SAN ANTONIO - Remember the Alamo Bowl? They will never forget this one.

A Nebraska football season that has been a wild and crazy ride saved the best for last. The Huskers beat Michigan 32-28 in an Alamo Bowl that looked just like their season.

There were some ups, some downs. Things looked bleak. But the Huskers never, ever gave up.

In fact, it was a masterpiece, a portrait of what this team was and what Coach Bill Callahan's program is after two seasons.

Tough. Resilient. Full of character.

This should go down as one of the great bowl wins in Nebraska's long and proud football history. Yes, there have been championships and heroics and wins that meant more on paper. But considering the opponent, and its own circumstances, there cannot have been a more valiant Big Red bowl victory.

Michigan finished with a 7-5 record, losing five games for the first time since 1984, when it went 6-6 and lost the Holiday Bowl to national champion Brigham Young. But Michigan is still Michigan.

Underachieving or no, the Wolverines began the season ranked in the top five. And, personnel-wise, they are ahead of Nebraska's reclamation project.

Throw in NU's patchwork line, and undermanned secondary, and the linebackers in street clothes and other assorted bodies with slings on arms, and you had an NU team that was down to the nub.

This wasn't the dream matchup we begged for eight years ago, at the end of a controversial 1997 season. But in so many ways it turned out to be a classic. To be sure, a Husker classic.

No, Michigan didn't want to be here. The UM first-half effort said as much. The Huskers overcame two turnovers to gut out a 14-14 tie. But then the Wolverines got interested enough to pound out a 28-17 lead late in the third quarter.

Folks began leaving the building. It looked as if this task was too much for the Huskers.

Not quite. This is one group that doesn't know when to quit.

To win, the Huskers handed the ball to their heart and soul, Cory Ross. The senior running back had success early in the ballgame. But in the third quarter, Callahan went away from the running game. During the TV broadcast, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit chastised him for it. And, meanwhile, quarterback Zac Taylor was paying for it by getting pounded harder than he had all season.

So, finally, Callahan went back to Ross. And he took the ball left and sprinted 31 yards for a touchdown. A two-point conversion pulled NU within three points, 28-25.

Then came controversy.

On Michigan's next possession, with 5:56 left in the game, Nebraska's Blake Tiedtke appeared to knock the ball out of quarterback Chad Henne's hand. Nebraska's Ola Dagunduro scooped it up and ran to the Michigan 16.

TV replays hinted that the referees on the field should have called it an incomplete pass, not a fumble. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr called his last timeout, hoping that the fumble would be overturned.

But the call wasn't changed. And a few plays later, Taylor passed to Terrence Nunn for the winning score with 4:29 left.

Now the Blackshirts had to hold one more time. Nebraska's defenders had already played a terrific game. Michigan drove deep into NU territory, but the drive ended when cornerback Zack Bowman knocked away a pass.

Game over?

Well, not exactly. Michigan got the ball back, and its last play was a doozy. First, Michigan's quarterback threw a short pass. The receiver tossed the ball to a teammate. Who tossed the ball to another. And another. There are seven laterals in all, maybe more.

And, somehow, the last Michigan player got loose and ran toward the end zone as Nebraska players, thinking the game was over, streamed onto the field.

Bowman knocked him out of bounds at about the NU 13. Whew!

It was the perfect wild and crazy capper to this season, which began with folks wondering about Callahan and his struggling team. Forget about talent. Did they have heart?

Would they fight?

The last two games came with resounding answers. First, the 30-3 victory at Colorado was not a fluke; it may have been just the beginning.

And now Michigan. Who could forget it?

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