The Huskers are 2-3 with losses to BYU on a Hail Mary, at Miami in overtime (after playing awful for three quarters, then mounting an insane comeback) and Saturday at Illinois 14-13 after giving up a touchdown with 10 seconds left. This one will stick to Riley because it was horribly bungled at the end. Illinois was out of timeouts. Nebraska, up 13-7 and in Illinois territory, should have been in run-out-the-clock mode, holding the ball with a minute to go. If Nebraska just runs the ball on third down, Illinois can’t stop the clock, which means Illinois’ best-case scenario would be getting the ball back with 15 seconds, maybe less, and needing to drive 70 yards to win.

Instead, inexplicably, Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong threw a pass. It was incomplete. Illinois got the ball back, needing only 41 seconds to drive 73 yards and deliver yet another gut-punch. According to Riley, Armstrong was supposed to run the ball. So he probably decided to pass it on his own.