What Happened: Key Plays in Wisconsin Nebraska Game
The Situation: Nebraska Ball, 1st-and-10 on the Husker 20, 1:20 left 2nd Quarter
Nebraska had to feel snake-bitten to be down 10-0 given they had moved the ball well and the Wisconsin offense had only put up three points. In fact, Wisconsin had kicked a field goal and punted three times on its four possessions. The Huskers even missed a 33-yard field goal that should have had them on the board much earlier.
Nebraska ran the ball on first down on its first four possessions. They had some success with gains of 13, 1, 2, and 6 yards on those first down rushes. The previous possession Nick Nelson broke up a first down throw. But this time the Nebraska had something special dialed up.
The Play: Tanner Lee finds Stanley Morgan for an 80-yard catch and run to get Nebraska on the scoreboard
At the snap, the Badgers had six players up close to the line of scrimmage with everyone on the defense within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. You can see at the snap every linebacker bites hard on the play fake.
Stanley Morgan entered Saturday as the 2nd leading receiver in the Big Ten. So it was no surprise to see Tanner Lee look his way often. On this play, Morgan is in the slot to the left side of the formation. He sort half-heartedly throws his arm into a defender perhaps trying to sell the run fake. He then runs basically a corner or flag route behind the linebackers.
The receivers to the right side of the line clumped together run go routes to clear space for Morgan to run his route. Morgan gets behind Badger pass rush specialist Andrew Van Ginkel who can’t drop deep enough to make a play on the football.
Then things get worse for Wisconsin.
Morgan catches the ball around his own 45 and there is a lot of open space in front of him. Again, safeties and such drawn by the go routes. Dixon and other Badgers give chase but Morgan is too fast and he hugs the sideline to get in the end zone.
The Result: Nebraska cuts the Badger lead to 10-7 on the stroke of halftime. But more explosives were to come.
A gut punch of sorts for the Wisconsin defense who had pitched a shut out. They were making life somewhat difficult for the Huskers though Nebraska had moved the ball a bit. Then a lighting bolt hits and it’s a 10-7 game.