Nov. 28, 2008

The 85,319 fans in Memorial Stadium thought Nebraska’s chances of beating Colorado were doomed when Joe Ganz was sacked for a 15-yard loss with about 2 minutes left in the game.

But that was before Alex Henery, a skinny sophomore walk-on from Omaha, convinced coach Bo Pelini to take a chance.

“I just wanted him to look me in the face and tell me he felt he had it in him,” Pelini said. “He looked at me and said, ‘I made it in warmups. I’ve been hitting it good.”

Pelini gave him a chance and Henery came through, blasting a school-record 57-yard field goal with 1:34 left to give NU a 33-31 lead and send the crowd into delirium.

After the game, Henery still didn’t seem to realize he’d become part of Husker lore.

“It was a good kick, I guess,” he said.

Was it ever.

— Julie Koch