The Nebraska Cornhuskers defeated the UCLA Bruins 28-21 on Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. The victory gave the Huskers seven regular-season wins for the first time since 2016.
The offense was led by a career night from running back Emmett Johnson. Johnson had 129 rushing yards and a touchdown on 28 carries while catching three passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns.
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He became the first Husker running back to have 100 receiving yards and 100 rushing yards in the same game. Johnson is also the first Nebraska back to have three straight 100-yard games in Big Ten play since 2017.
UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper met with the media following the game and spoke about the impact Emmett Johnson had on the game.
“Most of our game plan was to stop 21 (Emmett Johnson), he’s a special, special player. We talked about it with the media on Monday, that was most of our game plan, limiting him. They did a good job of game planning him in the pass game. He caught a screen and made an explosive play off of that. I think he is a very special talent. Nationally, they should be talking about him a lot more.”
Freshman quarterback TJ Lateef also led the Husker offense in his first career start. He finished the night 13-of-15 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. Lateef is just the fifth true freshman quarterback to start for Nebraska since 1950. Skipper spoke about the freshman’s impact on the game.
“And then for their quarterback to come out here, first start, and almost was perfect. You tip your hat to that kid. He’s coming home and playing in front of his family and things like that. They did a really good job on defense in the first half for most of the half we had some misfits and things like that. Then, when we did fit, they were still moving us backward. I thought we got better in the second half, but it just wasn’t enough, we just didn’t hold up. They kept running the rock.”
Johnson has rushed for 100 yards in three consecutive games and six times overall this season. Skipper told the media that Nebraska’s running game set up the entire offensive attack.
“When you have #21 and he’s going and you have to sell out for him, it makes things easier for him (TJ Lateef). It’s like all games, if you can run the ball on offense, it makes the game a lot easier. Their ability to run settled their whole offense down. They had some play action, some boots, they were getting guys on crossers wide open, then they started running some mesh, and they got guys open on that. They did a good job, it’s what it is. It’s a chess match. We started to figure it out a little bit in the second half, just ran out of time.”
The Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-3, 4-3) retake the field on Saturday, Nov. 22, when they travel to Pennsylvania to face the Penn State Nittany Lions (3-6, 0-6) in Happy Valley. The kickoff time and TV network have not yet been determined.
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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: What UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper said after falling to Nebraska
