WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — With a sparse Ross-Ade Stadium crowd of 31,351 to see it, third-year Purdue coach Darrell Hazell’s wait for a Big Ten Conference home victory is over.

And in a big way.

Freshman quarterback David Blough, in only his fifth collegiate start, completed 28 of 43 passes for 274 yards and four touchdowns in the Boilermakers’ 55-45 victory against Nebraska on Saturday. Blough also rushed 10 times for 82 yards and a touchdown.

Cornerback Anthony Brown intercepted three Nebraska passes as the Boilermakers’ snapped a nine-game Big Ten losing streak and gave Hazell his first conference victory after losing his first nine league home games.

Purdue (2-6, 1-3) improved to 6-26, 2-18 in the Big Ten under Hazell. It is the Boilermakers’ first Big Ten victory since winning at Illinois last October.

“Any win is good, but when it comes in conference against a good football program, it feels so much sweeter,” Hazell said, “I just thought our players had a great focus. David Blough played relaxed today and made some big-time throws.”

Nebraska (3-6, 1-4) played without starting quarterback Tommy Armstrong, who has a right foot injury, and turned to junior Ryker Fyfe, who was intercepted four times, including three times by Brown.

“Every day I come to practice, I just think about making plays like those,” Brown said. “It just clicked today, finally. We knew they would throw one right to us, because he was a young guy and hadn’t played that much. We knew we would get a couple of chances today.”

While Fyfe led back-to-back touchdown drives in the first 3:21 of the fourth quarter to pull his team to within 42-31, a 26-point deficit was too much to overcome. Fyfe finished 29 of 48 for 407 yards with four touchdown passes, three during a 29-point Cornhuskers’ fourth quarter.

Brown’s three interceptions is the first time a Purdue player intercepted three passes in the same game since linebacker Mike Rose had three against Northwestern in 1997.

Nebraska had beaten the Boilermakers by a combined 79-21 the past two seasons, including 44-7 in 2013 in West Lafayette, but the struggling Cornhuskers had no answer for Blough and could not score enough to negate Fyfe’s four interceptions and five total turnovers.

“I missed some throws early, but then you see the catches some of our guys made, and that made my job easy,” said Blough, who was completing 48.1 percent of his passes in Big Ten play before facing the Cornhuskers.

Purdue delivered what amounted to a knockout punch when Blough threw an 83-yard touchdown pass to DeAngelo Yancey with 5:19 to play in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 35-16.

Nine seconds later, Brown intercepted Fyfe for a third time, giving Purdue the ball at the Nebraska 19, setting up Blough’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Yancey. With 2:34 remaining in the third quarter, the Boilermakers led, 42-16.

“You like to get more of those long ones than you miss, but DeAngelo’s was a great catch, and getting the (defender) off him to score from 83 yards, that was the best part of that entire play,” Blough said. “We’re going to continue to throw it and give our playmakers a chance to make plays.”

Blough threw his second touchdown pass — a 5-yarder to tight end Jordan Jurasevich — to give the Boilermakers a 28-16 lead with 7:42 left in the third quarter. Blough was 8 of 10 for 68 yards during the 13-play, 80-yard drive, including an 18-yard screen pass to Markell Jones that gave Purdue a first down at the Cornhuskers’ 25.

The Cornhuskers pulled to within 21-16, driving 75 yards with the second-half kickoff and getting an 8-yard touchdown run from Imani Cross with 12:04 left in the third quarter.

The drive included a 30-yard pass from Fyfe to Devine Ozigbo to the Purdue 18 and a roughing-the-passer penalty against Boilermaker defensive tackle Jake Replogle that advanced the ball to the 9.

Purdue took advantage of three first-half Nebraska turnovers, converting two into touchdowns, for a 21-9 lead through 30 minutes.

For Nebraska coach Mike Riley, five turnovers made this task more difficult than it already was.

