LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska’s defense had kept Washington out of the end zone for almost an entire Halloween night. Then Chris Lawson broke through, and Alex McLaughlin took away the Huskers’ chance to answer. Two late touchdowns turned a narrow Nebraska lead into another painful home defeat.
Washington won 17-10 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, October 31, sending Nebraska to its third consecutive loss. Both teams finished the night 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten, but they arrived at those matching records from very different directions.
Lawson scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 25-yard catch-and-run with 1:30 remaining. McLaughlin then intercepted Anthony Colandrea and returned the ball 48 yards for another score, putting Washington ahead 17-7 before Nebraska could mount a response. John Hohl’s 42-yard field goal with 31 seconds left reduced the deficit, but the Huskies recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Washington’s official athletics website carried the Associated Press account in its game recap. It described McLaughlin stepping in front of a pass over the middle and reaching the end zone untouched. Colandrea’s third interception supplied the decisive points after his first two had already complicated Nebraska’s opening possessions.
The ending made a sharp contrast with the scene before kickoff. Fans dressed for a blackout had filled Memorial Stadium for the Halloween game, with a large skull and crossbones painted at midfield. Nebraska’s defensive unit, the Blackshirts, delivered much of what that setting promised. Its offense and kicking game could not turn enough possessions into points.
Nebraska produced 387 total yards, according to HuskerOnline’s analysis in its postgame report. But its only touchdown came in the first quarter, when Colandrea found Carter Nelson for a 24-yard score. Hohl’s late field goal supplied the other three points.
Colandrea completed 24 of 44 passes for 255 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Those turnovers kept the total yardage from telling the full story. Nebraska could move the ball, but it could not consistently finish possessions, and the final interception converted an urgent opportunity into a two-score deficit.
There had been another opening earlier in the fourth quarter. A 15-play Nebraska drive reached the red zone before an eight-yard sack forced a 36-yard field-goal attempt. Kyle Cunanan missed, leaving the Huskers without points from a possession that had offered a chance to widen their lead.
HuskerOnline put Cunanan at 4-of-9 on field goals for the season after that miss. Three of his misses had come from beyond 50 yards, but two had been from inside 40. Hohl made his first attempt of the season in the closing seconds; the supplied reports did not announce a permanent change in the kicking job.
The frustration followed narrow defeats against Indiana and Oregon. The Eastern Herald’s account of Oregon’s 17-14 victory over Nebraska described another game that turned in the fourth quarter. Saturday extended the losing streak despite Nebraska again keeping its opponent to 20 points or fewer.
Washington managed only 35 rushing yards on 18 attempts. Nebraska recorded nine tackles for loss, with nine different players contributing one, and Jahsear Whittington, Kade Pietrzak, Riley Van Poppel and Vincent Shavers each registered a sack. Those plays repeatedly pushed Washington away from a productive running game.
Lawson nevertheless gave the Huskies a receiving outlet Nebraska could not shut down. He finished with 12 catches for 155 yards, accounting for most of Washington’s 235 passing yards. His late touchdown turned that accumulation of catches into the lead, rewarding an offense that had been held to a field goal through three quarters.
Nebraska had useful individual performances of its own. Freshman Jamal Rule rushed for 72 yards on 13 carries, averaging 5.5 yards per attempt. Luke Lindenmeyer caught five passes for a career-high 61 yards, while Nelson converted his only target into Nebraska’s touchdown.
The wider receiving group supplied fewer returns from its opportunities. Kwazi Gilmer drew 11 targets but finished with four catches for 53 yards. Jacory Barney added four receptions for 47 yards, though HuskerOnline identified a fourth-quarter end-zone drop as another missed chance to finish a possession.
Washington left Lincoln having recovered from a 1-3 conference record entering the game. Nebraska left with a third straight defeat and another example of the gap between gaining yards and converting them into points. For most of the night the Blackshirts protected a first-quarter touchdown. In the final minutes, Lawson and McLaughlin made that margin disappear.
