense Secures Huskers' 20-17 Win at Wake Forest

Wake Forest challenges NU's running game, but Keller makes just enough plays passing

It ended so serenely, with just a couple knees to the ground by Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller.

Call it a moment of calm after a fine mess of bobbles, drops, stumbles, blown assignments, poor execution and bewildering calls. 

It was all kind of glorious, if only for the desperation and effort with which both No. 16 NU and Wake Forest played the final 15 minutes of what surely was one of the strangest, ugliest Cornhusker victories in recent memory.

Nebraska snatched a 20-17 victory from the Demon Deacons in front of 32,483 fans at Groves Stadium.

Bring on Southern California. With a heavy sigh of relief.

"It wasn't pretty," Keller said afterward on Nebraska's post-game radio show. "But it doesn't matter how it looks as long as you get the win. It was a fight. Sometimes you get in a fight in someone else's house and it's good to come away with a character win."

Coach Bill Callahan acknowledged the nature of the fray.

 "This was a well-fought, very tough, very physical football game on both sides," Callahan said. "I'm very proud of our football team, how we responded throughout the course of the game and how we came through at the end finished the fourth quarter."

The Huskers improved to 2-0 in front of a national ESPN audience by staking that 20-17 lead early in the third quarter with junior running back Marlon Lucky's 22-yard touchdown run. The defense then preserved the victory with one big stop after another. 

The biggest play: senior cornerback Zack Bowman intercepting Wake quarterback Brett Hodges in the end zone with 6:05 remaining in the fourth quarter. Bowman, returning from two severe knee injuries, added seven tackles.

But the Blackshirts would be called on again with less than two minutes left, after Lucky was stopped on a fourth-down run at Wake's 35-yard line. The Deacons (0-2) picked up one first down, then Hodges threw four consecutive incomplete passes, one of which was initially ruled an interception. On the final play from Wake's 44-yard line, it appeared that receiver Kenneth Moore was held by cornerback Cortney Grixby, but referees did not throw a flag. The faction of tiny Groves Stadium that wasn't dressed in red booed heartily.

Wake Forest Coach Jim Grobe didn't want to focus on the last play.

"Don't talk about officiating," he said, "Don't point your finger at any one person. A lot of guys had chances to make plays and we made a lot of plays today - we just didn't make enough."

The Huskers took over and milked the clock, bringing to a close a game that didn't go as many fans, experts and Husker players had expected.

After abandoning the running game against Boston College, Wake ran the ball on 53 plays and gained a surprising 236 yards against the Huskers, especially on Moore's wide receiver sweeps.

In contrast, the Deacons stacked their defense against Nebraska's running game, and the strategy worked. Lucky finished with 90 yards on 24 carries, but it sure didn't seem like it. NU couldn't gain two yards on two plays during its final drive. Overall Nebraska gained 115 total ground yards after amassing more than 400 last week against Nevada.

Callahan shifted to the passing game near the end of the first half, and Keller completed 24-of-41 passes for 258 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. The senior was at his best during a crucial touchdown drive at the end of the second quarter, when he completed eight passes for 80 yards, culminating with a pretty, 25-yard floater to tight end Sean Hill. The Huskers led 13-10 at halftime.

"I thought (Keller) really emerged and made some outstanding plays under duress in the two minute situation, under the gun," Callahan said.

Wake Forest answered on its first drive of the second half. Moore busted a 38-yard reverse, and running back Micah Andrews had a 16-yard run. Moore finished the drive with another sweep play - this from five yards out. The Deacons led 17-13.

Keller came right back. He hit Nunn on a go route for 30. He found Purify on a screen pass. Lucky converted a 4th-and-1 play from Wake's 35, then finished the drive off three plays later with his 22-yard blast, getting a key block from fullback Andy Sand. Nebraska led 20-17 with 8:13 left in the third quarter.

The game was shaping up as a track meet. Instead, it turned into a scrum.

Both teams shot themselves in foot on their next several offensive drives. Wake Forest repeatedly gained yards, but drives would sputter around midfield with Grobe's conservative play-calling. As for Nebraska, Keller threw an interception on one drive, while tight end J.B. Phillips dropped a pass that would have been a first down on another drive.

Then Keller, who seemed to have finally found a rhythm as NU's quarterback, had his Rex Grossman moment.

At his own 15, he rolled to his right, and was overcome by the rush. Keller, who still hasn't been sacked this year, tried to hold the ball above the fray, lost it, and it was intercepted by Wake defensive tackle John Russell. The Deacons seemed sure to tie the game, or take the lead.

But Wake, unwisely, tried two runs right into the middle of the line instead of using Moore on a sweep. On third down, Hodges rolled away from pressure and threw right into double coverage. Bowman secured the ball in the end zone and got right to the ground.

"It was just the big play that we needed, offensively and defensively," Bowman said."We got the offense back the ball and it killed some time off the clock and that's what we needed. It was there and I just had to make the catch. I was just doing my job."

Nebraska moved the ball into Wake territory before being stopped on fourth down. Callahan chose to go for it on fourth down instead of punting and burying the Deacons deep in their own territory.

Wake Forest's second-quarter touchdown was set up by a pass play that should have resulted in a score in the game's early minutes: Hodges, out of the shotgun, faked a a handoff to running back Josh Adams, rolled to his left, and found Kevin Marion wide open behind Nebraska's secondary. Marion dropped a sure touchdown the first time the Deacons ran the play; on the second go-around, Marion caught it and stepped out at NU's 1-yard line.

Hodges got the touchdown on a sneak three plays later and the Deacons led 10-6.

The Huskers' next drive stalled near midfield when senior receiver Maurice Purify dropped a pass from Keller on third down. Callahan unsuccessfully challenged the drop.

NU's first points were set up by senior linebacker Corey McKeon's interception at Wake's 38-yard line.

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