PISCATAWAY -- After you determine if your glass is half-empty or half-full, try this riddle on for size:
Is it encouraging that underdog Rutgers is playing closer games than it did last season? Or discouraging that it hasn't gotten over the hump to steal one in two seasons under coach Chris Ash?
Rutgers led Nebraska in the third quarter last week before losing 27-17. It was the closest of the three meetings between the teams since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014.
"Our plan going into this game was to make it a four-quarter game and that's exactly what we did," Ash said, "but unfortunately we didn't make the plays that we needed to to completely come out on the winning end.