Arkansas St. at Nebraska

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Memorial Stadium | Lincoln, Nebraska

Kickoff Time 1:00 p.m.

TV: Pay Per View

Announcers: Ron Thulin, Kelly Stouffer, Kent Pavelka

Sirius Radio Channel: 126

Sellout Streak Game: 299

Point Spread: -23 points

Buy Tickets

September 5, 2009

“(W)e were playing a very good team. I think it’s a team that has about the best coach that I’ve been around lately. I think they have some very good players, but I don’t think they’re overly talented.”

“I think the sum of the parts is a lot greater than the individual talent they (Nebraska) have, and that’s a compliment, it’s not to take anything away from them. They play hard, they run hard, they block hard, they tackle hard, and they’re a very physical football team.”

FAU Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger

“I would guess out of the 400 they got, 300 were yards after contact. It means that it’s tough to tackle a tough hard back in the open by yourself one-on-one.”

“We just have to say Rusty was not at his best today, and it was the great defense that we were facing.”

Source: http://fausports.cstv.com

September 5, 2009

Nebraska Cornhuskers 49, FAU 3

Official post-game press conference quotes

from Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini

Opening Statement
“I saw some good things out there. I’m disappointed with some things. It was a good start. Like I said going in, you play that first game and it gives you a bench mark, it gives you an idea of where you are. I saw some good things out there. We got to play a lot of guys, but I also found out we have a lot of work to do. We were sloppy at times and not real crisp, but that’s to be expected in an opener. I also know, like I just told the team, you have to make a big a jump between your first game and your second game. If we do that then we’ll continue working in the right direction. It’s a win. It’s 1-0 and that’s what we came here for. We’ll enjoy it tonight, relax a little bit, and then it’s time to go back to work.”

On Nebraska Quarterback Zac Lee
“I thought he played the way he’s been practicing. Other than he made a bad decision, he really just didn’t get (the ball) high enough on the interception. But I thought he played outstanding. He made good decisions. You can see how confident he is and he carries himself the right way. He leads this football team and leads that offense. I liked what I saw from him.”

On Nebraska’s offense
“Probably the thing we were most frustrated with is the times when our tempo wasn’t real good on offense. We didn’t get in and out of the huddle like we like to. You saw a number of times when we let the play clock run right down. It was more because we weren’t getting out of the huddle in time. That’s something that our offensive staff really stresses and at times it wasn’t happening. We need to have more crisp tempo and get up and down on the ball a little bit quicker and more consistently. That’s pretty easy to fix though.”

On Nebraska’s defense
“I saw some good things out there and I saw some things I was disappointed with. It’s just kind of the same with the whole football team. There were some positives and there are some things we need to get fixed and that’s to be expected the first game.”

On Roy Helu
“Roy’s a heck of a player. He played that way and he played very well. I thought (Rex) Burkhead played well for his first game. I saw a lot of good things out of our running backs.”

On Helu’s 44-yard touchdown run
“It was just a guy making a play. That doesn’t surprise me from Roy. He’s as good of back there is out there. I think he showed that at the end of last year and it’s just a guy making a play.”

On Nebraska’s Special Teams
“Obviously I was disappointed in the blocked punt. There was a just a guy blowing a protection. Overall it was pretty good. I saw some good things out there. But like every other place in the game, there are some things we need to fix and that we need to get fixed quickly.”

On getting Huskers playing time
“That was huge. For a lot of guys, that was the first time they had walked out there and the first playing time they’ve had. It’s good to get a lot of the guys out there and get them playing time because we’re going to need every able body as the season goes on. It’s a long year.”

On Cody Green
“I think it was pretty obvious I thought he played well. He handled himself well. He handled himself the way he’s been doing in practice. He’s a confident young man and very talented. We wanted to take that opportunity to get him out there because we’re going to need him. Eventually you’re going to need the guy. Very seldom do you make it through a season with one quarterback. That doesn’t happen very often so we’re going to need him at some point.”

SOURCE: Huskers.com

Postgame Notes from Nebraska vs Florida Atlantic

courtesy of Huskers.com:

• Tonight’s crowd of 85,719 was the third-largest in Memorial Stadium history and the eighth-largest crowd ever for a Nebraska game.

• Nebraska allowed just three points in tonight’s game, marking the fewest points allowed by Nebraska since a 21-3 victory at Kansas State on Oct. 14, 2006. It was also the fewest points NU has allowed in a season opener since a 31-0 shutout over West Virginia in 1994.

• Tonight’s victory margin of 46 points was Nebraska’s largest in any game since a 56-0 shutout of Troy in 2006. It was also Nebraska’s largest in a season opener since a 76-14 win over North Texas in 1993.

• The Nebraska defense forced three turnovers in tonight’s game, with those coming on three consecutive FAU possessions in the third quarter. Nebraska forced only 17 turnovers last season and had only one game (Colorado-4) with more than two takeaways.

• The victory in tonight’s game marked Nebraska’s 24th straight win in a season opener–a nation-leading streak. Nebraska has won each of the 24 games in the streak by 10 points or more. Nebraska scored more than 40 points for the fourth straight season opener.

• Nebraska picked up its fifth straight victory overall, the Huskers’ longest streak since winning its final three games of 2005 and the first two games of 2006. Nebraska has won seven of its past eight games dating back to last season.

• Tonight’s Nebraska game captains were senior center Jacob Hickman, senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, senior safety Matt O’Hanlon and junior place-kicker Alex Henery.

First-time starters in tonight’s game:

Offense – OG Derek Meyer, TE Kyler Reed, QB Zac Lee, OG Ricky Henry

Defense – DT Jared Crick, LB Sean Fisher, LB Will Compton.

True freshmen appearing in tonight’s game:

LB Eric Martin, LS P.J. Mangieri, IB Rex Burkhead, QB Cody Green

• Junior I-back Roy Helu Jr. rushed 16 times for 152 yards and a career-high three touchdowns (1-yarder in second quarter, 7-yarder in third quarter, 44-yarder in third quarter). Helu has gained 100 yards or more in four of the last six games dating back to last season.

• Helu rushed three times for 49 yards on Nebraska’s touchdown drive to open the second half and had 95 yards on his first five carries of the second half.

• In tonight’s game alone, Helu improved nine spots to 45th on the Nebraska career rushing list. He entered the game with 1,012 yards and now has 1,164 yards.

• Over the past five regular-season games, Helu has rushed for 662 yards on 86 carries, an average of 7.7 yards per carry.

• Junior quarterback Zac Lee threw for 213 yards in his first career start. Lee completed 15-of-22 passes, including touchdowns to Menelik Holt and Curenski Gilleylen.
  

• Sophomore receiver Curenski Gilleylen caught his first career touchdown pass on a 51-yard second quarter strike from Lee. Gilleylen entered the game with two career catches for 11 yards. Gilleylen finished the game with four receptions for 92 yards.

• Junior tight end Mike McNeill caught four passes for 51 yards in the game. McNeill has caught at least three passes in five straight games and eight of nine games dating back to last season. McNeill caught a position record 32 passes as a sophomore in 2008.

• Senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh picked up where he left off last season. Suh registered six tackles and a pass breakup in the game and set the tone early with three first-quarter tackles.

• Sophomore defensive tackle Jared Crick blocked an Owl field goal attempt in the first quarter. