AUSTIN, Texas - Nebraska's offense was running smoothly, the defense was making stops and players on the sideline were jumping up and down early in the third quarter.
There was certainly cause for celebration among Cornhusker players.
NU senior quarterback Sam Keller's 23-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Nate Swift gave the Huskers a 17-3 lead with 12 minutes, 32 seconds left in the third quarter.
"I felt if we scored another touchdown real quick and got the ball back, we could have been close to pulling away," said NU senior offensive lineman Carl Nicks.
But that didn't happen. Instead, Nebraska's offense stalled as Texas' attack was just getting going.
Longhorn kicker Ryan Bailey, who kicked the game-winning field goal in last season's 22-20 Texas win in Lincoln, booted a 47-yarder and a 49-yarder to cut his team's deficit to 17-9 at the end of the third quarter.
Then Texas running back Jamaal Charles took over the game in the fourth quarter. He had touchdown runs of 25 yards, 86 yards and 40 yards, respectively, to give the Longhorns a 28-17 lead with 3:34 left in the fourth quarter.
Texas gained only 284 yards of offense through the first three quarters, but exploded for 261 yards in the fourth quarter to put the Huskers away.
"Our kids made plays the first three quarters, but you've got to give (Texas) credit," said NU defensive line Coach Buddy Wyatt. "Their kids jumped up and made plays in the fourth quarter, and we had the plays and didn't make them when we needed to."
To add insult to injury, Keller was knocked out of the game late in the fourth quarter when he went down with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder with 2:37 to play in the game.
Keller's backup, NU junior Joe Ganz, came in and engineered a Husker touchdown from the Texas 24-yard line on six plays. The drive ended when Ganz found senior wide receiver Maurice Purify in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown.
Ganz then connected with Swift for the two-point conversion to cut Texas' lead to 28-25. But it was too little, too late.
Nebraska's on-side kick try failed, and Texas held on to the ball for the final 1:55 to run out the clock.
"They're empty," NU Coach Bill Callahan said of his players after the game. "That's all you can ask your team to do is to empty their tank, and they gave everything they had today. They just came up on the short end of the stick, but I'm awfully proud of those players and the effort they gave today."
Unfortunately for the Huskers, the fourth-quarter collapse dampened an otherwise positive effort for a Nebraska team that has struggled this season to be consistent during games.
"We need to take whatever positive we can out of this game," said NU senior safety Ben Eisenhart. "We were still up in the fourth and gave it away, but we've just got to keep fighting. I know we say the same thing every week, but we've just got to keep fighting and one of these days we're going to catch a break."
BENGOULDSMITH@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
