Nebraska’s season was not one fans will want to remember in the long term. But perhaps they should because when the Cornhuskers finished with wins in four of their final six games after an 0-6 start, it signaled the beginning of a turnaround in Lincoln.

Four years from now the Big Red faithful might regard the second half of the 2018 season as the period where the Class of 2023 started to scratch the surface of its major potential.

With that in mind, here are my 5 favorite moments of the Nebraska football season.

5. Hanging in against Ohio State

It’s odd to start this list with a defeat, but in a way the loss to Ohio State on Nov. 3 might have been Nebraska’s most convincing performance. The Cornhuskers led for a pretty good chunk of the game and gained 450 yards, only 18 fewer than the previous week against Division I-AA foe Bethune-Cookman.

4. Slugfest against Michigan State

Nebraska put on perhaps its grittiest display in the 9-6 victory over the Spartans as snow fell on Lincoln in November. The Cornhuskers could not get anything going at all on offense for three quarters. Fortunately for them, the Spartans were pretty inept on offense all season and that was true in this game as well. It was an especially rewarding game for Cornhuskers kicker Barret Pickering, who had his best game of an up-and-down season. He accounted for all nine points including the winning field goal, a season-long 47-yarder with 5:13 left as the snowfall increased.

3. Breaking out against Minnesota

It’s no secret that Nebraska started 0-6, its worst first half of a season in a couple of generations. When Minnesota came to town on Oct. 20, the Golden Gophers were 3-3. But Nebraska put it all together and came up with its best overall performance of the season in a game against an eventual bowl team. The Cornhuskers were off to the races on offense, racking up a season-high 659 yards. With its first Big Ten victory — or indeed first win of any kind — in 2018, Nebraska finally showed signs of getting off the mat.

2. Devine Ozigbo’s star turn

It has been said before but it bears repeating: This was not supposed to be Devine Ozigbo’s year. In fall camp the senior running back was in a three-way race for playing time that he was not favored to win. But once Greg Bell transferred out, Ozigbo became the main man in the backfield with Maurice Washington settling into a supporting role. Once he was established as the No. 1, Ozigbo really took off. In Game 4 against Purdue the senior gained a career-high 170 yards on just 17 carries. He also had three other games in which he rushed for at least 150 yards, something he had never done in his first three season in Lincoln.

1. Adrian Martinez’s development

Ozigbo was a great story because he was a senior who finally got a chance to shine in his final season. Adrian Martinez was a completely different case — a true freshman quarterback who gave Big Red fans a chance to glimpse what should be an exciting future. Martinez was considered a major recruiting coup for new coach Scott Frost and quickly proved why, passing for 2,617 yards and rushing for 629 this season. All this came despite an injury which forced Martinez to sit out a game and hobbled him in a few others. Much like the team as a whole, the second half of the season saw Martinez develop rapidly as he became a dual-threat weapon which opponents will have difficulty containing for at least the next two years.