1 week Ago By Sam McKewon World-Herald Sports Editor
LOS ANGELES — On soft, tight grass — think Riviera fairway — Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola had one final throw to kill some ghosts in this city of angels and persistent, flag-inducing trash talk between two middle-of-the-pack Big Ten teams. Raiola launched a pass for his tallest receiver, Jahmal Banks, smothered by two Trojans. Interception.
Ballgame. USC 28-20. Fourth straight loss for NU.
A sunny day turned partly cloudy for perhaps 15,000 Husker fans. Mixed debut for Raiola’s new playcaller, Dana Holgorsen. Bittersweet homecoming for Husker corner Ceyair Wright, who scored a pick six against his former team but walked off the Los Angeles Coliseum turf in defeat.
A lot of stories on that field. A lot of chaos over three hours. And a lot of one more thing, the way Raiola saw it.
“I thought I saw a lot of cloth,” he said inside a small, white tent packed with traveling NU reporters. “But we’re not here to complain and blame the officials.” If only NU (5-5, 2-5) had made its final march — 13 plays, 56 yards — a little earlier.
If only a couple big USC pass plays hadn’t gone through the hands of Husker defensive backs. If only Nebraska hadn’t made three trips into the Trojans’ red zone without scoring a touchdown. If this and if that is the five-word story of Husker football over the last eight years, and coach Matt Rhule is learning the navigate the choppy waters of so-close-but-still-short.
“We had a lot of guys make a lot of plays tonight,” Rhule said. “We probably needed one more.” On homecoming afternoon in front of announced 75,304 fans at the Coliseum, USC (5-5, 3-5) made one more play.
Arguably a few more, outgaining Nebraska 441-310, possessing the ball three more minutes, averaging six more yards per punt, converting one more first down and three red zone chances into TDs. But you could dial 130 plays to a fourth down NU chose not to attempt and a fourth down USC did — and converted. When Nebraska balked on its fourth down attempt, it trailed 21-20 in the fourth quarter, with 10 of its points basically scored by the defense on a 45-yard Wright interception for a score and Ty Robinson’s third quarter forced fumble of new USC starter Jayden Maiava, which set up NU at the USC 16.
Kicker Johl Hohl converted that into a field goal. Then Wright blocked a USC field goal, which set up Nebraska with a chance to take the lead. Fourth and 3 at its own 40.
Had it been one or two yards, Rhule said, he’d have gone for it, and if USC hadn’t put its punt safe unit on the field, he’d have attempted a fake. But the Trojans went punt safe. And three yards caused Rhule to call a timeout, and pause.
Programs are apt to do this when the margin is so small and the cost failure big enough, and common enough, to create a moment’s doubt. “That’s a gray area in between,” Rhule said. So he called time, let Holgorsen pick a play, but the new OC, Raiola and himself an out.
“If they gave us the look we wanted we were going to take it and go for it,” Rhule said. “If they didn’t give us the look, instead of throwing another ‘go’ ball, I was going to punt the ball and let the big guys go play.” The big guys — Nebraska’s defense — didn’t get a stop.
The Blackshirts’ run defense had been leaky all day, and it was, on USC’s final drive, again so. And NU’s D got a funky, bad break, too, when a third down pass from Maiava — who completed 25 of 35 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns — bounced off a Husker’s helmet and into the hands of USC receiver Makai Lemon, who gained 91⁄2 of the 10 yards needed for a first down. Trojan coach Lincoln Riley didn’t hesitate to go for it, and he chose, in a bit of irony, a play Husker fans know well.
An option pitch from Maiava to running back Woody Marks, who scooted 34 yards the way Husker backs often have. “We’ve worked a lot behind the scenes,” Riley said. “Haven’t ran it much this year.
We got a good look, we executed it. Jayden and Woody did a good job, the line blocked, we had a really good block on the perimeter..
. we knew we wanted to be aggressive in that moment.” Said Rhule: “I expected them to do something of that ilk.
I didn’t expect it to be speed option.” USC eventually punched in its fourth and final touchdown. Cue the last-ditch drive, the pass being picked off, and two teams walking up the same tunnel packed with fans, to rooms not far from each other.
One relieved with victory. The other, still searching. But Nebraska is hopeful, too.
Rhule praised Holgorsen — who called the game from the sideline — for getting the ball out of Raiola’s hands more quickly and adjusting, on the fly, over a whirlwind two weeks. Running back Emmett Johnson, who caught a 29-yard touchdown on a nifty two-way go route, called Holgorsen “calm” and quiet, a man who aims to simplify NU’s offense into something that can consistently execute. Raiola agreed.
“I liked a lot of what we did,” he said. “The tempo of it, the personnel. Things were kind of simplified a little bit.
” Still, NU fell short. And even if Raiola sort of hinted at Nebraska beating Wisconsin next week to make a bowl game, he’s now becoming a veteran of final drives that don’t quite deliver the win. He had another in LA, under a smogless sky.
“We got all the way down there,” Raiola said. “It just wasn’t enough time for us to put the ball in the paint.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
