LINCOLN — You could have forgotten about the Gator Bowl and nine wins, and the likelihood months later that voters and magazines would deem Nebraska preseason Top 25 material for 2009.

You might have wondered about less tangible elements such as momentum or belief or confidence.

All were on the line as Alex Henery approached a 57-yard field goal attempt with Nebraska trailing Colorado 31-30 last November. Under the circumstances, only a tiny percentage of Division I-A kickers would have been likely to make it.

Husker receiver Menelik Holt whistles and thinks about it.

“I'd say only 1 percent — and we have that 1 percent on our team,'' Holt said. “I don't think guys can do that. There's no doubt there are probably guys who have the leg for it, but man, that's a lot of pressure, that's a big game, and sometimes you forget little Alex until you really need him. But I'm glad he's on our side.''

Henery put all of his 175 pounds behind it and stabbed Colorado in the heart with 1:43 left. The Huskers added a defensive touchdown for a 40-31 victory and a final regular-season record of 8-4 instead of 7-5.

“It would have been a tough loss,'' NU tight end Mike McNeill said. “As far as where we would have went bowl game-wise or if we would have won, I don't really know. I just know that it helped us tremendously.

“That one play got us a win, which got us another win in a bigger bowl game. I think that all kind of adds up. That definitely all carries over to the winter and the spring and the summer.''

Instead of scratching Nebraska off its list, the Gator Bowl called and paired NU with Clemson. The Huskers stayed on the high created by rallying against the Buffaloes, put together a solid December of practice and notched a January bowl win for the first time since 1999.

The nine-win mark that was a standard for decades was reached for only the second time in five seasons.

But what if ... ?

“I don't think that crossed any of our minds,'' NU receiver Chris Brooks said.

Actually, Brooks and other fifth-year seniors have twice seen what one kick can do for a season and the year that follows.

In 2005, Nebraska was 5-4, stuck in a three-game skid and trailing Kansas State 25-24 late. Jordan Congdon then made a 40-yard field goal in the cold with 1:05 left.

The Huskers followed with an impressive 30-3 win at Colorado, practiced well for the Alamo Bowl and nicked Michigan 32-28 for their only win over a Top 20 team since 2001. They rode that momentum into a Big 12 North championship season in 2006.

“It was the same thing,'' Brooks said. “Any time you can get a boost like that, it just carries over. You start to snowball, and everything starts to come together for you, and that's what it did that year.''

Holt said Nebraska might have been “sitting on a high horse'' before the Colorado game last season. Whether or not Henery had made his school-record kick, Holt believes that the Huskers would have learned a lesson on how hard they needed to work and applied it in December.

Brooks said the staff wouldn't have let up, no matter if the record was 8-4 or 7-5. Or if the bowl was the Gator or Sun.

“You always want to come back strong when there's adversity,'' Brooks said. “If he doesn't make that kick, I think it drains us a little, but the coaches won't let us settle for less. We were going to go be strong, and we were going to continue to push.''

Brooks said the momentum has yet to run out. The field goal resonates as the Huskers plow through preseason camp and toward the coming season.

And he would agree that the moral of the story is that kickers are pretty important.

“Definitely important,'' Brooks said. “Every day we come out and we always tease the kickers, like, ‘You guys kick and then you go inside.' But Alex and Adi (Kunalic), those guys kick from 50, 60, 65 yards. So we believed.''

Contact the writer:

444-1042, rich.kaipust@owh.com

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