Nebraska: Will Spielman return finally spark special teams?

It was only one play, and in the grand scheme of things Nebraska would have won easily without it.

It was only one play, against an obviously overmatched FCS opponent, Bethune-Cookman, on a day when Nebraska rolled to an expected victory.

It was only one play, but J.D. Spielman’s punt return for a touchdown on Saturday for the Cornhuskers released an entire season’s worth of pent-up frustration for Big Red, especially on special teams.

The return, early in the first quarter of a 45-9 victory, was a beauty. The play officially went 77 yards but probably covered well over 100 yards by the time Spielman reached the end zone.

He took off to the right, got some terrific blocking and cut back to the left to cover the rest of the distance:

“We blocked everybody on that play,” Cornhuskers coach Scott Frost said. “Our special teams did get better, I think they have been improving. Confused special teams plays probably cost us a couple games this year and it was good to see us finally get one on special teams. You score on defense or special teams, you’re going to win most games. We haven’t had one yet, so it was good to see us break the ice.”

So, for one play everything worked perfectly for Nebraska’s special teams. The unit has generally been pretty poor all season and one does not have to dig too far into the statistics for proof: That 77-yard return accounts for 77 percent of the Cornhuskers’ 100 punt return yards for the entire season.

Spielman didn’t even start the season as Nebraska’s primary punt returner. That job belonged to Tyjon Lindsey, who left the team partway through the season and chose to transfer to Oregon State.

Now the question arises: Can one big play spark the entire special teams unit? Especially with Ohio State looming next?

Answer: It needs to.

It’s bad enough that the Cornhuskers commit an average of nine penalties a game (to their credit, they have cut down on those in the past two games). That puts an offense which is still learning and a thin defense at even more of a disadvantage.

But when your team is being outgained badly in kick returns (464 yards to 380 for the season) and punt returns (187-100) and is not consistent in the kicking game, that makes winning even harder.

But on that one play, it all came together and Nebraska showed both good discipline and good hustle in its blocking. Spielman’s vision and athleticism did the rest.

It could be a formula for good things to come on special teams, if the Cornhuskers can forget all of their bad special teams plays and, for the rest of the season, remember everything they did right on an outstanding touchdown return.

Jim Tomlin

Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a writer and editor for saturdaytradition.com and saturdaydownsouth.com.