SAN ANTONIO - Adam Ickes and Blake Tiedtke were running out of time Wednesday night, fifth-year seniors and former walk-ons down to some of their final downs.

Both stepped forward in those closing minutes and made two of the bigger plays of their football careers.

Ickes, an outside linebacker, and Tiedtke, a free safety, forced turnovers that helped Nebraska gain its 32-28 win over Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. They came against a Wolverine offense that had protected the football fairly well up to that point.

"That's what they do," linebacker Corey McKeon said. "They're fundamentally sound guys. They come out and they wrap up and they pull balls out. They've been doing it all year."

Ickes drilled Michigan receiver Jason Avant and caused a fumble recovered by McKeon with 7:52 left. That didn't result in points but sapped some of the control the Wolverines had been holding.

Tiedtke then blitzed and grabbed Michigan quarterback Chad Henne's arm before he could throw with 5:56 left. Ola Dagunduro recovered the fumble, setting up the Huskers' go-ahead score.

"As long as you do what you're supposed to do and go 100 percent all the time, things happen," Tiedtke said. "Any time you can force a turnover there's a huge momentum swing. They just came at the right time for us and it worked out."

Nebraska had trailed 28-17 after Henne's 7-yard touchdown run with 11:40 left. Henne had made some big plays on the Huskers, both running and passing, while turning it over just once.

The situation got more dire when Henne had the Wolverine offense back on the field and holding a 28-25 lead midway through the fourth.

"We needed to do something," Ickes said.

Tiedtke's hit on Henne came on a blitz that defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said the Huskers adjusted at halftime. It was the last of four sacks by NU, pushing its season total to 50 - the second most in school history.

"That was huge," defensive end Adam Carriker said. "We were bringing the house on those particular plays and we just happened to make the big play at the right time."

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