Ohio State's Chris Olave (2) tries to hold off Nebraska's Quinton Newsome (6) as he's pushed out of bounds in the first quarter on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
EAKIN HOWARD, Journal Star
Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez is pressured by Ohio State's Craig Young (15) in the first quarter Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
FRANCIS GARDLER, JOURNAL STAR
Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez scores on a 1-yard run against Ohio State in the third quarter Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
From Memorial Stadium, Parker Gabriel and Steven M. Sipple discuss the Nebraska football tea…
Adrian Martinez stepped away from the postgame podium and into an embrace from linebacker Garrett Nelson.
The Nebraska junior quarterback and sophomore outside linebacker have been in this situation so many times this season. Close, but no cigars.
This week, a 26-17 loss to No. 6 Ohio State. Another top-10 opponent on the ropes, another late failure to take control of the game.
On this afternoon, a sparkling early November day at Memorial Stadium, Martinez and the offense had the ball twice in the fourth quarter trailing by six and were once again unable to author that elusive happy ending despite a spirited outing from Nelson's Blackshirts.
“At the end of the day, I’m proud of our guys to continue to fight,” Martinez said. “Proud of the way we had each other’s backs out there, stuck together through everything, through the noise, through whatever. It’s about the brotherhood, and the brotherhood is strong at Nebraska and we believe in each other.
“We’re going to keep pressing on. Yes, it hurts; yes, it’s another top team that we lost a close game to and a game that we felt we had a chance to win. There’s nothing else to do but continue to press on and learn from this game.”
This day, however, represented a lot of things for the 2021 Cornhuskers. The loss ensured that NU will finish with a losing record for the fifth straight season, including each of head coach Scott Frost’s first four at his alma mater. It ensured — outside of some unlikely circumstance — that Nebraska will not play in a bowl game for the fifth straight time. The Huskers haven’t seen the postseason since December 2016.
It marked a point in the season going into the bye week where some players, like the injured sixth-year senior linebacker JoJo Domann, will have to decide whether they’re going to play in NU’s final two games of the season on Nov. 20 at Wisconsin and Nov. 26 vs. Iowa.
It also unveiled the true extent of what Martinez, Nebraska’s battered and embattled offensive conductor, has been playing through this year.
Frost confirmed after the game that Martinez fractured his jaw on Sept. 25 against Michigan State and then suffered a high ankle sprain during practice Tuesday before the Huskers lost to Minnesota.
The quarterback missed only one series for an inconclusive X-ray during the MSU game and then played the rest of the way.
“My face was numb and swollen,” he said, but he got the green light to keep playing.
Martinez found out his jaw was broken once the team got back to Lincoln and he faced a decision about whether to have season-ending surgery or try to play through it. After a day or so, he chose to play.
“Really, it was a tough choice and one I wanted to make for my teammates and wanted to do for our team,” Martinez said. “Simple as that. Continued to fight and lead the guys. It was really as simple as that for me.”
“He’s shown a lot of grit and toughness,” Frost added. “Those two things are obviously going to make you a little bit of a different player.”
Indeed, Martinez has not been as dynamic with his legs over the past month and over the course of Nebraska's four-game losing streak. The last three of those losses have come since a player rolled up on Martinez's ankle before the Huskers traveled to Minnesota last month.
At times, like last week against Purdue, he has played poorly. At times, like Oct. 9 against Michigan, he’s turned in brilliant moments.
Saturday against Ohio State had some of both. He looked hobbled early in the game and at one point grabbed at his left ankle.
In the second half, he got the offense rolling and was able to gain some yards with his legs.
"I was getting into more of a rhythm running the ball," Martinez said. "I would say (early on, OSU) wasn't giving me the best options to keep the ball. But in the second half, it was more, kind of deliberate on my part, deliberate on what we were calling and also getting into a rhythm."
When the rubber met the road in the fourth quarter, though, the Husker offense could not put together a go-ahead drive.
Twice, they hand chances while trailing by six.
The opportunity the Huskers will really regret began on the first play of the fourth quarter when redshirt freshman safety Myles Farmer intercepted Buckeye freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud and the offense went to work moving the ball down the field.
They marched all the way to the OSU 13-yard line — including five carries and 37 rushing yards from Martinez — before Martinez missed Levi Falck on a shallow crossing route on third-and-4.
That dropped Nebraska to 1-of-11 on third down on the day, but still, only a fourth-down conversion stood between the Huskers and a first-and-goal with a go-ahead touchdown in sight.
Instead, Frost decided to try to cut the lead to three with a field goal.
His walk-on kicker, Chase Contreraz, who had made a 37-yarder earlier in the game and also missed a 45-yarder, hooked the ball sharply to the left, never giving it even a chance of getting through the uprights.
“I kind of made that decision before the third-down call. We had kind of been in four-down mode that whole drive and calling plays on third down to make sure we’d be in manageable fourths. We had a good playcall and decided before that, ‘Let’s take a shot to hit one here.’ We had (senior wide receiver Samori Toure) open enough to get the first down and we had the shallow cross open and we missed it. … At that point early in the game, the way our defense was playing, I thought a field goal would give us a chance.”
Frost said after the fact, it’s natural to second-guess yourself and that in hindsight he wished he had it back, but added, “That’s the right football decision.”
As the Blackshirts did much of the game against the vaunted Ohio State offense, they forced a stop and got the ball back to NU with 6:11 left in the game but this time 90 yards to go.
Martinez got one first down with his legs but then three straight incompletions forced a punt and the Buckeyes — with a place-kicker who has not missed a field goal all year — marched into range and watched Noah Ruggles calmly bury a 46-yarder that extended the lead to nine and all but put the Huskers away.
Not before Garrett Nelson sacked Stroud and jarred the ball loose, though. It bounced around on the turf for a few seconds as the crowd roared before it settled into the arms of OSU offensive lineman Luke Wypler.
This was, in many ways, just like other Saturdays this bizarre and disappointing season for the Huskers. Led by their battered quarterback, they played a top team to the wire. Zapped by shoddy kicking, an inconsistent offensive outing and the inability to make a critical play when they needed one late, they fell short again.
They did so despite holding one of the most prolific offenses in the country, one that entered Saturday averaging a nation-best 47.3 points per game, to 26 points despite the defense being on the field for 84 snaps and 495 total yards of offense.
That’s part of what made the postgame scene so emotional for Martinez and Nelson and Frost and the others. Nobody can argue that NU's players have done anything but lay it on the line. Even when it would have been easy for the quarterback or Domann to tap out, they've kept on.
“I love being the coach here. I love these kids. They’ve battled through a lot,” Frost said. “This is going to pop here at Nebraska. It just is. We’re doing too many things right. We’ve got too many good, young players, we’re putting ourselves in position to win too many games and just not making a play or catching a break. The guys I feel bad for are the seniors. … A lot of those guys have just poured everything they’ve had into this game. I thought JoJo played an unbelievable game. Those guys are the heart and soul, and I feel bad for them. For the rest of these young guys, they’re doing a lot of promising things.”
Now, though, the season enters new territory. Bowl hopes are out. A week off arrives. As of Saturday evening, the status of the coaching staff beyond this year remains in the balance.
Two trophy games remain, but much of the focus for the next week will be on a series of business decisions for a team that’s spent most of its season focused on the heart rather than the bottom line and come away with not much to show for it.
Photos: Nebraska hosts Ohio State at Memorial Stadium
Ohio State's Chris Olave (2) tries to hold off Nebraska's Quinton Newsome (6) as he's pushed out of bounds in the first quarter on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.