Husker Team Triumphs over Terrapins in a Trying, Tight Tussle

On a mostly sunny afternoon in College Park, the Nebraska Cornhuskers won for the first time when trailing in the fourth quarter under Matt Rhule and defeated the Maryland Terrapins 34-31. The Huskers outscored Maryland 10-0 in the final stanza and with last week’s comeback win by Washington, Maryland has been outscored 31-0 in the past two fourth quarters. It was a game with five swings of at least 10 points, but Nebraska outgained Maryland, 187-58 in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

There was another mid-game swoon by the Huskers, but despite giving up 17 points with three Dylan Raiola interceptions, losing the turnover battle 0-3, allowing the Terps to go .500 on third down (until the final drive), and losing the time of possession by nearly 3 minutes, Nebraska overcame the adversity and prevailed on the road in a Big Ten brawl.

Nebraska came into the game with statistically the #1 pass defense in the nation surrendering a paltry 91.8 ypg. But Maryland freshman QB Malik Washington torched the Blackshirts for 249 yards in the air going 27 for 37 with a touchdown. For a defense that had given up just one pass of 20+ yards (in garbage time last week), they gave up four pass plays of 20+ on Saturday. Late in the 3rd quarter, with Maryland leading 31-24, they rushed five straight plays for 5+ yards before the Huskers forced a punt and the offense drove for a field goal. Nebraska came into the game #4 nationally in third down defense at 21.9%, but struggled to get off the field as Maryland converted 47% of its opportunities. And Nebraska still found a way to win.

With 3:33 left in the first half and Nebraska leading 24-14, Nebraska faced 2nd and 5 from the Maryland 45-yard line and Dylan Raiola threw an inexplicable pass to the sideline with no Husker receivers in the area. Instead of throwing it out of bounds it was intercepted and allowed a Maryland drive to cut the score to a 7-point deficit at half. With a chance to go up three scores and perhaps change the dynamic, Raiola throws perhaps the worst pass of his career. It was the Raiola picks that kept the game close… and his play leading to four TD tosses that allowed the Huskers to prevail. A nauseating roller coaster ride that ended well. Despite the nausea and the heart palpitations, the Huskers just won their second game in a row that they likely would have lost last year. Rhule appears to be changing the psyche of this team and despite the mistakes, they get grittier every week and are figuring out how to win.

Raiola finished 20-of-29 passing for 260 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. Raiola’s 64-yard TD pass to Hunter to open the scoring marked his career long pass, bettering a pair of 59-yard passes. It marks his fourth career game with at least three touchdowns, including three times this season. Raiola was 4-of-5 for 72 yards on Nebraska’s final 81-yard drive, including a 33-yard toss to Nyziah Hunter after he stumbled and threw as he was falling down. Just two plays earlier from the NU 19, he scrambled and improvised a throw to Luke Lindenmeier for 23 yards. Despite the three bad picks, Rhule said in his presser that Dylan is a “stone-cold fighting winner.”

There were a great number of spectacular catches as the Huskers averaged 13 yards per completion. Nyziah Hunter led all receivers with 5 catches for a career-high 125 yards, bettering his previous high of 93 against Michigan State last week. Hunter opened the scoring with a career-long 64-yard touchdown reception on a quick screen in which Elijah Pritchett made the initial seal block. Hunter added a 12-yard TD catch in the second quarter, giving him his second multi-TD catch game of his career as he also had two TD catches at Auburn last season while playing at Cal. Nebraska now has three players with three or more TD catches (Hunter, Dane Key and Jacory Barney Jr.). This is the first time Nebraska has had three players with at least three touchdown receptions in the same season since 2018. It is the first time three Husker wide receivers each had three touchdown catches since 2015. Dane Key had four grabs for 43 yards including the one-handed catch for a 3-yard touchdown for the winning score. One of the keys of the game was getting Key more involved with the offense. Jacory Barney Jr. had three receptions for 16 yards, marking his 18th straight game with multiple catches and tight end Luke Lindenmeyer caught a seven-yard TD pass in the second quarter for his second career TD reception and second in 2025. He finished with two catches for 30 yards. Heinrich Haarberg had an incredible catch at the 3-yard line to set up the last score. Of the 260 passing yards, 130 yards were gained after the catch.

Interception by Maryland

Maryland Terrapins defensive back Messiah Delhomme intercepts pass in front of Nebraska Cornhuskers wide receiver Jacory Barney Jr. during the first half. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The game ball goes to running back Emmett Johnson who carried 21 times for a career-high 176 yards in the game, marking his third 100-yard rushing game of the season (also vs Cincinnati and Akron) and the fourth of his Nebraska career. His previous high was 113 against Wisconsin last season. It is the most yards by a Husker in a Big Ten game since Dedrick Mills had 191 yards at Rutgers in 2020. His best run was a career long 50-yarder in the fourth quarter in which he refused to go down. Isaiah Mozee added 24 yards on 5 carries as he tries to solidify his backup role.

Linebacker Javin Wright led the defense with a career-high 12 tackles, including nine solo stops. It marked his third straight game with double-figure tackles. His previous high was 10 against Michigan and Michigan State. Wright is the first Husker to post three straight games with double-figure tackles since Corey Cooper in 2013. Marques Watson-Trent added 6 stops and DeShon Singleton had five tackles and a PBU. Rex Guthrie had 4 tackles but was burned more than once as the freshman is gaining valuable experience in relief of injured Malcolm Hartzog. Kade Pietrzak had the Blackshirts lone sack in the 1st quarter for a 6-yard loss. Despite giving up 379 total yards, the defense stopped the Terrapins at midfield on 4th down with :21 left to secure the victory.

Special teams had another good outing led by Kenneth Williams 85-yard kickoff return in the second quarter to set up a Nebraska touchdown. The 85-yard return was Nebraska’s longest kickoff return since JD Spielman had a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Arkansas State in 2017. The Nebraska walk-on received a scholarship from Matt Rhule after the game. Kyle Cunanan booted field goals of 27 and 43-yards and is now 9 of 10 for the year. The kickoff team limited Maryland to two returns shy of the 21-yard line as John Hohl had five touchbacks on seven kickoffs. Archie Wilson had just one punt and it was a very poor 20-yard boot that was shanked out of bounds. Jacory Barney, Jr struggled to get free on punt returns this week as he totaled just 3 yards on two attempts.

Every week in the Big Ten is a wild ride and this weekend was no exception. The rest of the schedule looks tougher than we once thought as UCLA (2-4) wins its second straight by dominating Michigan State 38-13, Iowa (4-2) crushed Wisconsin 37-0, and USC pummeled Michigan 31-13. Northwestern (4-2) went on the road to upset Penn State 22-21 as the former #2 ranked Nittany Lions have now lost three straight. Minnesota (4-2) outlasted Purdue 27-20. It’s a short week as the Huskers go to visit those Gophers next Friday to face a team that has won five straight against Nebraska. It’s been ten years since the Huskers last won in Minneapolis. It’s time to end the years of futility and continue to learn how to win. Every week just a little bit better. Never say die!! Go Big Red!!

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.


Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *