Close loss is all too familiar for 9-4 Huskers

For 21 seconds, the national championship picture was a mess, and the Nebraska football team was champion of the Big 12 Conference.

The minutes following the NU on-field celebration took the trophy out of Nebraska coach Bo Pelini's hands and put the game on the foot of Texas place-kicker Hunter Lawrence.

With one second left on the clock, Lawrence delivered a 46-yard game-winning field goal to end a dream come true for the Cornhuskers.

"That's from one of the best feelings I've ever had to one of the worst feelings I've ever had," NU quarterback Zac Lee said moments after the 13-12 loss to Texas. "Honestly, right now, I'm at a loss for words."

For much of the evening, Lee was at a loss for offense as well. The Huskers amassed just 106 yards of total offense. The Nebraska signal-caller completed just six of his 20 passes, along with having three interceptions in the game.

NU's offensive performance compared to the team's game against Virginia Tech earlier in the season, where relying on Alex Henery's field goals left the Huskers one point short.

"It's a tough game, man – it's hard," NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. "(Texas was) a really good football team with a stingy defense. It was a great defensive battle, and both teams did well on making it hard on the offenses."

The Longhorns proved to be NU's toughest defensive match-up in the last 25 years. The Huskers' 106 yards of total offense remained less than the team's previous low of 135 yards in the 1989 Orange Bowl.

Although it seems the team hit a new low offensively, Lee said that with the way the game played out, it was hard to ask for much more.

Lee said Nebraska continued its game plan that it had utilized through the past few weeks. That has meant little offensive production for NU and almost too much reliance on the highly touted Blackshirts.

Watson said it might not be pretty, but it allowed the Huskers to be in a position to call themselves Big 12 champions. The NU offensive coordinator also said the Texas win is a credit to how good the Longhorn defense is.

"I tell you what, that was a great defense we were playing," Watson said. "It was stingy yards (against Texas). They have great personnel and a great scheme. We got a lot of growing up to do and a lot better to get."

NU running back Roy Helu Jr. was the team's leading rusher with 28 yards on 10 carries, which is a testament to the top-ranked Longhorns' run defense.

The Huskers have been through several emotional games this season, and the junior back said the following weeks will be just another hill the team has to climb to put the dramatic loss behind them.

"It's unfortunate," Helu Jr. said. "It was just a battle out there, and they ended up with one more point than us. The season has been an emotional roller coaster."

Lee said there's little room for moral victories on this team any longer. When Nebraska nearly beat No. 7 Texas Tech last season, there was a sense of small victories, though NU coach Bo Pelini wouldn't hear any of it.

When the Huskers fell by one point to Virginia Tech earlier in the year, they became one of the most surprising teams of the 2009 college football season and found themselves ranked as high as 15th in the country before two consecutive losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State.

Nebraska was ranked 22nd heading into Saturday night, and Lee said he felt his team proved all it needed to prove against the Longhorns.