New Mexico State had to battle some serious first-game jitters - in the middle of September.
After Hurricane Gustav forced the Aggies to cancel their original season opener early this month, the Aggies began working through the early-year kinks at Nebraska's less-than-ideal environment.
What began as a promising evening for NMSU quickly turned sour.
The Aggies cruised down the field on the game's opening drive and collected 77 yards on 14 plays. But a blocked field goal squashed any early momentum for the Aggies, who went on to allow three Husker touchdowns in four possessions.
The Cornhuskers coasted to a 38-7 win while New Mexico State was left to figure out what went wrong.
Timing was one problem, said NMSU wide receiver Chris Williams.
The senior caught four passes for 42 yards, but was part of an aerial attack that remained out of sync for most of the game.
"Me alone, there's so many plays I just was rusty on," Williams said. "I haven't done (the routes) for a while at that speed."
Nebraska stayed aggressive on defense during its third game of the season.
NU limited NMSU to 339 total yards, including 114 on the ground.
In three games all time against Nebraska, the Aggies have put up just seven points while allowing 163.
Aggie Coach Hal Mumme said the goal was to start out fast. That didn't happen, and NU didn't have to punt until midway through the third quarter.
"We looked like we were playing our first game," Mumme said. "(The Huskers) looked like a very good football team playing their third game. Mistakes took too big a toll."
After the blocked field goal, the Aggies punted on three of their next four possessions, while senior quarterback Chase Holbrook threw a long interception on the other.
Holbrook said the Nebraska defense held steady in its approach, limiting his passes deep downfield. Holbrook played one of the worst statistical games of his career, and he evaluated his play as similar to a freshman's.
"I probably missed five open receivers," Holbrook said. "That's a big deal. We had guys open and I didn't hit them."
But it wasn't as if Holbrook didn't have success. The quarterback led a third-quarter drive from his own 15-yard line all the way down to the Nebraska two, enduring a heavy Husker pass rush along the way.
But on the first play of the fourth quarter, Holbrook lofted a pass over the middle of the field for an interception. The NU defense showed blitz, then backed off at the last moment near the goal line.
"I got to hand it to the secondary," Holbrook said. "They tricked me. That was something I should have seen, and I just didn't see it back there."
The Aggies missed multiple reads on defense as well, said safety Derrick Richardson. The senior led all defenders with 17 total tackles.
Unfortunately for New Mexico State, many of those stops came against Husker running backs who broke into the secondary.
"Nebraska's a great team," Richardson said. "But assignment-wise, we played terrible defense."
The safety noted "three or four" mistakes he made by himself. The one that stuck with him, he said, was losing NU tight end Mike McNeil on what turned into a 35-yard score in the third quarter.
Mumme said there were plenty of positives for his team to take into its second contest. After all, NMSU took the field for a real game for the first time since Nov. 30 of last year.
Hopefully, Richardson said, most of the mistakes - like route running and timely passing - will be addressed by next weekend.
The Aggies didn't have an answer against the Huskers.
"I don't really think there was a big momentum shift," Richardson said. "They just handled us, for the most part."
evanbland@dailynebraskan.com
Be the first to comment on this article!