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It’s easy to get caught up in what should’ve and what shouldn’t have been called in the game.

Nebraska opened the fourth quarter with seven straight runs, which resulted in 71 yards of offense. It makes sense, even when pinned deep in your own territory on the following possession, to run the ball for an eighth consecutive time. Running it out of the shotgun, however, was high risk – a risk that rewarded UCLA with the safety.

I know there’s at least one thing that every Husker fan thought of after the defeat. “What if Rex Burkhead would’ve been healthy?”

Valid question. Time and again we’ve seen him carry the load in the fourth quarter when the Big Red needed it the most, and boy did they ever need it Saturday. UCLA dominated the time of possession for the fourth quarter and the game. I’m not taking anything away from Ameer Abdullah, because he ran extremely hard, but I believe that Burkhead would’ve taken more pressure off of Martinez.

Defense?           

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, and UCLA gets a win. Nebraska couldn’t stop the swing pass. What’s troubling is the fact that the Bruins kept going back to it, and the Blackshirts still couldn’t stop it. The defense made some nice adjustments in the second half, but not for that play.

The Nebraska loss to UCLA is more painful to me than a blowout loss.

Last year in Ann Arbor, or Madison? Fine. I can take it. The bottom line is NU was out-played. But not Saturday night in Pasadena. It was a bevy of miscues at inopportune times that did the Huskers in. That’s what makes it so hard to accept. You could put five Husker fans in a room and tell them not to come out until they’ve narrowed it down to one, two or even three plays that lost Nebraska the game, and they’d be arguing ‘til the cows came home.

Chin up, Huskers.

** Enter your desired quote about turning a failure into a positive, here. **

There are plenty of quotes out there for that, because most of them are true. I believe that the coaching staff will be able to use Saturday’s game film to not only improve the players’ awareness, but also to form more efficient strategic plans for themselves moving forward. Make no mistake, the Bruins can play some football. They were excited for the game and got after it. If they bring that same intensity week in and week out, nobody will want to play them.