“We put our defense in really bad positions several times with short fields to defend,” said Riley, whose team’s six losses are by a collective 23 points.

The Cornhuskers took a 3-0 lead with 7:53 remaining in the first quarter on Drew Brown’s 41-yard field goal, capping a 12-play, 70-yard drive that included an 18-yard run by Terrell Newby to the Boilermakers’ 22.

Purdue countered with a 56-yard touchdown run by Blough on a quarterback draw, giving the Boilermakers a 7-3 lead with 5:06 left in the opening quarter. Blough ran four times for 63 yards during that six-play, 77-yard drive.

With 23 seconds left in the first period, Nebraska center Ryne Reeves snapped the ball over Fyfe’s head, and Purdue linebacker Garrett Hudson returned the fumble 27 yards to the Cornhuskers’ 16.

Five plays later, Blough threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Danny Anthrop, and Purdue led 14-3 with 13:48 to play in the second quarter.

Nebraska got a 42-yard kickoff return from Stanley Morgan, Jr., and then a 22-yard run by Newby, setting up Fyfe’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Morgan, Jr., trimming the Purdue lead to 14-9 with11:52 remaining in the first half.

Brown’s diving interception at the Nebraska 22-yard line with 6:12 to play in the half set up a 4-yard touchdown run by wide receiver Domonique Young with 4:12 left in the second quarter, and Purdue had its halftime lead.

Nebraska outgained Purdue 173-172 during the first two quarters and had 11 first downs to the Boilermakers’ 8, but the 14 points as the result of turnovers were the difference.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — This time Northwestern prevailed in yet another close game with Nebraska.

Clayton Thorson’s 37-yard touchdown pass to Dan Vitale and Jack Mitchell’s third field goal gave the Wildcats an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and they hung on to win 30-28 on Saturday.

Nebraska won on a Hail Mary the last time Northwestern visited Memorial Stadium. In the teams’ five meetings since the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten, four have been decided by three points or less.

The Wildcats (6-2, 2-2 Big Ten) bounced back from consecutive losses of 38-0 to Michigan and 40-10 to Iowa and became bowl eligible for the first time since 2012.

“It’s tough being shut out and then losing by 30. It weighs on you,” Thorson said. “We came together on Monday morning and said we’re not letting this happen, we’re not letting down.”

Thorson passed for 177 yards and ran for a career-high 126. The Wildcats didn’t do a lot offensively early but led 17-12 at half. Thorson broke runs of 68 and 49 yards to set up scores, and Nick VanHoose returned an interception 72 yards for a touchdown.

“We stuck together and found a way to make some plays in the first half and make it a game,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “Great team win, huge team win to get us over the hump.”

For Nebraska, the loss spoiled an afternoon when Tom Osborne and the 1995 national championship team were honored in a pregame ceremony. The ’95 team, considered one of the greatest in college football history, walked out of the tunnel ahead of the current Huskers and formed a corridor for them to run through.

Nebraska (3-5, 1-3) must win three of its last four to play in a bowl. Its five losses — the most since Bill Callahan’s 2007 team went 5-7 — are by a combined 13 points.

“We’ve got to make sure we keep grinding,” Huskers quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. said. “We can either give up or we can keep riding this season out and keep working together.”

Mitchell’s 27-yard field goal put Northwestern up 30-22, but the Huskers drove 75 yards in eight plays to pull within two points. Armstrong’s two-point pass to Stanley Morgan Jr. fell incomplete, and Northwestern was able to run out the final 4:18.

The Huskers led 22-20 on Drew Brown’s 48-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter. Northwestern went ahead with a long drive that saw Thorson convert a couple of third-down passes before he hit Vitale with a pass along the sideline for 37 yards. Vitale dived into the end zone, with the play withstanding a video review.

After Nebraska went three-and-out, Mitchell kicked the field goal that put the Wildcats up by eight points.

