Dallas ? Nebraska fans surely were wondering after Monday’s 17-14 Cotton Bowl loss to Auburn why coach Bill Callahan called a fake punt inside his own 30-yard line early in the game and why he didn’t call for a potential tying field goal when the Cornhuskers were on the Tigers’ 30 late.

Callahan didn’t second-guess either move.

The botched fake set up a 14-yard touchdown drive that gave Auburn a 14-7 lead, and the decision to go for it on fourth-and-11 with about two minutes left resulted in a Zac Taylor incompletion.

Given the way his offense played on its first possession – marching 80 yards for a touchdown – a blown fake punt in the opening quarter wouldn’t have seemed insurmountable. But the Huskers generated just one more touchdown and 150 yards on the next 11 series, including 63 yards in the second half.

“It was still early enough in the ball game where if it didn’t work, we were still in a good position, we felt, to come back,” Callahan said. “Things got discombobulated. We fumbled the exchange, lost critical yardage, and that hurt us. We got behind the eight-ball on the short field.”

Dane Todd took the snap and then, as he was running to his left, was supposed to pitch to Andrew Shanle, who was coming around on a reverse. But Todd, a fullback, couldn’t keep hold of the ball, and Tristan Davis recovered for Auburn.

Todd said Auburn’s penetration up the middle caused problems.

“It just muddied up the pitch,” Todd said. “You get disrupted on something like that, and it can really throw a play for a loop.”

The Huskers have used trick plays regularly this season planned all along to spring the fake punt.