Nebraska lost to Illinois, 14-13, to drop to 2-3 on the season, but Nebraska didn't have to lose to Illinois. They did because they do not know about math.
Leading 13-7, Nebraska had third-and-7 from the Illinois 27 with 55 seconds left. Illinois didn't have any timeouts left, meaning all the Huskers had to do was run the ball, and Illinois would have had roughly 15 seconds to put together a touchdown drive.
Instead, Nebraska threw the ball on two consecutive downs, leading to two consecutive incompletions — it didn't even attempt the 41-yard field goal, albeit in the rain — and Illinois got the ball back with 50 seconds left. Then the Illini drove downfield and scored a touchdown to win.
According to coach Mike Riley, the Huskers were supposed to run the ball.
According to Mike Riley, the 3rd down call was a bootleg run. No pass. The pass was an improv. #huskers
— Samuel McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) October 3, 2015
Nebraska has a dedicated analytics manager in its athletic department whose purpose is to tell coach Mike Riley how to not make bad in-game decisions. Now the Huskers might have to get the players some training, too.