Crime does pay in Nebraska.

Especially if you have pickpockets in Rylon Dillard-Allen, Manny Karnley and Alex McLaughlin stealing everything in sight from the locals, plus a guy appropriately named Lawson, as in Chris, you can get away with just about anything.

On Halloween night, the University of Washington football team used three interceptions, including one returned 48 yards for a touchdown by McLaughlin for the deciding points, and Lawson's late-game offensive heroics, to rally the UW to a 17-10 victory over the Cornhuskers before a stunned full-house crowd in Lincoln.

Trailing 7-3 with the game inside the final two minutes, Lawson first came up with a miracle, a falling 24-yard grab on the sideline on fourth down on a pass delivered by late-game insertion Demond Williams Jr. at quarterback to keep a last-ditch drive alive.

Two plays later, Lawson took a 25-yard swing pass from Williams up the sideline and dove into the end zone to put the UW ahead for the first time and for good at 10-7 with 1:30 p.m.

The Huskies (5-3 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) weren't done in shocking Nebraska either with this sudden turn of events.

On the first scrimmage snap immediately following Lawson's score, McLaughlin stole an Anthony Colndrea pass near midfield and raced untouched to the end zone for his third defensive score since coming to the UW.

For the longest time, it looked liked the Huskies' highlight moments on their second consecutive trip to the Midwest were going to be interceptions by Dillard-Allen and Karnley on each of the game's first two defensive series.

Offensively, the Huskies had nothing to show for the first time. Early in the fourth quarter, they held up just 1 yard rushing. They finished with 267 yards of total offense. Williams led them in rushing with 4 carrries for 28 yards. He completed 7 of 13 passes for 99 yards and the Lawson score.

Entering the fourth quarter, Williams replaced Elijah Brown and returned to the quarterback controls after missing a game and a half with a rib fracture. While he provided runs of 17 and 19, but he couldn't move the team within socring range until he lobbed the do-or-die ball to Lawson.

Tightly covered, Lawson pulled in the ball while he was tumbling backward and he got a foot down, which a replay showed. He finished with 12 catches for 155 yards, with number career highs.

Otherwise, the Huskies didn't have much to show for the first half and was saved from a scoreless first 30 minutes only by Tyler Robles' season-best 50-yard field goal.

While the Huskers came out and moved the ball without much trouble to begin the game, things twice took a positive turn for the Huskies, with the first interception coming on the 10th play of the opening drive.

Dillard-Allen stole an overthrown Colandrea pass at his 8, raised his left arm almost immediately as he ran upfield and returned the ball 20 yards. It was RDA's team-leading third interception and second in two games.

On the next series, Colandrea got careless on the second play, throwing one off his back foot that Karnley intercepted at his 30.

On the home team's third possession of the game, Nebraska finally kept the ball out of the Huskies' hands and drove a season-best 95 yards in 10 plays to score the only touchdown of the opening half.

Colandrea dropped one over the shoulder of McLaughlin in the end zone to tight end Carter Nelson for a 29-yard touchdown catch and just his second reception of the season. With 1:40 left in the first quarter, Nebraska was up 7-0.

On their last possession of the half, the Huskies moved from their 12-yard-line for Robles' field goal that sailed through the uprights 41 seconds before the break and it was 7-3 when everyone headed for the locker rooms.

That was it for the next 58 and a half minutes until the UW finally let it all hang for a very satisfying victory.