Armstrong hit Brandon Reilly for 37 yards on a fourth-and-6 before he ran in from 3 yards to make it a two-point game, but he couldn’t convert on the try for two points.

Anthony Walker made 13 tackles and Dean Lowery had 10 stops, including a school-record six for losses and two sacks for the Wildcats.

“Losing to Iowa was a tough loss,” Lowery said. “We responded well in terms of work ethic and attitude. Fitz at halftime called us out and said we just have to be us out there.”

Northwestern gets a week off before hosting Penn State on Nov. 7.

“We’ve got a big month ahead of us. Postseason eligibility is huge for us,” Fitzgerald said.

Nebraska won at Minnesota on the road in its previous game, and first-year coach Mike Riley said he thought the Huskers had overcome the inconsistency they showed on offense earlier in the season.

That wasn’t the case. The Huskers were limited to a season-low 82 yards rushing, and Armstrong threw 48 passes, completing 24 for 291 yards.

“I told them we’re going to coach football and practice football on Monday and we’re going to continue to work to get better,” Riley said. “Everyone who wants to do that will be there. I think this group will be.”

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Nebraska was reeling from four losses already this fall on the opponent’s final offensive play, stirring up angst among the proud program’s ardent fans just halfway into coach Mike Riley’s first season.

This was quite the recovery — and the sigh of relief.

Tommy Armstrong Jr. bounced back from a pair of bad performances to start Big Ten play, passing for 261 yards and three touchdowns to start the salvaging of Nebraska’s season and steer a 48-25 victory over Minnesota on Saturday.

“Hey, let’s just have fun. Let’s make a statement. Everybody’s counting us out,” Armstrong said, describing the team’s mentality.

Terrell Newby rushed for 116 yards and two first-half scores on just 13 carries for the Cornhuskers (3-4, 1-2), who pummeled the Golden Gophers (4-3, 1-2) on the line of scrimmage after the opposite occurred the last two matchups.

“It was one of those things,” Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said. “We weren’t moving them.”

Nebraska predictably had plenty of fans on hand, with the two campuses a six-hour drive apart. Red hats, jackets and jerseys were packing the corners of the upper deck, interspersed throughout the lower bowl and spotted all over the Twin Cities this weekend. They had most of the stadium to themselves to chant “Go Big Red!” to their heart’s content by the end, with the frustrated home crowd largely emptied out.

“I’m really happy for everybody involved here, the coaches, the players and our fans,” Riley said. “I’ve said all along: They’re the greatest in the world. All they want to do is win, and we all certainly understand that.”

Mitch Leidner did his best to keep Minnesota competitive against Nebraska’s FBS-worst pass defense with career bests in completions (26) and yards (301). He threw two late interceptions, one that was returned by Joshua Kalu for a 41-yard touchdown, after passing for one touchdown and running for another.

K.J. Maye had 94 yards receiving and a 7-yard touchdown run, but the Huskers were ready for just about everybody else.

“With what we’ve been through this year, it feels good to get a win,” Newby said.

The troubling trend for the Gophers was that Leidner was as sharp as he’s ever been, completing 16 of 17 passes for 156 yards in the first half, but they still got blown out. After scoring on the opening drive, their first touchdown in the first quarter this season, they let the Huskers tie the game in three plays when Newby galloped through a gaping hole in the middle and bounced outside for a 69-yard scoring scamper.

After rushing for 271 yards in a victory over Nebraska here two years ago and 281 yards in a win in Lincoln last season, Minnesota was stymied for 65 yards on 26 attempts with defensive tackles Maliek Collins and Vincent Valentine doing plenty of damage inside.

“It was just us a physical mentality we brought to the game,” said Collins, who mentioned the 281 yards from last year as motivation.

Alonzo Moore, Cethan Carter and De’Mornay Pierson-El were the touchdown targets by Armstrong, who completed only 36 percent of his passes for a total of 234 yards in losses to Illinois and Wisconsin the last two weeks.

