Nebraska fans wrestle with a close loss as Indiana runs its win streak to 22

Nebraska had No. 7 Indiana on the ropes Saturday and could not land the final punch. The Hoosiers left Lincoln with their winning streak intact, and Cornhuskers fans spent the night working through the result online.

Cornhuskers Wire rounded up the fan reaction. The posts ranged from attempts to find a silver lining to frustration over the fourth quarter, and some fans argued the Huskers deserve a place in the Top 25 even after the loss. "Everything seemed to be pointing Nebraska's way," Danny Jaillet wrote for the outlet, before adding that the Huskers "just could not seal the deal."

The numbers back up the sense that Nebraska let one slip. Quarterback Anthony Colandrea threw for 263 yards and kept drives going with his legs. Jacory Barney caught nine passes for 108 yards. Tight end Luke Lindenmeyer added seven catches for 45 yards, tying his career high for receptions. Freshman Jamal Rule chipped in 53 total yards on 15 carries to support the run game.

The Nebraska defense played well for most of the afternoon, holding Indiana to 328 total yards. The problem was the big play: the Hoosiers got 155 of those yards on just three snaps. Against a team as efficient as Indiana, that was enough.

For Indiana, it was another week of finding a way. According to Cornhuskers Wire, the Hoosiers have now won 22 straight games, the fifth-longest winning streak by a Big Ten team in the past 80 years. Curt Cignetti is 33-2 as Indiana's head coach.

The loss drops Nebraska to 9-12-3 all-time against Indiana, and the schedule doesn't get any easier. The Huskers go on the road to face Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 17, with kickoff time still to be announced. A trip to Eugene is a hard way to bounce back from a close loss, but it's also a chance for a team that has been knocking on the door of the national rankings to earn the kind of win that would settle the debate fans were already having online.

Indiana's streak faces its biggest test of the season so far when Ohio State comes to Bloomington the same day. The market has the Buckeyes favored despite playing on the road. Ohio State is -186 on Novig, one of the venues pricing the game, and Indiana is getting 4.5 points on the spread. The best sportsbook price on Ohio State is -178 at FanDuel.

It says something about Indiana that a team riding a 22-game winning streak is still the underdog at home. Saturday showed how the Hoosiers keep winning: they give up little and strike quickly when they get the chance. Whether that holds up against Ohio State will go a long way toward deciding the Big Ten race.