On Thursday night, as Nebraska opened its season with a Week 1 matchup against Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, it looked like Matt Rhule was going to do it again. And though he took the Cornhuskers back to a bowl game for the first time since 2016 last season, that wasn’t a good thing. What it looked like his team was going to do again was lose a one-score game, which they’ve done 11 times across his first two seasons in Lincoln.
Then, Malcolm Hartzog Jr., who one play earlier committed a penalty to move Cincinnati in range for the game-tying field goal, saved the day with a game-sealing interception that allowed Dylan Railoa to kneel out a 20-17 win to start his highly anticipated sophomore season at 1-0.