Casey Thompson explains importance of successful first drive of second half

Nebraska found themselves in the all-too familiar position of battling an opponent they should beat in a close game. North Dakota had the Huskers and their fans nervous by keeping the game tied through halftime. And if you ask Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson, they were lucky to be in that position given the sheer difference in time of possession for both teams.

Neither team was very explosive in the first half, with the game knotted at 7-7 at halftime. With ND dominating possession, it was just an ugly half of football for the Cornhuskers. However, Thompson and the rest of the offense didn’t panic. They stayed the course, stuck to the plan and executed much better in the second half.

Here was Thompson after the game, explaining the frustration losing the possession battle so lopsidedly in the first half:

“Yeah, I was gonna say, we only had 23 plays on four possessions in the first half. Two of the four possessions we should have scored. We had one touchdown, one missed field goal. So I mean, 23 plays is like a first quarter, you know. But that was a half for us. I think our time of possession was like nine minutes or something at that time. And North Dakota had the ball almost 20 minutes or 20+ minutes. So they literally doubled our time of possession almost the whole game and almost had more plays than us.”

But Casey Thompson didn’t hang his head at halftime. Instead, he remained calm and confident in the gameplan that the Husker offense performed to near-perfection in the second half.

“So honestly, for us to even be tied — we were just trying to stay positive at halftime. And, you know, like I said, a better opponent — if they have if they have the ball, more plays, and they have more time possession, they probably would have been up on us. So we just tried to stay positive at halftime and then we knew we were getting the ball coming out in the second half and we marched right down the field. I think it was like a two-minute drive, something like that. So that’s a big drive for us.”

Big win for Nebraska football. Maybe not against the greatest opponent, but always important to secure that first win of the year.