LINCOLN, Neb. -- The clicking noise coming from Josh Cummings' knee every time he took a step Saturday let him know something was wrong.
But what sickened Cummings even more than the tell-tale sign of an injury to his right knee was the sound he heard during two of his five field-goal attempts -- the solid thud of the ball being swatted down by an opposing player.
Two blocked kicks, including one as time ran out, helped doom what could have been a heart-stoppping comeback by Pitt.
Nebraska won a game it probably shouldn't have, 7-6, by enduring a bizarre set of events in the final seven seconds of the fourth quarter.
An aborted kick attempt turned into a failed mini-Hail Mary pass attempt by Cummings. Then, given a second chance from 46 yards out, Cummings booted a low drive off the arm of Adam Ickes, a 6-foot-2 linebacker.
"You can probably go your whole life and not see that happen again," said Cummings, who had never before during his college career missed three field goals in a game.
Pitt (0-3) still is searching for a victory to christen the career of first-year coach Dave Wannstedt. Things are especially frustrating for the offense, which has gone eight quarters without scoring a touchdown -- even though the Panthers have outgained their opponents in both games during that stretch.
"This game was different from the other ones, from the standpoint that we had opportunities to win," Wannstedt said. "I think we're growing. We're not walking yet; we're crawling. And we have a long ways to go before we're running."
Nebraska (3-0) had not won a game in which it had scored just seven points since 1988. The Cornhuskers hope poll voters will overlook the ugly details of yesterday's game -- they had almost as many yards in penalties (91) as they did passing (93) -- and instead focus on the outcome.
"We're on a high right now," Huskers cornerback Cortney Grixby said. "A win is a win."
Said Nebraska coach Bill Callahan, "You couldn't have been in more adverse conditions than we were today."
Neither team moved the ball with any effectiveness. Pitt piled up 304 total yards, but reached the red zone on just 3-of-13 possessions.
The Huskers scored the game's only touchdown midway through the second quarter. Quarterback Zac Taylor capped a 39-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring plunge.
In the third quarter, Pitt countered with field goals of 38 and 27 yards by Cummings. However, that was the only bright spot for the senior kicker.
Cummings practiced just one day last week after a knee injury -- he has torn meniscus and a strained medial collateral ligament -- flared up.
Cummings said he hurt the knee "a couple of years ago" but it was not diagnosed until mid-August, when he had a MRI exam a few days before the start of preseason camp.
"It's been one of those nagging injuries that eventually I'll need surgery for," he said. "But we found out too close to camp to do anything about it right then.
"I've been kicking in pain for four years; I figured I can kick in pain for another four months. But it caught up with me today."
In the first quarter, Cummings had a 42-yard attempt blocked by Zach Potter, a 6-7 defensive end. Early in the fourth, he was wide right on a 49-yard attempt that would have given the Panthers the lead.
Cummings said the injury bothered him at the beginning of the game, but refused to use the pain as an excuse.
"If I didn't think that I could make the kicks, then I would have pulled myself out," Cummings said.
Perhaps, Nebraska kicker Jordan Congdon should have yanked himself from the lineup. Congdon, a true freshman, blew a pair of gimmie kicks.
Congdon was wide left from 26 yards out in the second quarter. With 98 seconds to play, he muffed a 38-yarder that could have iced the game.
With no timeouts left, Pitt moved from its 22-yard line to the Huskers' 29. There, quarterback Tyler Palko spiked the ball with seven seconds to play.
Before lining up for Cummings' 47-yard attempt, the Panthers decided to go with a quicker count. Holder Adam Graessle was unprepared for the snap, and the ball ricocheted off Graessle's helmet into Cummings' hands.
He heaved the ball downfield, over the pileup of players, and it crashed to the turf near the goal line.
"I didn't really know what to do with it," Cummings said. "So, I threw it away. I thought the game was over."
Not quite. As Nebraska's players poured onto the field in jubilation, the referees shooed them back toward the sideline.
One second remained. It was third down, and Cummings had another chance.
When the referees re-spotted the ball, it was a yard closer than before. The result, though, was no better. Ickes batted down the ball, and this time the Huskers could celebrate for real.
