The Nebraska Cornhuskers suffered a crushing defeat on Friday night, falling to Illinois, 31-24, in overtime.
The opportunity was there for them to win, but backup kicker John Hohl missed a 39-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. Then, after the Fighting Illini punched it in for a touchdown on their first overtime possession, Nebraska completely fell apart, allowing three sacks of quarterback Dylan Raiola, including a fourth-down sack to end the game.
For the Cornhuskers, it was the Bo Pelini curse coming back to haunt them once again. They have now been held scoreless in eight consecutive overtime games.
Once upon a time, Nebraska was 8-1 in overtime games. Then came the firing of Pelini in November of 2014 and nothing has been right since. Not only has the school dropped eight straight in overtime, they’ve failed to record a single first down. They’ve run 27 plays for a net total of -10 yards over that span.
If that seems hard to believe, it gets worse. The Cornhuskers have also thrown nearly as many interceptions (4) as completions (6) during the eight-game overtime losing streak. And their ground game has been no better with the longest run checking in at three yards. Meanwhile, opposing teams have averaged 4.9 yards per carry in overtime.