+6
The seventh-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers outscored the Wildcats 31-10 in the second half to leave no doubt in the road victory.
That escalated rapidly, and Nebraska's offense is all flash and style en route to a thorough beatdown: On the Huskers' third play from scrimmage in the second half, Taylor Martinez ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run, a stunner that left the entire Wildcat D basically flat-footed.
Another sack on Coffman stopped Kansas State's answering drive, and a new Husker got a highlight moment: Senior RB Roy Helu broke away in a 68-yard run on the first play following the Wildcats' punt.
K-State did get off a 48-yard field goal, though, so that's nice for them! And stop me if this is starting to sound familiar: Two plays later Taylor Martinez threw a 79-yard touchdown pass to Kyler Reed. At the end of the fourth quarter, Nebraska leads, 38-6.
After pinning the Huskers at their own 5 and not letting them past their own 20, the Wildcats managed to march the ball to the Nebraska 29 for a 46-yard field goal, cutting the Huskers' lead to 4.
It took Nebraska only eight plays to eat 87 yards and score a responding touchdown on a 35-yard Taylor Martinez run. ("Run" is a bit of a misnomer; it was more of a duck-and-weave, but 35 yards is 35 yards.) Following a Wildcat three-and-out, Martinez ripped off a monster 54-yard scramble to set up a 59-yard Husker field goal.
At the half, Nebraska leads K-State, 17-3.
Kansas State's first Daniel Thomas-heavy drive stalled out at the Nebraska 25 on a failed 4th-and-2 conversion.
The Huskers' answering "Lean On Me" antics proved more fruitful, combining three Taylor Martinez rushes, one 24-yard pass to Mike McNeill, and one more 14-yard Martinez scramble to garner Nebraska a 7-0 lead.
The Wildcats turned to QB Carson Coffman for their second drive, which ended rather unceremoniously on a sack at the Nebraska 43.
At the end of the first quarter, the Huskers lead the Wildcats, 7-0.
SB Nation's Bring On The 'Cats examines the importance of K-State's Thursday night clash with Nebraska:
Call me sensationalist. Call me hyperbolistic. (Did I just invent that word? It has a red squiggly under it.) Call me whatever you want, but in my view, the road that is the season for our 2010 Wildcats diverges right here, in a three-pronged fork.
[...]
First, let me be clear: I think that the Cats lose this game. The first two "paths" (6-6 and 8-4) are based upon that assumption. In all honesty, my 6-6 (2-6) assumption could well be 5-7 (1-7), since I'm basing it off the possibility (which is much greater than zero) that Nebraska "runs us out of the gym" so-to-speak. Let's say that Taylor Martinez runs for 150 yards and 2 TDs, and passes for 200+ yards and another 2 or 3 TDs, while Nebraska's Blackshirts pile 8 and 9 men in the box, holding Daniel Thomas to, say, 80 yards on 25 carries. This scenario absolutely demands that Carson Coffman throw for more than his typical 10-20 for 160 with a TD and an interception. Should he have this sort of average game, while DT is bottled up, and our defense is unable to contain Martinez and company, things will get ugly.
SB Nation's Corn Nation examines the odd menace of Kansas State:
Last season, things didn't look so good for the Wildcats initially. A 17-15 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette, followed by a 66-14 loss to Texas Tech had to raise questions just how long Bill Snyder's second rebuilding process was going to take. But KSU rebounded strongly the next week, defeating Texas A&M 62-14. And after a win against Colorado, the Wildcats suddenly found themselves in position to win the Big XII North. But a loss at home to Missouri put the Wildcats into a strange situation: beat Nebraska, and the Wildcats win the north and play for the Big XII title. Lose, and the season is over, as the Wildcats didn't have enough victories to be bowl eligible. Needless to say, Bo Pelini's squad took care of business and ended the Wildcats' surprising season.
Can Snyder work his magic again this season? Never count him out, though looking at the state of the Wildcats in the summer, it looks like this squad has some work to do. Only thirteen starters return from last year's squad, with key questions on both sides of the ball. Doesn't mean the Wildcats will regress (especially with a proven coach like Snyder in charge), but the question marks are obvious.
