Colorado coach Dan Hawkins may not have admitted it, but Friday was a better day to be a Husker than a Buffalo, as Nebraska  finished the regular season with a 9-3 record and a Big 12 North Division title.

The Buffaloes’  37-14 loss to their rival was the final chapter in their 2-10 season.

In Colorado’s 117-year history, the Buffaloes have had only three 10-loss seasons. The other two came in 1980 and 1984.

Quarterback Bernard Jackson said the Buffs are happy to be done with a disappointing season.

“The losing part (being over) is a relief,” Jackson said. “Now that it’s over, we’ll just focus on next season and the offseason.”

Although the Buffaloes lost by 23 points, they kept it within one score until the fourth quarter.

On the first play of the final quarter, the Huskers, lined up in field- goal formation, pinned Colorado at its 1-yard line after a pooch kick by Jordan Congdon.

Husker defensive end Adam Carriker and linebacker Corey McKeon met running back Mell Holliday in the end zone for a safety on the next play to give the Huskers a nine-point lead and lots of momentum.

On the next drive, Nebraska pulled out more trickery. Facing fourth down in Colorado territory, quarterback Zac Taylor headed toward the sideline after what appeared to be an attempt to draw Colorado offside.

But while Taylor strolled toward the sideline, the ball was snapped to safety Tierre Green, who ran 7 yards for a first down. The Huskers scored a few plays later to end any realistic chance of a Buffalo comeback.

Junior inside linebacker Jordon Dizon, who had a game-high 17 tackles, said Nebraska’s trickery caught the Buffaloes off-guard, but wasn’t what caused them to lose the game.

“You never expect that many trick plays,” Dizon said. “You hardly expect one. When they do a whole bunch of them, when they do it successfully, it kills the morale. But we got up from them.”

Nebraska also scored its second touchdown on a trick play. Backup quarterback Joe Ganz was lined up as kicker in a swinging-gate formation on a field-goal try. Ganz took the snap and found defensive end Barry Turner in the end zone for a 29-yard strike that gave the Huskers a 14-7 lead.

Should Colorado have called a timeout after seeing the Huskers in such an unorthodox formation?

Hawkins said the Buffs were prepared for it and just couldn’t stop Ganz’s pass.

“We’ve seen them line up and do some things like that before,” Hawkins said. “Ultimately, we had a guy back there. We just didn’t cover the thing, so you have to give them credit.”

The Buffaloes had some success moving the ball in the first half, and scored on Holliday 45-yard touchdown run early in the second half.

Besides Holliday’s long scamper that tied the game, Colorado’s only other sizeable gain came in the first half when running back Hugh Charles had a 44-yard run.

Hawkins said the Buffaloes’ lack of big plays is what lost them the game.

“They (the Huskers) did a nice job today making plays  you have to make,” Hawkins said. “When you come into somebody else’s house, you have to maximize your opportunities. In the first half, we missed some opportunities to either stop them or score ourselves. We dropped the ball in the end zone. We dropped an interception. I don’t think we found the big play much. We probably missed more big plays than we made."