Pierson-El, who fumbled near the goal line in the closing minutes of Minnesota’s 28-24 win at Nebraska last year, missed the first four games with a foot injury. He had a 42-yard punt return and the catch of the game in the corner of the end zone early in the fourth quarter when he tipped the ball to himself between two defensive backs.

Carter’s reach to push the ball over the pylon in the third quarter marked the end of a 99-yard march in 10 plays by the Huskers, the defining stretch against an injury-affected Gophers defense that had been so good this season and the last two.

“It’s frustrating, looking at our goals that we set early on in the season and looking where we’re at now, but it’s just part of the game,” Leidner said. “Things like this just happen, and you’ve just got to be able to keep fighting back.”

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A little over a minute after he thought he had blown the game for Wisconsin, Rafael Gaglianone won it.

Gaglianone made a 46-yard field goal with four seconds left after he missed from 39, giving Wisconsin a 23-21 victory over Nebraska on Saturday and sending the Cornhuskers to another crushing defeat.

“Biting your nails, that was crazy,” Gaglianone said of the game’s last few minutes. “So unbelievable. I’m thankful for my teammates giving me that second chance.”

The Huskers had taken the lead with 3:38 to play, but for the second straight week they failed to put away their opponent and now have lost four games by a total of 11 points. All four losses have come on the opponent’s final offensive play.

“I’d have to look back a ways, but I don’t think I’ve really seen this before,” first-year Nebraska coach Mike Riley said. “But we are in it. When you have games like we’ve had, you’ll look at many different circumstances on how, playing or coaching, you could make a difference.”

Fullback Andy Janovich broke a 55-yard touchdown run to put Nebraska (2-4, 0-2 Big Ten) up 21-20. After the Badgers drove from their 9 to the Nebraska 21, Gaglianone’s field-goal try hit the right upright and bounced away.

“That was devastating, not just for me missing that opportunity but just knowing how hard my teammates have worked putting that drive together,” Gaglianone said. “Me missing just felt like I really let my teammates down. It was just crazy. They were just like, `We’ve still got a chance, don’t give up.’ ”

The Huskers got the ball with 1:26 left, and they ran three straight times. Riley said he never considered passing, wanting to force the Badgers to use all three of their timeouts. Wisconsin (4-2, 1-1) started its last drive at its 30 with 1:03 left, and Joel Stave completed three passes for 42 yards to set up Gaglianone for another attempt.

“Going to back to that same spot, I thought I’m going to swing a little different, a little more to the left. It worked out great,” Gaglianone said.

Stave said he had a feeling Gaglianone, who was 3 for 5 on field goals against the Huskers, would come through.

“It’s like a golfer; they hit their putt once and if they miss it, they’re going to make it the second time,” Stave said. “They’ve got the line, they’ve got the read.”

It was the first time Wisconsin made a game-winning kick in the final minute of regulation since Matt Davenport’s 48-yarder with six seconds left beat Northwestern 26-25 in 1997.

Dare Ogunbowale rushed for 117 yards for Wisconsin, most coming after starting running back Taiwan Deal went out with an injury to his left ankle in the first quarter. Stave was 25 of 50 for 322 yards and a touchdown in only the fourth game in program history that the Badgers attempted 50 or more passes.

The Badgers played a turnover-free game a week after Stave committed four in a 10-6 loss to Iowa. The Huskers were coming off a 14-13 loss at Illinois.

Tommy Armstrong Jr. completed 11 of 28 passes for 129 yards and a TD and ran eight times for 50 for the Huskers, who are off to their worst start since 1959. Janovich and Terrell Newby each rushed for 59 yards.

“We’ve got to stick in this together,” Armstrong said. “We said from day one that you’ve got to expect the unexpected, and we really didn’t think that we would have a season like this. It’s heartbreaking to look at it this way. We have to stick together and drive on to next week.”