(Sports Network) The seventh-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers begin their final go- around in the Big 12 this Thursday night, as they take on the Kansas State Wildcats at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan.
With a move to the Big Ten already set for next season, this is Nebraska's last opportunity to claim a Big 12 title. The Huskers are a serious contender for the league crown, as they are 4-0 and have maintained a Top 10 ranking throughout their non-conference slate. Nebraska though, is coming off a less than impressive performance, closing out its non-conference schedule with a 17-3 victory over South Dakota State, a FCS program, on September 25th.
"I always believe when you walk out there you're going to get better or you're going to get worse. We got worse today," said head coach Bo Pelini after his team's lackluster performance against South Dakota State.
Despite the score being closer than anticipated, the Huskers are still 4-0 for the first time since 2005, and they will have plenty of opportunities to showcase their talent now that a tough Big 12 schedule is set to begin.
As for the Wildcats, they too bring a perfect 4-0 ledger into the contest, with three of those victories coming by nine points or fewer. The team was last in action on September 25th, when it rallied for a 17-13 victory over UCF in Manhattan.
"I sure am proud of the fact that we came back to win the ball game," stated head coach Bill Snyder.
KSU is now a perfect 3-0 at home, and the team is hoping to build off a 27-20 victory over Iowa State in its Big 12 opener back on September 18th.
With respect to the all-time series, Nebraska holds a commanding 77-15-2 advantage over KSU and the Huskers have won the past five meetings, including a 17-3 triumph last season.
Freshman QB Taylor Martinez has lived up to the hype thus far, but some concerns remain around the rookie sensation after a sub par performance against South Dakota State. Martinez paced the ground attack with 75 yards and threw for 140 more, but he had just one TD against three turnovers.
"He made bad decisions, he didn't execute. He didn't execute the offense the way he has been," said Pelini.
Just a freshman, Martinez will surely make his fair share of mistakes, but he must learn from them quickly with a much tougher schedule ahead. Martinez had dazzled with his legs, rushing for 496 yards and eight TDs, so expect opponents to stack the box and force the young gunslinger to beat them with his arm.
Speaking of running the ball, the Huskers have done that at an extremely high rate this season, averaging an eye-popping 309.2 ypg behind 7.0 yards per carry. Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead are both averaging over 7.0 yards per carry and they have combined for 609 yards and seven scores thus far. As a team, Nebraska has scored 16 of its 19 offensive TDs on the ground as well.
Nebraska's pass defense has been sensational this season, especially when considering the unit has faced a couple of elite QBs. The unit is permitting a mere 126.2 ypg through the air, while picking off 10 passes against just three TDs. Those are remarkable numbers, and the group was stout versus South Dakota State as well, allowing just 95 passing yards while recording two INTs.
"No, at times I was," Pelini said when asked if he was happy with the defense. "We gave them some yards and didn't execute. We held them to three points and we should have."
Pelini's disappointment stemmed from the run defense, which gave up 141 yards on the ground to South Dakota State. The Huskers have allowed a pair of backs to rush for 100 yards against them this season, and they are surrendering 138.8 ypg on the ground this season. LB Lavonte David, though, has done his part and he paces the team with 44 stops, including a 19-tackle performance last game.
For the Wildcats, they will surely test the Nebraska run defense, as they are averaging a healthy 216.0 ypg on the ground thus far. Daniel Thomas leads this attack with 628 yards and six scores, averaging 6.0 yards per carry. The steady back though, had his string of three consecutive 100-yard efforts snapped last game, as he was limited to 76 yards on 22 carries in a narrow win over UCF. If the Wildcats are to spring an upset this week, they will certainly need a bigger performance from Thomas.
Carson Coffman picked up the slack with the ground attack managing only 83 yards versus UCF, as he threw a 58-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter to tie the game before winning it on a seven-yard scamper with 24 seconds left.
"Carson made a couple of throws in there that made a difference in the drive and certainly being able to get us into the plays to put the ball into the end zone," said Snyder on the 13-play, 67-yard game-winning drive against UCF.
