The sign read "Bo says: No way, Jose."
Jose had a different opinion on the matter.
San Jose State provided the Huskers with about 48 minutes of frustration Saturday, making Big Red’s offense look bad and the crowd nervous at all the sloppiness it was witnessing.
Then the Spartans kicked the ball toward Niles Paul, who needed just 10 seconds to cast aside any Husker worries of an upset.
The sophomore from Omaha North took a close game and colored it red with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, jolting the crowd and his team on a gray day at Memorial Stadium.
It was the crushing blow in the Huskers’ 35-12 win, a score more flattering to Nebraska than it probably deserves.
"I appreciate the blocking," Paul said of his first collegiate touchdown, which pushed the score to 21-12 with 12:07 remaining in the game. "I was prouder of the blocking we had on that play than my touchdown."
Scoring untouched, Paul was escorted to the end zone by fellow return man Alfonzo Dennard. The true freshman took the kicker out of the play - "an aggressive little kicker," according to Paul - giving the crowd something to cheer about, if not also a sense of relief.
"You want to take it to the house," Paul said. "You want to make a big play for the team."
And, man, did Nebraska need a big play on a day when the Huskers looked like the lesser of the teams for three quarters.
The NU offense mustered just one scoring drive in the first 45 minutes, bumbling and fumbling against a team that came in nearly a four-touchdown underdog. There was one particularly embarrassing sequence when Nebraska had three false-start penalties in a row.
"There was a point in the game when they were doubled our yards and we were still up," Husker senior offensive guard Matt Slauson said. "I don’t know how that works."
Slauson said there was never a moment when the Husker offense found a rhythm. Offensive line coach Barney Cotton said it was a comedy of errors at times. Paul said it was a reality check.
Said senior quarterback Joe Ganz: "We kind of took offense almost to what we put out on the field today."
As good example as any of how it went for NU was the second-to-last play of the third quarter. With the ball at midfield and Nebraska clinging to a 14-9 lead, the Huskers checked into an option play out of the shotgun. It was the perfect call against the defense. Ganz pitched to Quentin Castille, with big yardage in sight, possibly a touchdown. Castille fumbled. San Jose State recovered. The crowd groaned.
"If Q catches it, he might take it to the house," Ganz said. "But it kind of sums up the day, really. Everything we had was there. We just couldn’t find a way to do it."
The game was inauspicious from the start for the Huskers. Ganz was sacked twice on the first series. And when San Jose State got the ball, the Spartans’ spread offense made Nebraska’s defense look silly on a five-play, 59-yard scoring march.
The Huskers came back with their best drive of the day - an 86-yard touchdown march that showcased Roy Helu, who led the way at I-back with 59 yards rushing and 32 receiving.
And it looked as if Nebraska might assume control when the defense got in the act. Zach Potter batted a pass and Ndamukong Suh caught it, rumbling 49 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-6 in the first quarter.
If someone did catch Suh on his way to a touchdown, the defensive lineman said, "I was going to drag that person into the end zone with me."
Nebraska showed some warts on defense, but stiffened when needed. The tackling was subpar in the first half, there were plenty of big plays allowed and the Huskers went to the locker room outyarded 221-111. There was also the loss of senior defensive end Barry Turner, who hurt his left leg, an injury that head coach Bo Pelini said is "fairly significant." Still, NU led 14-9 at the break.
"We needed to play better. We were very sloppy in the first half. I mean, when you talk about penalties, we had a multitude of errors in the first half," Pelini said. "Tackling was sloppy in the first half. We were our own worst enemy in that first half. We have to play better and we have to coach better to start the football game."
Nebraska had 12 penalties for 103 yards. And the offensive line, trumpeted in the offseason as a possible strength of the team, helped the rushing attack manage just 99 yards.
"I think we’re a lot better than we showed today. I’m not ready to give up today," Cotton said of his guys. "I think we’re better than we played and hopefully we can learn from a lot of mistakes with a win. It’s a lot easier to learn from mistakes with a win than to learn from our mistakes with a loss."
Yes, despite being outyarded 353-315, and whatever missteps came with it, it was a win.
"I’ve been coaching long enough that you learn to appreciate coming out with a ‘W’ and being 2-0," Pelini said. "Reality hits me when I put that tape on in the morning and I understand where we are and where we want to get to."
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