— Associated Press —

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — With a strong, gusty wind swirling around, drizzle flying and Illinois running out of time, Illinois quarterback Wes Lunt tried four times to hit receiver Geronimo Allison on the right side of the Nebraska end zone.

Three times, it didn’t work.

But with 10 seconds left in the game, Lunt connected with the senior receiver, low and just inside the right corner of the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown that, after Taylor Zalewski’s extra point, gave Illinois (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) an unlikely 14-13 win.

Allison, who had eight catches for 91 yards, said he had no doubt Lunt would try to hit him yet again on that last play.

“It’s who the quarterback has the most confidence with. I got a feeling he’s coming my way,” said Allison, who rose to his knees after he caught the ball, pointing skyward. He acknowledged later that he’d cried after the win.

The loss was painful for Nebraska (2-3, 0-1), following the Cornhuskers overtime defeat at Miami and a loss to BYU on the final play of that game. Nebraska has lost three games by a total of nine points.

First-year coach Mike Riley said this one might have been the toughest.

“I don’t ever remember losing a game like this,” he said, adding later, “This one will be interesting (to come back from) for sure.”

“It hurts,” linebacker Chris Weber added. “Every loss hurts. Every loss is a gut-punch.”

The Illini overcame a pair of missed field goals by Zalewski, four early trips into the red zone that produced no points, a 13-0 fourth-quarter deficit and a crowd peppered with as much red and black as orange and blue.

Illinois also had to deal with almost a century of history to get the win — the Illini haven’t beaten Nebraska since a 9-6 win in 1924 — and more recent history. Cubit took over when head coach Tim Beckman was fired a week before the season opener over allegations of abusive treatment by several former players.

The win, Cubit said, might be the best in his long career, including two straight losing seasons as offensive coordinator at Illinois.

“The last couple of years, to be honest with you, it’s probably been pretty hard at times,” he said.

With receivers dropping balls from Lunt and struggling to make adjustments in the wind — not to mention starting running back Josh Ferguson being knocked out of the game late in the first quarter with a should injury — defense kept the Illini in the game.

Nebraska managed just 292 total yards. Quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. finished the day 10-31 for 105 yards and an interception.

But Nebraska had been able to bang through the Illinois defense on the ground, finishing with 187 yards.

And the Cornhuskers had a chance to kill off most of the game’s final minute using the run.

But on a fourth-and-7 at the Illini 27 with 55 seconds left and Illinois out of timeouts, the Cornhuskers went for it. But rather than run, Armstrong rolled right and tried pass to fullback Andy Janovich. The pass was incomplete, and Illinois had the chance it needed and 51 seconds to work with.

Riley said after the game that the decision to throw was Armstrong’s.

“The whole intention of it was a quarterback run,” Riley said. “My first reaction was surprised.”

On the Illinois sideline, Lunt was surprised, too. He and his teammates had been calculating how much time the Illini might have left, best case, if Nebraska ran the ball.

“We came up with like 29 seconds. The extra (22) seconds, that was huge,” he said. “If I was in that situation, I’d try to milk the clock.”

Lunt was 23-45 for 251 yards and two touchdowns.

For much of the first half, the upper hand was there for Illinois to take.

The Cornhuskers stumbled to three three-and-outs to and a fumbled punt on their first four possessions.

The Illini could move the ball, but only until they neared the end zone.

Three trips into the Nebraska red zone produced the two missed field goals, from 51 and 41 yards, and a failed fourth-down attempt at the Cornhusker 13. And the half’s final play ended with Ke’Shawn Vaughn’s 48-yard run to the Nebraska 12, putting a fourth empty trip inside the Husker 20 yard-line on the stat sheet.

In the meantime, Nebraska found a way to scratch out 10 first-half points.

Freshman running back Devine Ozigbo rumbled 19 yards around the right side of Illinois’ defense with 12:35 left in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead.

