Special day for special teams

By Brian Rosenthal / Huskers.com

So, De'Mornay Pierson-El, do you feel good finally breaking a long punt return?

Feel right? Feel relieved?

“I feel pissed,” Pierson-El said, “because I got caught.”

Spoken like a true competitor.

Even so, the junior’s 45-yard punt return late in the first half sparked Nebraska after it trailed Oregon by 13 points.

His return, which came despite a catch-kick interference penalty, set the Huskers up at the Oregon 19-yard line. Jordan Westerkamp later hauled in his second touchdown of the half, a 3-yard reception on a fade pass from Tommy Armstrong Jr., and Nebraska cut the Ducks’ lead to 20-14 at halftime.

“It’s a confidence booster,” Pierson-El said of his longest punt return since his freshman season. “Tommy told me to do something, so I went out there and I told him, ‘I got you.’

“It’s just a great feeling," said Pierson-El, who battled injury last season, when he had only four returns for 48 yards total. "I was just looking for the right opportunity. It was the right kick at the right time. My teammates blocked and I just do what I do best, which is run fast.”

Pierson-El’s return highlighted a spectacular day for the special teams units in Nebraska’s 35-32 victory over No. 22 Oregon on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

“We knew we had to win the special teams play,” Pierson-El said. “It can be a game-changer. It can be a spark. I feel like we dominated and did our part, and at the end of the day, the defense did what they were supposed to do, the offense did what we were supposed to do, and we came out on top.”

Drew Brown kicked five PATs – he credited holder Zack Darlington for handling a bad snap on the final attempt – while Oregon misfired on four two-point conversions, out of five opportunities.

“It’s all based on the look, we can chip back in and kick it if we want,” Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said. “The situation was exactly how we planned it. We need to coach it better, we need to execute it better. It’s based on the look on the field.”

Brown also kicked his final kickoff into the end zone for a touchback, that after the Ducks had averaged a mediocre 17.5 yards on four returns.

Meanwhile, freshman punter Caleb Lightbourn, after a subpar performance against Wyoming, responded with the best game of his young career. He averaged 47.2 yards on five punts, including a booming 58-yard punt in the fourth quarter.

“It wasn’t really surprising,” Lightbourn said of his career-long punt, “but it definitely was relieving.”

Lightbourn three times pinned the Ducks inside the 20-yard line, including once at the 3-yard line.

“Be like a robot,” Lightbourn said. “That’s my goal every game is to be like a robot and make sure all of my motions are the exact same every single time.”

Lightbourn successfully kept the ball out of the hands of dangerous returner Charles Nelson; the Ducks had one punt return for a mere 5 yards.

“It was all in the preparation,” Lightbourn said. “The game last week, the reason I knew I performed poorly against Wyoming is I didn’t prepare as well as I knew I should. I knew going into this that they had a really good returner, and I knew I needed to step up my game and make sure that he never got the ball.”

Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal