By Brian Rosenthal / Huskers.com
The only bright spot for Nebraska’s football team on a forgettable night came when quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr., still wearing the bottoms of his hospital scrubs, came trotting back into Ohio Stadium during the third quarter.
Armstrong, who’d accumulated 93 yards of offense to push his career total 10,254 yards, surpassing Taylor Martinez for first place on the Nebraska career charts, had left the stadium via ambulance in the first half.
Nebraska trailed 24-3 when Armstrong, after gaining 11 yards on a third-and-7 run, banged his helmet against the turf as he was tackled along the sideline with 6:02 remaining in the second quarter. He was briefly knocked unconscious, and athletic trainers and medical personnel cut off Armstrong’s jersey, placed him a neck brace and strapped him to a stretcher.
Armstrong was moving his extremities and talking as he was carted across the field to an ambulance, but for the Huskers, imagine the unnerving sight of seeing your senior leader being taken away by ambulance.
No. 10 Nebraska had already dug itself a hole and never responded in a lopsided 62-3 loss to No. 6 Ohio State on Saturday night that puts the Huskers out of the driver’s seat in the race for the Big Ten West Division championship.
“That was real bad, and we were all responsible for it.," Nebraska coach Mike Riley said in his postgame news conference. "That game came out of the blue to me."
Nebraska (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) is now tied with Wisconsin atop the standings with three games remaining, but the Badgers own the head-to-head tiebreaker after defeating the Huskers in overtime last week.
Wisconsin’s remaining schedule is Illinois, at Purdue and Minnesota. Nebraska plays Minnesota and Maryland at home before concluding the season at Iowa.
By that time, film of this game may have turned to ashes.
Ohio State (8-1, 5-1) dominated from beginning to end, accumulating 590 yards of total offense while holding Nebraska to 204. Both are season extremes for the Huskers, who failed to score a touchdown for the first time since 2010, a 9-6 loss at Texas A&M.
The three points were the Huskers’ fewest in a game since a 30-3 loss at Oklahoma in 2004, the same season Nebraska suffered its worst loss in school history, 70-10 at Texas Tech.
That record seemed in jeopardy until the clock ran out as Ohio State, with backup quarterback Joe Burrow, drove into Nebraska territory.
It marked the only time the Buckeyes failed to score on a possession against the Huskers.
The 59-point margin tied for the second largest in a game between two top 10 teams in the history of the Associated Press poll, and is the most lopsided for Nebraska under Riley, who's in his second season. The previous largest margin of defeat under Riley had been last season’s 55-45 setback at Purdue.
Nebraska entered Saturday’s game having lost only twice since that game, including last week’s 23-17 overtime loss at then-No. 11 Wisconsin.
But it became apparent early this wouldn’t be the Huskers’ night.
“That wasn’t a problem, being energized. We just didn’t come out and execute," senior center Dylan Utter said. “They were a fast, physical and sound defense. Hat’s off to Ohio State. They shut us down tonight.”
Nebraska took the game’s first 18 snaps and ran half of the first quarter clock but trailed 7-3 before the Ohio State offense even took the field.
Damon Webb intercepted a deflected pass by Armstrong and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown with 13:26 remaining in the first quarter. It’s the second time in as many trips to Ohio Stadium that the Huskers fell behind after allowing an interception return for a touchdown.
The Huskers regrouped, though, and drove 72 yards in 15 plays, settling for a 20-yard field goal by Drew Brown with 7:45 remaining. That marked Brown’s 44th career field goal, good for sole possession of third place in school history.
Ohio State responded with scoring drives of 10, 9, 9 and 15 plays – three resulting in touchdowns, the other for a field goal – in building a 31-3 halftime lead. The final of those touchdowns, a 1-yard jump pass from J.T. Barrett to Curtis Samuel, came with 3 seconds on the clock.
“They just try to spread the ball around a lot and hit sideline to sideline and use the whole field," Nebraska senior defensive end Ross Dzuris said. "It stresses the defense on every level.”
Barrett connected with Samuel for a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second half, and Ohio State put the game on cruise control.
“What it looked like to me was very strange. I didn’t feel we played very loose," Riley said. "I thought we played tight early. But the fact of the matter is we couldn’t do a whole lot on offense and couldn’t get them off the field defensively.”
Armstrong’s backup, walk-on Ryker Fyfe, was 4-of-15 passing and also threw an interception the Buckeyes returned for a touchdown. Senior receiver Jordan Westerkamp led Nebraska with four receptions for 51 yards. He’s within 17 receptions of second place on the Huskers’ all-time charts.
Fyfe said he was well-prepared to play in his first game since mid-September.
“I watch every play. I know the calls, I know the coverage," Fyfe said. "When I go in I just try to pick It up from there. I was ready to go. We just didn’t execute right. It was just one of those nights.
"We did a good job protecting. I didn’t hit my throws. I was a little off on some.”
Senior safety Nathan Gerry had a season-high-tying nine tackles to increase his career total to 258, good for eighth place on the Nebraska career tackles list, and second among Husker defensive backs.
Gerry passed Jim Wightman (254), Marc Munford (256) and Ed Stewart (257).
Senior linebacker Josh Banderas had nine tackles, marking his fourth straight game with eight or more tackles.
But overall, the Huskers struggled with missed tackles, as Ohio State, time and again, gained yards after initial contact, especially in the first half. That helped the Buckeyes to a remarkable 11-of-15 conversion rate on third downs.
As for Armstrong, Riley said it's too early to say when he'll be able to return, acknowleding there's a possibility the Huskers may be without him next week when they play Minnesota.
“Our season is definitely not over," Dzuris said. "We have a lot to correct after this game and we have to get ready for the next game. Those teams are going to be ready to play us tough, too. They’re not going to take it easy on us."
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.