Nebraska needed a special rule to make a bowl at 5-7, but then it beat UCLA

Nebraska certainly wasn’t hoping for a 5-7 season to start the year. But after sneaking into a bowl game despite their losing record thanks to an emergency NCAA rule to fill bowl season, the Huskers redeemed a bit of their season against UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl, beating the Bruins, 37-29.

The Huskers were able to go bowling at 5-7 thanks to the high Academic Progress Rate scores of previous Nebraska teams.

It’s been a rocky first year for Mike Riley, whose team was unlucky to finish with just five wins. The Huskers lost on a hail mary to BYU, in overtime against Miami, on a last second field goal against Wisconsin, by one at Illinois and by two against Northwestern. It’s dumb luck to lose all of those games. So to say that this is a typical 5-7 team would be a mistake.

However, the Nebraska team that showed up against UCLA hadn’t shown up all season. These Huskers flat out dominated the Bruins, particularly on the ground.

According to the ESPN sideline reporter, UCLA coach Jim Mora’s halftime answer to how to stop the Nebraska rushing attack was “get bigger guys.” Apparently he didn’t find any, as Nebraska put together its best quarter of the season, possessing the ball for almost 12 minutes, and out-gaining UCLA 208-1 in that quarter.

The rushing numbers were the most impressive. Quarterback Tommy Armstrong struggled with his passing all season, throwing four interceptions in his last outing against Iowa, when he threw the ball 45 times. The solution in this game? Stick mostly to the ground game against a UCLA front that couldn’t do anything about it.

Armstrong was great on the ground, and that took the pressure off the passing game, where he was an efficient 12-for-19 for 174 yards and a touchdown, at 9.2 yards per attempt.

Initially, it looked like UCLA was going to run away with this game. The Bruins used a quick first drive and a beautiful 60-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Rosen en route to a 21-7 lead. But from there, due in part to its unbeatable rushing attack, Nebraska went on a 30-0 run. UCLA had a comeback attempt in the fourth quarter, but it ended on a Rosen interception on fourth-and-10.

On the ensuing Nebraska possession, it was fittingly the run game that sealed it for the Huskers, thanks to a big run from Armstrong.

Now the question becomes whether Nebraska can do this consistently next year. Armstrong is back, as is Devine Ozigbo, so the rushing game has the potential to be solid. But it’s still unclear what Mike Riley wants his team to be as he tries to fit Nebraska’s spread players into his traditionally pro-style system. Nebraska shouldn’t be this unlucky again this year, but how good can the Huskers be?

These are questions for the offseason, but today, Nebraska gets to enjoy a bowl win, despite finishing 5-7. 6-7 and the Foster Farms Bowl might not be what Nebraska had hoped for back in August, but it definitely beats 5-8.

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