After trailing Northwestern 17-14 at halftime, Nebraska scored twice in a 28-second span to turn a three-point deficit into a 28-17 lead with 9:09 left in the third quarter. Nebraska’s defense had already forced a fumble and a fumble early in the second half, so surely the Huskers were going to kick it deep and let the defense get back to work, right? Wrong. Embarrassed, Frost asked for an inside kick. It was a decision that completely changed the trajectory of the game. Northwestern easily recovered the fumble and regained possession at the Nebraska 44. Gifted with excellent field position, Northwestern needed just five plays to reach the end zone and cut Nebraska’s lead to 28-24. Suddenly, Northwestern was given a much-needed boost and never looked back. Nebraska, meanwhile, went into a turtle shell. Controlled Northwestern played the rest of the way and would win 31-28 as a double-digit underdog. After the kickoff, Nebraska’s offense turned it over twice and only managed to gain 85 yards the rest of the way. The end result was Frost’s 21st one-score loss as head coach at his alma mater. The inside kick was a clear turning point. After the game, Frost took responsibility for the decision and said he wished he could take it back. He said Northwestern’s opening game team put on “a performance that was really good for” the inside effort. “In hindsight, it didn’t work. Whenever something doesn’t work, you want it back,” Frost said. “We had a few things we wanted to be aggressive about. We had one earlier where we wanted to see if we had the look we wanted. We got a look that was very good for it. I made that phone call. My treat.” Frost said he felt his team had the momentum on their side at that point in the game. If the Huskers could recover the onside kick, he felt they would go on to win the game. The story continues “At that point in the game I thought all the momentum was on our side. I thought if we could do that, we could end the game,” Frost said. “The way we were playing, I felt at that point that we had a really good chance of winning the game and I felt that maybe we were the better team. You can’t really predict them scoring 14 straight and us playing well after we played well to start the second half offensively. Again, these are excuses. If I had finished it, I wouldn’t have made the call.” With the loss, Nebraska is 15-30 under Frost and has now lost seven straight dating back to last season. All seven of those losses came by single digits. Nebraska coach Scott Frost answers questions from the media Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. (AP Photo/Ken Maguire)
Illinois overwhelms Wyoming
Elsewhere in Week 0 action, Illinois took care of business at home against Wyoming. Wyoming was actually within striking distance, up 17-6 early in the third quarter. However, the game quickly changed when Wyoming decided to punt on fourth-and-2 right inside Illinois territory. From there, Illinois closed the game with 21 unanswered points to win 38-6. In the win, Chase Brown rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Tommy DeVito, who threw for 192 yards and two scores in his Illinois debut.
Utah State gets scared by UConn
Utah State is the defending Mountain West champion, but got a scare from lowly UConn on Saturday. The Huskies, in their first game under Jim Mora Jr., blew a stunning 14-0 lead in Logan. The Saints remained composed, however, and fought back. USU led 24-14 at halftime and ended up winning 31-20. Utah State’s Logan Bonner rushed for 281 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
Taking care of FCS opponents
After a weather delay, Florida State rolled to a 47-7 win over Duquesne. FSU, which is off to an 0-4 start in 2021, rushed for 406 yards in the win. North Carolina put up 608 yards of offense in a 56-24 win over Florida A&M. UNC’s lead was just 35-24 entering the fourth quarter, but the Tar Heels rattled off 21 straight points to close out the game. Western Kentucky held just a 21-20 lead entering the fourth quarter, but was able to pull away and beat Austin Peay 38-27. West Florida transfer Austin Reed threw four TD passes in the win. UNLV easily took care of Idaho State, 52-21. The Rebels scored 45 points in the first half.
