Before we start, I have to mention it. You know I do.
Memorial Stadium has sold out every home game since 1962. It's an NCAA record for any sport, according to Wikipedia. My grandpa saw the early years of it. My daddy saw the middle of it. I've seen the rest, from the student section, from the volleyball bleachers next door and from the cab of a combine with the radio turned all the way up. That streak is the most Nebraska thing in the world: you show up, you fill the seats and you never stop.
Which is exactly what our defense did in Eugene on Saturday night. It just ran out of seconds.
I'm Darla Rasmussen. I grew up on a farm out past Seward, I played volleyball, and I have never once lost an argument at a family reunion. Go Big Red. Let's do this.
Part 1: Twenty-Eight Seconds
Oregon 17, Nebraska 14. Saturday night, Oct. 17, at Autzen Stadium.
Folks, I'm going to tell you about one of the finest defensive games I've seen from a Husker team, and then I'm going to tell you how it ended, and I'd appreciate it if you held my hand for the second part.
For a half, nobody could score. The two teams punted 13 times before the break. Then with four seconds left in the second quarter, Anthony Colandrea found Kwazi Gilmer in the back corner of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown. 7-0, Huskers.
Oregon kicked two field goals in the third, and then, with seven seconds left in the quarter, Colandrea scrambled six yards and dove for the pylon. 14-6. Oregon's offense had 91 yards, the AP noted, when the Ducks went to the bench for a new quarterback.
That's where the story turns, and I'll tell it straight. Dylan Raiola, who played his first two seasons at Nebraska before transferring to Oregon this year, came in for the fourth quarter. His first drive ended in a field goal. 14-9. One Oregon drive got a boost when our punter took a low snap and accidentally put his knee down. Then, on the final drive, Raiola threw what looked like a touchdown with 33 seconds left, but replay overturned it. Our hearts started beating again. And then, with 28 seconds left, he found Jamari Johnson in the back of the end zone, and the two-point conversion was good. 17-14.
I sat in my truck for a long time after that one. Then I went and checked on the cattle, because the cattle don't care about the score, and sometimes that helps.
The Stat Sheet
Here's what I want everyone to remember. Our defense held Oregon to 242 yards. The Ducks converted 3 of 17 third downs. Owen Chambliss made 15 tackles, Dwayne McDougle III had 13 and an interception, and Caleb Benning had 12 with 2.5 tackles for loss. Coach Matt Rhule called it one of the finest defensive performances he's been around, considering the short fields, and I'd sell out a stadium to watch it again.
Colandrea completed 18 of 33 for 164 yards and the touchdown and ran for another. Gilmer caught six passes for 74 yards.
The hard truth, though: we ran for 78 yards, and this is the second straight week we let a fourth-quarter lead get away. Indiana beat us 20-17 in Lincoln the week before.
The Season So Far
We're 5-2 and 2-2 in the Big Ten. We started 5-0, beating Ohio, Bowling Green and North Dakota, then winning at Michigan State 31-13 and beating Maryland 48-23. Our two losses are by three points each, to the defending national champion and on the road to Oregon. We score 35.6 points a game and allow 15.4. That's a good football team that's a few seconds from 7-0.
Part 2: A Week Off, Then the Other Huskies
Nebraska has an open date this Saturday, Oct. 24. That's the honest schedule note. No game. A week to heal up, get the run game sorted out and let a pretty devastated locker room, in Rhule's words per the AP, breathe for a minute.
Then on Saturday, Oct. 31, Washington comes to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Kickoff time hasn't been announced as I write this. Halloween in Lincoln, and yes, it'll be sold out. I checked. I always check.
Now, Washington's a respectable program, and I'll say so. The Huskies won 38-26 at Purdue on Friday night to snap a three-game losing streak. Elijah Brown threw for 302 yards and three touchdowns in his first start for them, and Trey Cooley broke a 53-yard touchdown run. Jedd Fisch's teams play hard.
But let me sell out this argument.
Washington threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles at Purdue. Five turnovers. Their own coach said you're not usually minus-4 in the turnover battle and win. Folks, you don't usually win that way in Lincoln, either. Ask anybody since 1962.
The Huskies are 4-3 and 1-3 in the Big Ten. They lost at home to Minnesota 27-24 and to Iowa 41-24, and they lost at USC 25-21. They allow 131.1 rushing yards a game. Our defense allows 99.6. They score 27.9 points a game. We score 35.6.
Who to Watch
Anthony Colandrea, quarterback: 1,570 yards, 14 touchdowns and four interceptions this season.
Kwazi Gilmer, receiver: 38 catches for 492 yards and seven touchdowns, our leader.
Jamal Rule, running back: 391 yards and five touchdowns on 60 carries. We need him rolling against a defense that allows 131 yards a game on the ground.
Owen Chambliss: 46 tackles, our leader. Jahsear Whittington: 3.5 sacks.
Demond Williams Jr., Washington quarterback: 1,396 yards and eight touchdowns this season, though Brown made the start Friday.
Dezmen Roebuck, Washington receiver: 48 catches for 484 yards and three touchdowns.
Series History
Nebraska leads the all-time series 5-4-1, according to Washington's athletics site, and we won the last meeting, 51-38 in Lincoln back in 2011. That's 15 years, folks. In that time, we've sold out every single home game. Just saying.
Town Talk: A Tale of Two Towns
Lincoln. The 2020 census counted 291,082 people here, and on a home Saturday, Memorial Stadium fills all 85,458 of its listed seats. The Nebraska State Capitol, finished in 1932, is the second-tallest capitol in the country. Runza started here, too, and if you've never had one, you haven't really been to Nebraska. Since 1994, our team has taken the field with the Tunnel Walk, and the whole stadium does the "Husker Power" chant, half the crowd on each word. When we score our first points, the stands let loose a sky full of red balloons. And the band plays the visiting team's fight song before every home game, and the announcer welcomes "our friends" from the other school. We're polite like that. Right up until kickoff.
Seattle. Seattle is a beautiful city, I'll give it that. The Space Needle, the mountains and Pike Place, where the first Starbucks opened in 1971. But Wikipedia says Seattle has many more rain days than other major American cities and a well-earned reputation for frequent rain. Friends, I'm a farm girl. I pray for rain. Seattle doesn't have to. Seattle has so much rain it opened a coffee shop on every corner just to keep everyone awake through it.
And they're very proud that Husky Stadium is the loudest college football stadium ever recorded, and that fans can sail their boats to the game. That's lovely. But on Oct. 31, the Huskies are coming to Lincoln. No boats. No lake. Just 85,000 people in red, a sky full of balloons and a sellout streak older than most of Washington's coaching staff. Bring an umbrella, Huskies. It's going to be raining red.
Final Word
I'll tell you how I see it. We lost two games by a combined six points to two very good teams. We've got a defense that just held Oregon to 242 yards, a week of rest and a home crowd that has shown up for every game since 1962. Washington turned the ball over five times last week and won. It won't get away with that in Lincoln.
Go Big Red!