World-Herald post-game coverage

S U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 9
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GAME 3 OF 12
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SECTION CF
POSTGAME
16
15
Busted coverage on long pass sets up
Hokies for winning score in final 21 seconds
“We were that close and we didn’t finish it,”
Huskers’ Ndamukong Suh says
Fade route
M AT T M I L L E R / T H E W O R L D - H E R A L D
Virginia Tech wide receiver Dyrell Roberts made his only catch of Saturday’s game a big one, an 11-yard touchdown reception from Tyrod Taylor with 21 seconds left to defeat Nebraska.
Too many breakdowns leave
Huskers with no touchdowns
Omaha.com/
bigred
Watch video from
Bo Pelini’s postgame press
conference. On Tuesday,
watch live, streaming video
from the midweek press
conference
BY MITCH SHERMAN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
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R E B E C C A S . G R AT Z / T H E W O R L D - H E R A L D
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini addresses safety
Matt O’Hanlon following an 81-yard Tyrod Taylor
completion to Danny Coale that helped set up
Virginia Tech’s winning touchdown.
Check out the continual
Husker updates in
the Big Red Today blog
Numbers game
NU mostly handled the Hokies in
the stat book, but Tech’s 81-yard pass
play and two red-zone TDs rendered
any Husker advantage meaningless.
NU
VT
18
First downs
11
207
Rushing yards
86
5.8
Average rush
2.3
136
Passing yards
192
343
Total offense
278
29:46
Possession time
4-of-5* Red zone scoring
*— Four field goals
30:14
#2-of-2
# — Two touchdowns
BLACKSBURG, Va. — So many moments.
Some time over the next two days,
Nebraska will gather, as a football team,
to watch film of its 16-15 loss Saturday
to Virginia Tech. Let’s just say it doesn’t
promise to be a forgiving session.
The Huskers, in dropping their 17th
straight game to a top 20 foe on the
road, squandered more chances this
time than in any of the previous 16. A
few hundred Tech students celebrated
the unlikely win, their hollers echoing
through concourses of Lane Stadium as
they ran together and slapped hands in
a ceremonial display. But many Hokie
fans, no doubt, breathed a sigh of relief.
No. 13-ranked Virginia Tech could
have lost Saturday — it almost surely
would have lost — if even one of so
many moments went a different way
for No. 19 Nebraska.
“In the end, we had plenty of opportunities to put that football game away
and we didn’t do it,” NU coach Bo Pelini
said. “I take my hat off to them. End of
story. You all watched the game.”
Said his brother, defensive coordinator Carl Pelini: “It’s a crime. It’s a
crime.”
Before a crowd of 66,233 — the Hokies’ 70th consecutive sellout that included some 6,000 for Nebraska crammed
into the southeast corner — NU (2-1)
led from the final seconds of the first
half until 21 seconds remained in the
game.
That’s when scrambling Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor hit receiver
See Huskers: Page 8
More Huskers
One bad play
Ndamukong Suh’s late-game mistake
was small in the grand scheme, but
it illustrates what has plagued Nebraska
in big games since 2001.
Dirk Chatelain column, Page 6CF
What went wrong?
Everything went right for the NU
defense — except for one play.
Page 7CF
Sack time
A full-page picture of Ndamukong Suh’s
sack of Virginia Tech’s Tyrod Taylor.
Back page
More football
Roasting Buffaloes
Colorado must decide if it truly wants
to compete in a big-boy conference.
Lee Barfknecht column, Page 3CF
It’s a gut-wrenching lesson: You gotta finish
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Talk
about growing pains.
This one will hurt for a while.
This was a punch in the gut,
a self-imposed sucker punch,
which made it worse. This one’s
going to leave a mark.
Nebraska players trudged
off the field at Lane Stadium.
Some were in shock. Most looked
angry.
They should have been. They
were just more than a minute
from celebrating the program’s
biggest victory in eight years.
Instead, they rode off into the
Virginia night wondering how
they gave this one away. On the
long trip home Saturday night,
the in-flight movie would be the
horrific sight of Virginia Tech
receiver Danny Coale streaking
down the sidelines alone.
Nobody said the program’s
comeback would be easy. Nobody said it would be this cruel,
either.
The lesson right in front of
their teary eyes was this: Winning programs finish games. It
was a tough philosophical pill to
swallow, not that head coach Bo
Pelini was in any mood for that.
When asked what happened on
the back-breaking 81-yard pass
See Shatel: Page 8
NFL PREVIEW: Giants-Cowboys matchup highlights the Week 2 schedule. Page 4CF
Tom
Shatel