5 Minutes

Ranging from full-blown panic to wait-and-see pacification, everybody’s got an opinion on Saturday night’s near-death experience in the Wyoming game. Excuse me, did I say “game?” I meant “5 minutes.” That’s what we’re reacting to. Not 60 minutes. But 5. Let me explain…

With about 7 minutes left, Taylor Martinez threw his first pick and gave the ball back to the Cowboys. Brett Smith - who was terrific all night - led a two-play drive punctuated by a gorgeous TD pass over our secondary. Then, rinse and repeat. Huskers stall on offense, fumble and give the ball to Smith, who leads another ruthless drive down the throats of the Husker D that he again punctuates with a 47-yard touchdown pass. Finally, the Huskers stall again thanks to some unimaginative play calling, and Wyoming has the ball back with 1 minute remaining to ruin the Big Red’s day. The defense holds. And the state takes a collective, long, eye-rolling sigh. And a shot of whiskey.

At 7:00 left to play, the Huskers led 37-21. With 1:32 left, the lead dwindled to three. 20 seconds of gameplay later, Wyoming had a gun to our head. That is five and a half shitty minutes, followed by one terrifying one. “What if” is a dangerous game to play, but since it’s still too early in the season to know anything, let’s do it. Say Martinez doesn’t throw that pick, and the Husker offense continues to march (that’s not unreasonable - the drive started on our 10 and ended on their 25). Terrell Newby crosses the goal line and the Huskers lead 44-21. I don’t think that’s a huge reach. (We’ll ignore that blocked extra point that resulted in the game being a field goal away from disaster instead of a touchdown). Wyoming would’ve gotten the ball back with five minutes left, down 23. They get conservative, maybe score but probably don’t, and the Huskers either win 44-21 or ride the momentum to one more touchdown and a 51-21 win, giving up about 475 yards of offense.

That’s it. 5 minutes. A dozen plays - half of which didn’t include our defense. Sure, we can’t draw a lot of conclusions from this series of hypotheticals. But here’s one thing I know: had Nebraska won that game 44-21, nobody would be worried at all. At all. “21 points and 475 yards isn’t terrible. They’ve got some real play-makers. For the first game, that was pretty good.” But no. We watched a 5-minute implosion that nearly resulted in disaster and the narrative instantly became, “This defense is doomed! Fire Bo Pelini! Murder John Papuchis!”

And both narratives are flawed. It is September 3rd, and like Jon Snow in the midst of wildlings, we know nothing. We won’t after Southern Miss, either. And if you think we will after UCLA, you’re only partially right. We won’t know everything after Michigan, Michigan State or Iowa. We won’t know because this won’t be the same team in November that it is today. They will develop and transform - positively or negatively - at a rate that will outpace our ability to actually comprehend and analyze their talent level.

So why are we losing our minds over 5 bad minutes? For the same reason we would lose our mind over 5 good ones. We have a need to feel like we know, and we can’t get comfortable with the fact that we never really will.

Look, maybe those 5 minutes were a harbinger of bad things to come. And maybe they were the exception, and not the rule. The point is, you don’t know and I don’t know and, really, Bo Pelini doesn’t know. Urban Meyer wouldn’t know, nor would Nick Saban. And Lou Holtz would probably mistake Lil’ Red for a bounce house and accidentally kill himself.

So instead of pretending, let’s embrace our ignorance and try to just enjoy watching this team strive for a season we all deem “successful.” Let’s watch for good signs and bad signs and point those out without mistaking them for SURE SIGNS OF THINGS TO COME. How about we put away both the hatred and the handjobs all at once and try to just watch the team? Don’t foster the culture of negativity with your plzFireBoPeliniToday twitter handle and don’t create unreasonable expectations with your ImaniCrossIsMySpiritAnimal tumblr (I’ll take some blame for that one). That’s what the media (the shitty parts) sometimes do because they need clicks and eyeballs and ratings. But the fans don’t have to.

Because wherever you sit on the spectrum we all have one thing in common: we want this team to succeed. If you read this blog you love the Big Red as much as I do, which is a lot. I’m not trying to lecture here, but manufacturing storm clouds over Salt Creek & Stadium isn’t going to scare this team into greatness. They’re 18-22-year-old kids who are learning to play football while simultaneously learning to become not-shitty young men. Let’s assume the best until we really see the worst. And realize that “the worst” is not 5 bad minutes from a defense that had only played 50 minutes of football together. It’s also not two bad drives from an offensive coordinator and offensive line that had thus far racked up 375 yards of rushing. Let’s cheer those guys on and hope we motivate them to not let that happen again.

That’s what the Greatest Fans in College Football really do.

It was 5 minutes. Settle down.

We’re 1-0. Act like it.