The City Won't Burn Yet: Huskers Edge Ball State

Keller, Ruud rescue defense from another torching

After 1,162 yards, 81 points and 52 first downs, just about all Sam Keller and Marlon Lucky could do Saturday was sit on the bench and pray that their one-point lead was enough.

Keller had just broken the Nebraska school record for passing yards. Lucky had just broken the school-record for receptions by a running back. And yet, neither of them could bear to watch. After a humiliating loss to Southern California last week, it wasn't exactly the "blowout" script NU expected to write all over Ball State.

Ah, but even some of Woody Allen's dramas have happy endings.

"I heard the crowd, yelling,"Keller said. "That's how I knew. Marlon told me to get up."

Ball State came that close to pulling a landmark upset over Nebraska's football team Saturday, and sending half of this state into revolt.

Instead the Cornhuskers (3-1) pulled a great and unlikely escape, a 41-40 win in front of 84,294 alternately thrilled and ticked off fans at Memorial Stadium. Nebraska didn't clinch victory until freshman BSU kicker Jake Hogue missed a 55-yard field goal attempt to the left with 17 seconds remaining. The very play that had Keller helpless and hopeful.

"I said a couple prayers that it wouldn't be good," Keller said. "I just it let happen."

For the first 57 minutes of the game, Keller did much more than that, passing for a school-record 438 yards and three touchdowns, most of it in the second half. His 11-yard touchdown throw to Maurice Purify gave NU its 41-40 lead with 3:13 remaining in the game.

And still it almost wasn't enough, as Ball State's terrific quarterback, Nate Davis, and his band of fast (if soft-handed) receivers torched NU's secondary for 422 yards on just 22 completions. Yes, that's 20 yards per catch. Ball State added another 188 rushing yards to amass 610 total yards. The last team to gash the Huskers that bad was Washington in 1991.

At least that team won a national championship. The Cardinals (2-2) aren't even likely to win the MAC Conference, and they left the Blackshirts red all over.

"It's obvious we've got to amend some things," Nebraska Head Coach Bill Callahan said. "But overall our defense made some plays at the end to win this football game. I was proud of that."

He was referring to senior linebacker Bo Ruud's first big play of the year, a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown that cut BSU's 37-28 lead to 37-35 midway through the fourth quarter. If Nebraska's defense somehow resolves its numerous problems during the course of the 2007 season, it may be this play that serves as a turning point.

It was one of the few times Saturday that Davis, a mobile, strong-armed, bound-for-NFL player, was harassed by Nebraska's pass rush. As he rolled back, he made a foolish throw: A floater that overshot his running back and landed - after a bobble - into the arms of Ruud, who made a beeline for the corner of the end zone, and just made it there as Davis converged to tackle him.

"We've needed a big play for a while now," Ruud said. "It's been a few games since we've gotten one."

Said Callahan: "We needed a spark. We needed something for the defense to get going. It lifted our offense and gave us hope."

Davis called it a "dumb decision."

"I should have thrown it away, but you have to learn from your mistakes," he said.

It changed the whole energy of the game, which was beginning to look like Nebraska's worst loss, since, well, you name it.

Before Ruud's interception, Keller had committed two costly turnovers inside Ball State territory, and Davis had led his team to four consecutive touchdowns with the ease of pulling a compact car into the driveway.

After it, Ball State drove the length of the field for a field goal, but was not able to make the plays it needed to capture one of the biggest wins in program history.

"There were no moral victories," BSU Coach Brady Hoke said. "We work too hard and our kids work too hard 12 months a year...

"We had some opportunities and didn't capitalize on them. We need to make plays when the time presents itself."

Hoke was talking about the Cardinals' final drive, which took them to Nebraska's 38-yard line. On two consecutive plays, Davis attempted a seam pattern to get Ball State in better field goal range for Hogue. On second down, receiver Daunte Love - who caught ten passes for 204 yards - flat dropped the ball inside NU's 20. On third down, NU linebacker Steve Octavien knocked a pass away.

It set up Hogue's long kick. His coach, Hoke, said he'd made a 65-yarder in practice. And this kick, too, had the distance. But it darted left immediately, and the crowd in North Stadium knew it, roaring before it had even reached the goalposts. Nebraska offense took the field, Keller put down a knee, and thus ended one of the more exciting games in recent Husker history.

Callahan, ironically, compared it to one of his ugliest wins, a 7-6 triumph over Pittsburgh in 2005 that left the crowd giving a standing ovation to the defense as it left the playing field.

Not this game. The Blackshirts were consistently pelted with boos in the midst of a second-half stretch that's, frankly, mind-boggling for its ineptitude.

On its four touchdown drives, BSU ran just 17 total plays, and gained 295 yards. Davis created a lot of those yards with his feet and arm, including a 58-yard rope to Love for a touchdown in between double coverage. But the Cardinals also found traction with a simple toss play to sophomore MiQuale Lewis, who became the third consecutive runner to gain 100 yards against Nebraska. His injury late in the fourth quarter, as Ball State was threatening to score, was a key advantage for the Huskers.

In his typically calm tone, Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove kept it positive, focusing on Ruud's interception and Octavien's pass deflection.

"There's a lot of things we need to clean up, and we'll work on that hard as a staff," he said. "I give (Ball State) credit. They made a lot of plays. We didn't make as many, but we made them in the end when it counted..."

"It's hard for me. I got to look at it. I just got to do a better a job. Absolutely I take it personally. Because I'm in charge."

In Cosgrove's minor defense, NU had several top players hurt going into the game, or hurt during game. Cornerback Zack Bowman didn't play. Defensive end Zach Potter was hobbled. Both linebacker Lance Brandenburgh and safety Larry Asante were hurt during the game, and both were playing well at the time of their injuries.

And Nebraska looked tired. From a hard week of practice. From a long week of getting over the collapse vs. USC. From an early 11:30 a.m. start.

"Yeah," safety Ricky Thenarse said when asked about feeling lethargic. "We were down. But it was a big improvement just by coming out and pulling it off in the fourth quarter."

Keller and his receivers looked sharp all day. The senior hit a wide-open tight end Sean Hill for a 73-yard touchdown. He found Nate Swift in the corner end zone for another score. And with a little help from freshman running back Roy Helu in pass protection, he connected with Purify - who finished the day with six catches for 122 yards - for the game winner.

Although Nebraska had success with the running game - Lucky finished with 102 yards rushing to go along with 81 yards receiving - NU was forced to largely abandon it to keep up with Ball State's offensive fireworks.

"If it's gonna be a shootout," Keller said. "I'm not gonna go run and hide."

Callahan was again was upbeat and positive after a game that very well could have had fans calling for his job. They might anyway. Nevertheless, he said he'll keep preaching perspective.

"It's a step forward because it's a win. These wins are hard to come by in this day and age of the way people are playing football. I think we see that across the country.

"You would always love things to go a little better, and they didn't. But you've got to be able to deal with that through the course and duration of the game. The game is different. I've been saying that - and it kind of falls on deaf ears."

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