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Lincoln, Neb.

As the last ball hung in the air, so did the hopes of a team with a sagging heart and a broken foot. With no time left on the clock, it came out of the hand of a freshman backup quarterback who hadn't suited up for four years, and when it landed in the arms of receiver Mitch Mathews, standing at the goal line and crowded by four defenders, all heaven broke loose.

A win broke loose.

BYU beat Nebraska, 33-28, on that last ridiculous play, on a 42-yard bomb, on the Cornhuskers' home field in front of 90,000 stunned fans, and, for just a second, nobody was sure how to react. Cougar defensive lineman Bronson Kaufusi stood there and asked himself: "Did that just happen?"

Somehow, it did.

BYU found a way to beat a team in the most improbable way, adding to a long history of miraculous endings, winning a game in a manner Jim McMahon and Steve Young and Ty Detmer would be proud of. It won a game it couldn't win. Nebraska hadn't lost a home opener for 29 seasons, and with a minute remaining, it didn't look like it would taste defeat now. But the streak was stopped on Saturday here, at Memorial Stadium, on a pass Tanner Mangum called "wobbly." It wasn't his best throw, he said, but it might end up being his most remarkable.

"Coach [Robert] Anae told me to buy some time, throw it up there, and let [a receiver] make a play," Mangum said.

That's precisely what happened.

"We practiced that play one time," Mathews said. "It's a jump ball. You just want to go get that thing. You do what you've got to do — catch the ball to win the game."

He added: "I don't even know what that play is called."

It has a name now: "The Wobbly Winner."

Maybe the only significant thing that occurred prior to that final play was an injury on another touchdown, scored in the second quarter, when starting quarterback Taysom Hill exploded for a 21-yard run. He wasn't the only thing that exploded, though. His foot blew, too, cracking as he planted to make a cut, tying the score at 14 and ending his season. Technically, he played for a bit yet, after visiting the locker room, and returning until he could play no more.

"Taysom's lost for the season," Bronco Mendenhall said afterward, jubilant for his team's victory, but hurting for Hill. "There's no player or person that I've coached that I care about more than Taysom. So, it's bittersweet."

The bitter came early, the sweet at the end, when Mangum replaced Hill and took the Cougars home on that last desperate drive. Amazing that a mere three months ago, the 22-year-old freshman was in Chile, preaching his church's good word on a full-time mission, learning, he said, to face down adversity and stay positive. He said he sneaked out once every couple of months to remind himself how to throw the football. "Nothing competitive," he said. "It wasn't my focus."

Now, it is.

Now, BYU's season depends on his ability to get caught up quick. And he jumped out to an outrageous start Saturday, with his team sick to its stomach over the news about Hill, looking for some piece of hope for something better moving forward.

"As a backup, you have to be prepared," Mangum said, sounding a bit robotic. Then, he let some humanness out. "It was so fun being out there playing again, to play in front of 90,000 fans. … To be in that moment is surreal, more than anything."

Not anymore. Now, it's real-real.

After this game at Nebraska, the unbelievable could be real.

"You kind of see the quarterback running around and it's kind of nerve-racking," said Cornhusker safety Nate Gerry of that last pass. "You don't know what to do. You just hope for the best and try to make a play, and that dude made a nice play."

When Mangum's quacker fell safely into the arms of Mathews, who barely made it into the end zone — the thing had to be reviewed by officials — the stadium went silent. A few thousand BYU fans erupted in celebration. The BYU sideline went berserk. As his teammates sang the Cougar fight song in front of those fans, Mathews stood on the spot where he caught the ball and exulted. Everyone in blue exulted. Receiver Terenn Houk hugged the side judge. In the middle of all that was Hill, standing in a boot, hurting and grinning.

Asked what he felt in that moment, having lost the quarterback he loves for the third time in four seasons, having witnessed the astounding arrival of his next one in incredible victory, Mendenhall shook his head.

"There's no more raw emotion," he said, describing the postgame party this way: "It was one of the greatest celebrations I've ever been a part of."

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.