Nebraska’s comeback efforts fall short, lose third straight game
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Nebraska’s comeback efforts fell short Saturday afternoon, losing to UCLA 27-20 at Memorial Stadium.
The Huskers (5-4) have lost their third straight game and are still one win short of bowl eligibility.
Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola left the game late in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a back injury.
Raiola finished the game completing 14 of his 27 passes for 177 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Backup quarterback Heinrich Haarberg tried to complete the comeback, but threw an unfortunate interception that bounced off Jacory Barney’s knee and ended the game.
Isaiah Neyor led the Huskers through the air with four catches, 89 yards and a touchdown. Barney also added four catches with 78 yards.
Dante Dowdell paced Nebraska on the ground with 61 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries.
The Blackshirts struggled on defense early in the game, allowing the Bruins to rush for more than 100 yards for the first time this season.
Quarterback Ethan Garbers led the Bruins on the ground with 56 yards on six carries. Running back T.J. Harden rushed for 46 yards on 11 carries.
Garbers completed 17 of his 25 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. Kwazi Gilmer led the Bruins in receiving with 88 yards and a touchdown.
UCLA’s defesne tallied four sacks while the Huskers only racked up two.
Nebraska walk into its second bye week with a lot to fix before their final three games of the season.
The Huskers will travel to Southern California to take on the Trojans on Nov. 16.
First Quarter
UCLA opened up the game with an impressive 14-play drive. The Bruins were able to get all the way down inside the 10-yard line, but ended the drive with a 25-yard field goal from Mateen Bhaghani to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead.
The biggest struggle for Nebraska in the first quarter was trying to get the Bruins’ offense off the field. UCLA held the ball for 13:21 in the quarter and is 4-for-5 on third downs.
Second Quarter
The Bruins used their second drive of the game to put more points on the board. UCLA topped off an 11-play, 85-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Garbers to Jalen Berger, making the score 10-0.
Nebraska’s offense finally came to life thanks to a 40-yard bomb from Dylan Raiola to Jacory Barney Jr. Three plays later, Dante Dowdell ran it in from 4 yards out to make the score 10-7 Bruins.
The Bruins responded with another long drive aided in a 53-yard run from Garbers. The drive ended in a 26-yard field goal from Bhaghani to extend UCLA’s lead to 13-7.
Nebraska struggled on offense in the first half, only racking up 71 total yards.
Raiola completed three passes for 47 yards, while Dowdell led the rushing attack with 17 yards and a touchdown.
UCLA was doing whatever they wanted on the offensive side of the ball.
Garbers completed 15 of his 19 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown. He also leads the Bruins in rushing with 64 yards on five attempts.
Eight different receivers caught a pass in the first half, with Kwazi Gilmer’s 40 yards leading the charge.
Third Quarter
On the first play of the second half, Raiola threw a ball straight to the defense and Kain Medrano took it all the way to the house, making the score 20-7.
The first offensive drive of the second half for the Bruins also ended in points. Garbers found Gilmer on the corner route for a 48-yard touchdown, extending UCLA’s lead to 27-7.
Nebraska found a way to answer. Another deep pass to Barney set up an 8-yard touchdown pass from Raiola to Neyor, cutting the Bruins’ lead to 27-14.
Fourth Quarter
Nebraska drove all the way to the 5-yard line, but got stopped on fourth down, turning the ball over to the Bruins with 11 minutes left in the game.
The Huskers were able to get the ball back and they got right back into the red zone. A 1-yard touchdown rush from Dowdell and a missed extra point made the score 27-20 Bruins.
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE: The Nebraska football team makes its way back to Memorial Stadium on Saturday for the first time in four weeks to take on UCLA.
The Huskers (5-3, 2-3) come into this one following a 21-17 loss to No. 4 Ohio State a week ago, while the Bruins (2-5, 1-4) are coming off a bye week and a 35-32 win over Rutgers two weeks ago.
This is the first matchup between the two schools as Big Ten foes, and the first meeting since 2015 where Nebraska took home a 37-29 win in the Foster Farms Bowl.
Nebraska looks to carry over its defensive momentum from last week, holding Ohio State to season lows in points (21), rushing yards (64) and total yards (285).
The Blackshirts are particularly good in Memorial Stadium this season, holding four of their five opponents to 10 or fewer points.
UCLA need-to-knows
UCLA is definitely better than their record would indicate, but they have plenty of weaknesses that Nebraska should be able to exploit at a high rate.
The Bruins rely on a strong passing game, averaging nearly 240 yards per game through the air.
Their passing game is led by quarterback Ethan Garbers, who has completed 124 of his 191 passes on the season for 1,484 yards and eight touchdowns. Garbers has also thrown nine interceptions.
Moliki Matavao leads the Bruins’ receiving core with 20 catches for 251 yards, followed by running back T.J. Harden with 26 grabs for 238 yards and a touchdown.
Harden has carried the ball 62 times for 180 yards and a score.
Defensively, the Bruins are allowing 29.0 points and 367.3 yards per game. Carson Schwesinger leads the Bruins with 72 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.
Nebraska injury report
OUT: Tristan Alvano, Barrett Liebentritt (Season), Tuner Corcoran and Sua Lefotu (Season).
QUESTIONABLE: Malcolm Hartzog and Micah Mazzccua
Tommi Hill will play against the Bruins.
This week’s numbers
3: Redshirt freshman kicker John Hohl made three field goals at Ohio State, connecting from 39, 54 and 47 yards. Hohl’s 54-yard kick tied a Nebraska record for the longest field goal in a road game.
20: Nebraska’s defense has allowed just 20 points in the first half of its five home games this season, including blanking Colorado and Rutgers before half time.
56: Nebraska sixth-year seniors Bryce Benhart and Ty Robinson are both set to play their 56th games as Huskers on Saturday. The 56 games played will tie Cameron Meridith for the most in Nebraska history.
Battle with the Bruins pregame show
Score predictions
Nate Johnson: Huskers win, 35-13
Jake Homan: Huskers win, 27-16
Mark Fischer: Huskers win, 24-10
