Nebraska can win big games under Mike Riley. I think we have now experienced an Oregon St season, in its entirety. Pass heavy offense, porous secondary, .500 record (not quite yet), and big-time upset wins. One thing that was very important in this game was momentum. The crowd and team were into this game early, and it gave Nebraska that edge to push through for four quarters.
I am starting to rewatch the game and through the first quarter, two things standout to me that could explain Nebraska's early success: (1) Cook was overthrowing the ball early (5 of his 10 passes in the 1st quarter were overthrown) and (2) Nebraska OL were getting a good push for nearly every rush play, moving the LOS 2-3 yards (this may have given Langsdorf the confidence to kept dialing up the run).