Curt McKeever: What spin do you put on this game?
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Games that wind up 41-40, like Saturday’s at Memorial Stadium, have an endless set of spins.
In other words, you can pretty much make yourself believe what you want.
Let’s just say (hypothetically speaking, of course), you’re thinking the Blackshirts have some serious issues. I guarantee you someone else would try and convince you it wouldn’t have mattered what defense Ball State sophomore quarterback Nate Davis faced, he still would have passed for 422 yards.
Though I’m sure you’d get a hearty argument from Miami of Ohio (which beat the Cardinals 14-13 in their season opener, and also lost to Colorado 42-0 Saturday), I’ll give the Davis fan club the benefit of the doubt. He was pretty impressive.
But if you were among the 82,294 fans to witness the back-and-forth affair that ended with Jake Hogue missing a 55-yard field goal in the waning seconds, you also know Davis was as unlucky as the No. 13 on his jersey.
And that’s exactly why Nebraska is 3-1 instead of having to explain why it suffered a second nonconference regular-season loss for the first time in 26 years.
Go ahead and remember Bo Ruud for pushing past an embarrassing afternoon and returning a fourth-quarter interception 34 yards for a touchdown.
Embrace Andre Jones’ only play of the game — when he tipped a pass away from Darius Hill in the end zone on the Cardinals’ next possession to force them to kick a field goal that made it 40-35.
Raise your glass to Sam Keller for his school-record 438 passing yards and for being an unflinching leader on that 82-yard drive that produced the decisive points.
But don’t lose the vision of Ball State receiver Dante Love in the open and having a for-sure touchdown reception slip through his hands with 27 seconds to play.
“Yeah — that was a favor,” NU tight end Sean Hill acknowledged moments after saying Nebraska deserved to win. “I’m happy that he was that guy and it wasn’t me that dropped it. That’s where I was kind of, ‘That one came from heaven.’”
Indeed, the Huskers could feel the Love from a player who burned them for 214 yards and a touchdown on 10 receptions.
On the first play of Ball State’s second possession of the game, the fastest player on the field had gotten behind NU’s secondary only to drop another on-target throw that would have produced six points. The Cardinals turned the ball over to end that drive.
Two series later, Love dropped another bomb and Ball State had to settle for a field goal.
“It’s not going to be skill and just you outpowering somebody. A lot of it’s luck,” Nebraska receiver Maurice Purify said. “We got a little bit of it.”
Love recovered from his early yips to make a pretty 58-yard TD catch in the south end zone under double coverage, giving Ball State a 31-28 lead. But he denied himself a chance of reaching the north end zone in the game’s final minute.
With Ball State facing a second-and-5 from the Husker 38-yard line, Love had left Husker cornerback Amando Murillo in his tracks and had nothing but open field as Davis’ pass hit him in stride.
“Dante is a great player,” Davis said. “He just dropped it. I guess you have to move on.”
Where the Cardinals went thereafter, they don’t want to go again.
First, Steve Octavien made a perfect read to deny Hill a down-the-middle catch that would have produced at least a first down. Then, after the Huskers took their final two timeouts to try and ice Hogue, his game-winning attempt missed wide-left.
“There was a lot of things that went our way,” Keller said.
But even though he figured somehow, some way, the home team would prevail, Keller couldn’t bear to watch Ball State’s final possession.
“I was on the bench with Marlon (Lucky). I would peek up, but then I would just go back down and I would have faith in our defense,” Keller said.
Well, not exactly complete faith.
“I said a prayer,” Keller noted, “and we pulled it out.”
Ah, the help-from-above spin. I like that one.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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