Then, late in the quarter, Armstrong hit Cethan Carter for a 55-yard pass down the right sideline that set up a 39-yard Drew Brown field goal. With 11 seconds to play, Nebraska was up 10-0.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska has lost one game on a Hail Mary and another in overtime after it made a huge comeback. Now here was Southern Mississippi moving down the field in the last minute with a chance to tie after Nebraska had blown most of a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter.

“I guess it’s really true. It’s never easy,” coach Mike Riley said after his Cornhuskers held on for a 36-28 victory Saturday.

During an afternoon when the Huskers and Golden Eagles combined for almost 1,100 yards of offense, it was defensive end Freedom Akinmoladun who secured victory for Nebraska, sacking Nick Mullens near midfield to end the game.

Tommy Armstrong passed for 368 yards and two touchdowns in his duel with Mullens, who threw for a career-high 447 yards.

“I’m happy we got a win, but I’m not satisfied at all,” Armstrong said. “We could have put up a lot more points on the board. We’re probably 30-45 seconds from going into overtime, and then who knows what?”

Nebraska’s Drew Brown tied an NCAA record with five field goals in the first half and Jordan Westerkamp had a career day with 11 catches for 118 yards. The Huskers (2-2) also got an unexpected lift from fullback Andy Janovich, who ran for 68 yards on his first five carries since 2012 and had a 53-yard catch-and-run.

Southern Miss (2-2) stayed within striking distance after entering the fourth quarter down 22 points. Mullens and Casey Martin teamed up for two touchdowns, and Jalen Richard’s 1-yard run pulled the Eagles to 36-28 with 6:55 left.

“I thought we gave it all we got,” Mullens said. “Everything we had, we left it out on the field. It was a resilient group of men trying to make plays and win the game, probably one of the funnest games I’ve ever played.”

Brown could have put the game out of reach with a sixth field goal with 29 seconds left, but his 24-yard try was tipped, giving Southern Miss a final opportunity to tie. Two Mullens-to-Martin passes got the Eagles to the Nebraska 40, but Akinmoladun crashed through to sack Mullens, and the Eagles couldn’t stop the clock.

“We needed a play,” Akinmoladun said. “I didn’t know at the time what it was going to be, but someone needed to step up. I was given the opportunity to step up.”

Nebraska missed opportunities to put away the Golden Eagles early, settling for field goals after failing to convert third downs on four straight trips inside the 20.

“We did a nice job of holding them out of the end zone and making them kick field goals,” Southern Miss coach Todd Monken said. “They gave us a chance, but in the end we gave up too many explosive plays. We’ll regroup, look at it and get better. They’re a good offensive team. They’re going to score points.”

Armstrong passed 10 yards to Taariq Allen for a touchdown to put the Huskers up 29-7 late in the third quarter. Then it was game on.

Mullens and Martin connected for a 21-yard touchdown, Xavier Thigpen recovered the onside kick and Martin turned a short pass into a 19-yard TD on fourth-and-4 to make it 29-21.

The Eagles failed to convert on a fake punt from their 39 on their next possession, and Armstrong ran in from 16 yards untouched four plays later.

Southern Miss kept coming, driving to the Nebraska 14. Joshua Kalu intercepted Mullens in the end zone on a fourth-and-13, but he was flagged for interference and unsportsmanlike conduct after spiking the ball. That set up the Eagles at the 1, and Richard scored on the next play.

The last of Brown’s five first-half field goals was a career-long 50-yarder as time ran out to give the Huskers a 22-0 lead.

The Huskers, who lost their opener against BYU on a Hail Mary and lost in overtime last week at Miami, avoided their first 1/3 start since 1957.

“We have to be pleased with winning the game,” Riley said. “We’ve won a couple games and we’ve lost a couple real close games. Now we’re entering the conference, and we’ve been through a lot of situations. Stack your experiences up and hope you get better.”

— Associated Press —

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami gave Nebraska the game.

Then Nebraska gave it back.

