First of all, Lane McCallum had to live his worst nightmare. Like, literally. He's had scary dreams about hitting a game-winning basket or field goal, getting dog piled and, well, suffocating.
Really, could you blame him?
"That hurt. That was not fun," McCallum said of being on the bottom of that very pile in real life. "Lucky I'm still alive after that one. It was heavy."
That's after McCallum had raced punter Isaac Armstrong to the opposite end of the football field.
"I think I passed him pretty early on," McCallum said. "I don't know where he went after that. I just ran."
After the scrum cleared, McCallum found himself hoisted on top of his Nebraska teammates, who carried the smiling kicker as dozens of cameras and reporters documented the celebration.
Finally, after his teammates lowered him to the ground, McCallum did what he really wanted all along after kicking the game-winning field goal in Nebraska's 13-10 triumph over Northwestern.
He prayed.
"That was on my mind the minute it went through," said McCallum, who dashed to the middle of the field and knelt in a circle with players from both teams for the traditional post game prayer.
On a day the Cornhusker Marching Band played the theme from "The Tonight Show" during its halftime performance, a kid from Johnny Carson's hometown, Norfolk, found himself in the spotlight, and for good reason.
McCallum's 24-yard field goal with no time left, set up following a Lamar Jackson interception he returned 11 yards to midfield, saved Nebraska from a third straight overtime game against Northwestern.
The Wildcats had won the previous two, and entering Saturday's game had won three of four games at Memorial Stadium since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011. The Huskers' only victory had been thanks to Jordan Westerkamp's famous "Hail Mary" touchdown reception in 2013.
Now, another walk-off win, only the third for the Huskers in Memorial Stadium history. The third was Josh Brown's field goal to beat Colorado in 2000.
Brown was an accomplished, decorated scholarship kicker. McCallum is a walk-on defensive back who transferred to Nebraska after initially going to Air Force on a scholarship to kick. In fact, he labels himself "Nebraska Safety" on his Twitter account.
"I never would've thought this would happen," McCallum said. "I never thought I'd be kicking here. And now, here I am."
He's here because of an injury that's kept Barret Pickering sidelined since fall camp. Nebraska coaches have shuffled through kickers in games and practices, including Armstrong, the starting punter, and a club soccer player who recently joined the team.
They've settled on McCallum, who they initially asked to practice kicking during spring football.
"It's such a crazy path God's put me on, since I left Air Force, even going there," McCallum said. "It's been such a crazy path, but I've been faithful. Give Him all the glory for this."
McCallum also gave thanks for simply making the kick that knuckle-balled its way through the uprights.
"I didn't think that thing was going in when it left my foot," he said. "I looked at it, and it was really low, and I was like 'Oh, crud.' I give that one to the man upstairs, for sure. I didn't know if that was going to get blocked or not."
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald burned all three timeouts to try to ice McCallum, who'd never been close to being in any situation with this much pressure.
Wrong move.
"Honestly, I like that, like low key," McCallum said. "Some coaches think it's good. They got their own opinions about it. I think getting time outs to regroup helps even more. It makes me more confident."
Nebraska coach Scott Frost joked his 44-year-old body could have jumped as high as McCallum's kick, but he's not complaining about a break finally going the Huskers' way.
"I mean, it's making me old before my time, some of these things, and not having a healthy scholarship kicker certainly hasn't been ideal for us," Frost said. "We've been searching for a guy that we can use. Lane's been the best. Glad we picked him, the way this turned out."
McCallum made a 35-yard field goal into a stiff north wind in the second quarter but hit the right upright on the same end with a 29-yard attempt late in the third quarter.
"I knew I missed that second one, and I kept the faith and said, 'Hey, I'm going to get another opportunity,' " McCallum said. "I think I was ready for it."
Noah Vedral wasn't concerned. The Nebraska quarterback, in for injured starter Adrian Martinez, directed the final drive from near midfield with 1 minute to play, following Jackson's interception. A Wahoo native, Vedral had played against McCallum many times as youths on the basketball court.
"Before I knew him as Lane, he was the 'left-handed shooter from Norfolk' that bombed us," Vedral said. "I mean, you can quote me on this. He has that clutch factor in him. I really do believe in him."
Vedral, the UCF transfer, came through in the clutch, too, hitting freshman receiver Wan'Dale Robinson down the right sideline on a 32-yard pass to the Northwestern 16-yard line. Vedral followed with keepers for gains of 8 and 5 yards to put McCallum in prime position.
"We knew they had a tendency to maybe be a little weak on the sidelines," Vedral said of his completion to Robinson, who scored Nebraska's only touchdown on a 42-yard run in the first quarter.
"It's a good defense, but we were prepped for it. All the coaches had us keyed up for it, and all I was trying to do was do my job. If I see what they did, my job's to put the ball out there, and Wan'Dale made a great catch, and we got it done."
Thanks to a pair of homegrown transfers.
"I mean from here, raised here, and weirdly enough we are both transfers, but it was super exciting," Vedral said. "It's kind of one of those things that it doesn't really hit you who it is or what it means until afterward."
Nebraska (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) held Northwestern (1-4, 0-3) to 293 total yards, while the Husker offense, with a mere 319, played a turnover-free game for the first time in nearly two years.
"I told the guys before the game I thought if we didn't turn the ball over in this game, we'd win," Frost said. "I think it probably should have been him a little easier than it was. But they turned it over, and we didn't, and really that was the difference in the game."
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.
