Buffs Fall To Nebraska, 40-31

LINCOLN, Neb. - A school record 57-yard field goal from Alex Henery with 1:43 left in the game lifted the Nebraska Cornhusers (8-4, 5-3 Big 12) past the Colorado Buffaloes (5-7, 2-6 Big 12) Friday afternoon here at Memorial Stadium. The field goal gave Nebraska a 33-31 advantage before Ndamukong Suh returned an interception for a touchdown with less than a minute remaining for the game's final score and a 40-31 victory for the Huskers.

The Buffs got out to a fast start, scoring two touchdowns on their first four offensive plays to take a 14-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. After sophomore WR Josh Smith took the opening kickoff back to the 42 yard line, sophomore QB Cody Hawkins hit junior TE Riar Geer for a 68 yard touchdown on the game's second play to put CU up 7-0 less than a minute into the game. After the Huskers punted into the end zone, Hawkins completed a 44 yard pass to Josh Smith on the next play and then sophomore TB Demetrius Sumler went around the left end for 36 yards to put CU up 14-0.

"We knew we wanted to get a fast start," Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said. "We talked about that the last couple weeks. I think it's important obviously when you play on the road to get that going and get that momentum happening."

Nebraska countered on the next two drives with two touchdown passes from Joe Ganz, the first one a 2-yarder to Nate Swift and the next a 53-yarder to Mike McNeill. The first quarter ended with a 14-14 game.

Halftime saw the two teams tied, as well, with each team scoring a touchdown and field goal in the second quarter. Henery put Nebraska up 17-14 with a 35-yard field goal and then on the next drive, sophomore PK Aric Goodman hit his season long with a 38-yard field goal to tie the game at 17-17. Nebraska scored on a long drive when Quentin Castille dove over the end zone from 1-yard out to go up 24-17. CU fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Huskers looked prime to take a 10 point lead into halftime but opted for a fake field goal. Sophomore CB Jimmy Smith picked off an over-the-head pitch from holder Jake Welsh and returned what was officially a fumble return 58 yards to tied the score at 24-all at the half. Jimmy Smith recorded his second career touchdown and both have come against the Huskers. His first was a 31-yard interception return against the Huskers in 2007.

Henery hit his second field goal of the game, a 27-yarder, to put Nebraska up 27-24 early in the third quarter. Hawkins then completed passses of 18 yards to Geer and 22 yards to freshman TE Ryan Deehan on the next drive. Sumler started the drive off with a 12 yard run over the left and and finished it with a 4-yard touchdown on fourth down to put CU up 31-27. For Sumler, it was his second career multi-touchdown game after having scored three on the ground against Baylor in 2007.

Nebraska then went on a seven-plus minute drive but the Buffs forced a Joe Ganz fumble at the Colorado 5 yard line. The Buffs were solid inside the red zone on defense against Nebraska. CU allowed two touchdowns out of six Nebraska penertations into the red zone, with the other four possessions resulting in three field goals and the Ganz fumble. Nebraska ran a total of 15 goal-to-go plays and the Buffs stopped them 13 times.

On the Huskers next drive, they kicked a 37-yard field goal with just over eight minutes left in the game to pull the Huskers within a point at 31-30. Colorado completed a key 3rd-and-9 on the next drive to take more time off the clock, but the Buffs were forced to punt the ball back to Nebraska with 4:35 left in the game.

Nebraska drove 49 yards in just three plays to drive to the Colorado 25 yard line. CU held Nebraska to no yards on first down and then Patrick Mahnke sacked Ganz for a loss of 15 yards on second down. Mahnke was playing most of the second half with a separated shoulder and this marked his first career sack.

After an incompletion on third down, Henery then came out for the improbable 57-yard field goal on 4th-and-25. Colorado got the ball back with 1:37 left in the game and in attempting to get into field goal range, Hawkins pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Suh, who then intercepted the ball and returned it for a touchdown to put the game out of reach at 40-31.

Hawkins threw for 249 yards off of a 14-of-24 passing performance for the Buffaloes, and he added a touchdown to go with three interceptions. Two of the three interceptions came in the game's final minute, including his third on the game's final play. Both of the two interceptions were on tipped balls at the line of scrimmage.

Josh Smith had a career high 245 all-purpose yards with 193 on kickoff returns and 52 via receptions. He finished the season just 13 yards shy of 2,000 and in second place on CU's career chart behind Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam and his 2,349 yards in 1994.

Dan Hawkins summed things up by saying, "I think clearly we're on the right path, and our guys are doing the right things, and they've got a great future ahead of them. I thought we got a little more aggressive last week against (Oklahoma) State, and got more aggressive this week, and got more confidence, so I think the guys have a little belief going into the offseason that if we get all healed up and and grow up we're going to be fine."

The Buffs end the 2008 season at 5-7 with the loss and will now look forward to Spring practice after national signing day on Feb. 4.

"We have very few seniors," Cody Hawkins said. "So a lot of the young guys can use this as motivation going into next year. Guys will find that fire inside, we will get the guys missing this year healthy, and hopefully have a great spring."

2008 Big 12 Standings (through all games of Nov. 28)

North	Big 12	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
Missouri	5-2	.714	9-2	.818
Nebraska	5-3	.625	8-4	.667
Kansas	3-4	.429	6-5	.545
Colorado	2-6	.250	5-7	.417
Kansas State	2-6	.250	5-7	.417
Iowa State	0-8	.000	2-10	.167
South	Big 12	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
Texas	7-1	.875	11-1	.917
Oklahoma	6-1	.857	10-1	.909
Texas Tech	6-1	.857	10-1	.909
Oklahoma State	5-2	.714	9-2	.818
Baylor	2-5	.286	4-7	.364
Texas A&M	2-6	.250	4-8	.333

Team Stats

Cody Hawkins

Tyler Hansen

Scotty McKnight

Players Mentioned

Ryan Deehan

Riar Geer

Aric Goodman

Cody Hawkins

Cody Hawkins

Patrick Mahnke

Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith

Josh Smith

Josh Smith

Demetrius Sumler