Corn Elder’s interception on the first play of overtime put Miami in control, and Michael Badgley’s 28-yard field goal gave the Hurricanes a 36-33 win that once seemed absolutely certain and then came perilously close to slipping away in an epic fourth-quarter collapse.

“Give Nebraska credit for the way they played,” Miami coach Al Golden said. “But give our kids a lot of credit for fighting, scratching, clawing, staying together, having poise and finishing it in overtime.”

For a while, everything was looking great for Miami — sans for the final 8:36 of the fourth quarter, when Nebraska stormed back from a 33-10 deficit on the strength of three touchdown passes by Tommy Armstrong. His fourth scoring throw of the game went to Stanley Morgan with 33 seconds remaining, and the Cornhuskers then tied it when Jordan Westerkamp hauled in a 2-point conversion toss.

But Elder snared Armstrong’s third interception of the night to start OT, an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty allowed Miami to start its ensuing drive at the Nebraska 13 instead of the 25, and after three running plays Badgley’s fifth field goal won it for the Hurricanes (3-0).

“I really like this team,” Nebraska coach Mike Riley said. “You can’t help but appreciate what happened in the second half today but there’s always going to be something that gnaws at you because you know it didn’t have to be like that.”

The Cornhuskers (1-2) have a losing record after three games for the first time since 1981.

“We’re going to keep battling,” Westerkamp said.

They did Saturday, for certain. And it nearly paid off.

Miami gave Nebraska plenty of help in the final minutes. The Hurricanes lost safeties Deon Bush and Jamal Carter after both were ejected for targeting in the fourth quarter, and Nebraska found the end zone on both of those drives — with Armstrong finding wide-open receivers against a rapidly depleting Miami defense. The Hurricanes had two would-be scores from Mark Walton taken off the board by holding penalties in the second half as well.

But the last mistake was made by Nebraska, and it basically decided everything.

“I didn’t really see the corner. That’s on me,” Armstrong said. “I made throws. Some were great. Some were bad. That one cost us the game. There were three guys on the pattern. There was only one I could throw to. I underthrew it.”

Brad Kaaya threw for 379 yards and two touchdowns for Miami, while Joe Yearby ran for 125 yards and a score and Rashawn Scott caught nine passes for 151 yards. Artie Burns became the first Miami player since Sean Taylor in 2003 with an interception in three straight games, and Christopher Herndon and Tyre Brady had their first career touchdown catches in the first quarter as Miami raced to a 17-0 lead.

In the end, the Hurricanes needed every bit of that cushion. And Elder helped Miami avoid disaster.

“I didn’t have a receiver to my side so I was basically just playing the field,” Elder said of his interception at the goal line to start the extra period. “I saw him scramble, I took off deep, he threw it and it came right to me.”

It was Nebraska’s first true road game in the Sunshine State since visiting Miami in 1951. The Huskers’ last 22 Florida trips were for bowl games, 17 of them Orange Bowls including three where this Nebraska-Miami rivalry was forged. In all, they’ve played four times to decide the national championship, Miami winning three — starting with 1983, when Nebraska went for a two-point conversion when an extra-point probably would have been enough to clinch the title.

Miami deflected that pass away, and Hurricane football forever changed that night.

And, ironically, two 2-pointers for Nebraska in the fourth quarter weren’t enough on Saturday. The Cornhuskers have never won game in which they trailed by 21 points — but nearly changed that.

“We won the game,” Kaaya said. “That’s all that matters.”

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — No matter how many games Tanner Mangum plays for BYU, it will be hard for him to top what he did in his first one.

Playing in the college football cathedral that is Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium, and having replaced injured star Taysom Hill early in the fourth quarter, Mangum heaved a 42-yard touchdown pass to Mitch Mathews with no time left for a 33-28 victory Saturday.

“It was a good welcome to college football,” Mangum said.

