EVANSTON, Ill. _ Northwestern was dead and buried, right?
Wrong.
Nebraska led by 10 points with less than three minutes to play, and half the crowd at Ryan Field was ready to toast the Huskers' Scott Frost for his first coaching win at the school. The other half of the crowd was wondering why Northwestern never wins at home.
But the Wildcats rallied in spectacular fashion, tying the game with 12 seconds left on a 99-yard touchdown drive with no timeouts left before going on to win, 34-31, in overtime.
And in overtime, a kid named Drew Luckenbaugh entered NU lore.
No one knew Luckenbaugh's name until kickoff. He is a walk-on and NU's backup kicker, called into service because of an injury to Charlie Kuhbander.
Luckenbaugh's first field-goal try Saturday barely made it off the ground, an ugly line drive that didn't sniff the goal posts.
But Luckenbaugh nailed a 37-yarder to win the game and got mobbed by teammates after NU's shocking victory.
Northwestern improved to 3-3 and, more importantly, 3-1 in the Big Ten. The Cats play at Rutgers on Saturday before hosting Wisconsin in a game that will help decide the Big Ten West.
The Huskers fell to 0-6 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten, and Frost will get hammered for conservative play-calling down the stretch and fielding an undisciplined team that committed nine penalties for 89 yards. Those nine represent a season low.
NU got a memorable performance from Clayton Thorson, who completed 41 of 64 passes for 455 yards, hooking up with freshman JJ Jefferson for the game-winning pass. Flynn Nagel caught 12 passes for 220 yards and two scores.
And incredibly enough, NU completed two fourth-and-10s on the field-goal drive that cut Nebraska's lead to 31-24.
The Cats couldn't run the ball (32 net rushing yards) but, like Thorson's two interceptions, those stats are now footnotes on a day that witnesses will not soon forget.