Coffman has completed 60.5 percent of his tosses this season, but hasn't been more of a manager of the offense, averaging only 159.8 passing ypg. He will surely be asked to do more with the Huskers likely to focus on stopping Thomas and the ground game.
KSU's defense will be challenged this week, as the unit hasn't proven it can not stop the run, allowing 195.5 ypg on the ground. Opponents are averaging 4.6 yards per carry versus the Wildcats, who were shredded for 252 rushing yards by UCF last game.
"I am pleased with our youngsters, defensively we gave up an awful lot of yardage but we were able to get them stopped when we needed to have them stopped," said Snyder.
The Wildcats have been able to come up with the key stops late in ball games, but with better teams ahead, they will need tighten things up. The pass defense has at least been stingy for KSU, allowing only 153.8 ypg through the air. The Huskers however, lack a passing attack, so it will really be up to the run defense to make the difference. LB Alex Hrebec needs to be a big factor for this unit, as he leads KSU with 39 stops for the year.
The Huskers didn't perform well last game, but they just have too many weapons for the Wildcats to handle. Nebraska's defense is also far better and the unit should fare well in a winning cause.
Taylor Martinez Runs All Over Kansas State, Nebraska Rolls 48-13
Manhattan, KS (Sports Network) - Taylor Martinez rushed for a Nebraska quarterback-record 241 yards, along with four touchdowns, as the seventh- ranked Cornhuskers opened their final season of Big 12 Conference competition with a 48-13 rout of Kansas State.
Martinez, who had 15 carries, also completed 5-of-7 passes for 128 yards and a score. His rushing yards Thursday surpassed the 234 from Jammal Lord on November 2, 2002 against Texas. In five games this season, Martinez has 737 rushing yards.
Roy Helu Jr. rumbled for 110 yards and a TD for the Cornhuskers (5-0, 1-0 Big 12), who are slated to move to the Big Ten, starting with the 2011 season. Nebraska is off to its first 5-0 start since the 2003 campaign.
Carson Coffman connected on 14-of-22 passes for 91 yards with a TD and an interception for the Wildcats (4-1, 1-1), who have lost to Nebraska in the past six meetings.
The Wildcats got the ball first and moved from their own 20 to the Nebraska 25, but on 4th-and-2 Coffman was stopped short of the chains on a rush.
On Nebraska's initial drive, Martinez threw a 24-yard pass to Mike McNeill, and on the next play the redshirt freshman QB scored on a 14-yard run.
Josh Cherry kicked a 46-yard field goal with under nine minutes left in the half for the Wildcats, but Martinez continued his incredible half by scampering into the end zone from 35 yards away after faking a handoff.
After a KSU punt, Alex Henery booted a 39-yard field goal for the Cornhuskers in the final minute for a 17-3 halftime lead.
On the third play of the second half, Martinez, off a quarterback draw, sprinted untouched up the middle 80 yards to the end zone.
On the first play following another Kansas State punt, Helu broke free off the right side for a 68-yard touchdown with nearly 11 1/2 minutes left in the third.
Cherry split the uprights from 48 yards away later in the quarter, but moments later Martinez connected with Kyler Reed on a 79-yard score and a 38-6 difference.
Martinez put the exclamation point on his incredible night by surging 41 yards down the right sideline for a TD less than three minutes into the fourth.
K-State finally hit the end zone with 9:57 remaining on Coffman's fourth down, two-yard pass to Chris Harper.
Henery's 40-yard field goal capped the scoring.
Daniel Thomas had 22 rushes for 63 yards for the Wildcats...Nebraska owns a commanding 78-15-2 all-time record in the series between the schools, including a 35-7-2 edge in Manhattan...The all-time rushing mark in a Nebraska game is 294, set by Calvin Jones, against Kansas on November 9, 1991...K-State wide receiver Brodrick Smith was helped off the field and then carted to the locker room with an apparent left foot leg with 10:10 left in the game...The Cornhuskers host Texas next Saturday, while the Wildcats play at Kansas next Thursday.
Oct 07 11:27p by Jon Woods - 0 comments