The Huskers lost their season opener for the first time since 1985, ending the nation’s longest season-opening win streak at 29.

The stunning last play spoiled the debut of new Nebraska coach Mike Riley. While a celebration erupted on the BYU sideline, Riley raised clenched fists over his head and looked down as his headset slipped backward.

Mathews jumped around at midfield as teammates mobbed him after the play stood up to a video review. A half-hour after the game, hundreds of joyous BYU fans still congregated in the south end zone near where Mathews came down with the ball.

“I had to come down with it,” Mathews said. “I had to come down with it for my guys. Sometime you have to do what you have to do, and that’s catch the rock and win the game. I didn’t know I scored right away because I was under a pile of people. Nick Kurtz was laying on me and was screaming.”

The victory came with a heavy price. Hill sustained a season-ending injury for the second straight year. Coach Bronco Mendenhall said Hill fractured a foot on a 21-yard touchdown run in the first half. He went to the locker room and missed two plays before returning, then left again after getting hit hard on an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter.

“The training staff said they’ve never seen anyone go back and play in the same game once that’s happened,” Mendenhall said. “He allowed us to stay within striking distance.”

Making Mangum’s dramatic play even more remarkable was that he returned from his two-year LDS mission in June. Mangum hadn’t played in an organized football game since 2012. He finished 7-of-11 for 111 yards and is the presumed starter when the Cougars host Boise State next week.

“I’m amazed that Tanner Mangum, just two months off his mission, coming in and being able to help our team win,” Mendenhall said. “I was just proud of the way he was able to lead our team on the big stage, in an historic stadium, finding a way to pull it out.”

Trevor Samson’s 35-yard field goal pulled BYU within 28-27 with 7:57 left, and after Drew Brown missed a 41-yard field goal for Nebraska, the Cougars started their final drive from their own 35. There were 48 seconds to play.

Mangum faced four-and-3 from the Nebraska 42 when he launched his winning pass against a three-man rush.

“I rolled out and threw it. It wasn’t my best ball,” Mangum said. “Came out a little wobbly. But I was just glad it got there. Mitch made a heck of a catch and was able to fall in for the score.”

Riley, in his 41st year in coaching, said he couldn’t remember ever losing a game the way he did his first one at Nebraska.

“I initially thought he was not in the end zone, but I had a really bad view,” Riley said. “I saw the official raise his hands right away, so I knew.”

Tommy Armstrong Jr. passed for 319 yards and three touchdowns, his last one going 9 yards to Trey Foster for a 28-24 lead, and Jordan Westerkamp caught seven balls for 107 yards and a score.

This opener was long anticipated by both teams. Riley, who spent the last 12 years at Oregon State, was athletic director Shawn Eichorst’s surprise hire last December after Bo Pelini was fired.

BYU, meanwhile, came in looking to continue raising its profile as an independent and was coming off three wins last year against opponents from Power 5 conferences. The Cougars play Boise State at home next week, then play back-to-back road games against UCLA and Michigan.

Each team was without players who were suspended for disciplinary reasons. Among the five missing Huskers were linebacker Michael Rose-Ivey, cornerback Jonathan Rose and tight end Cethan Carter. Among the suspended BYU players were defensive lineman Tomasi Laulile, free safety Kai Nacua, linebacker Sione Takitaki and wide receiver Trey Dye.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Five Nebraska players have been suspended for the Sept. 5 opener against BYU for violating team rules.

Coach Mike Riley announced the suspensions after practice Thursday night. He said he wouldn’t name the suspended players at this time but might by the week of the opener. He said “it will become obvious as the kickoff occurs.”

Riley also announced that receiver Sam Burtch and cornerback Chris Jones had knee surgeries this week. No timetable is set for their returns. He also said running back Jordan Stevenson didn’t practice because of a bad ankle.

Riley also announced that Givens Price has moved from the offensive line to defensive tackle and backup tight end Jared Blum is transferring to South Dakota State.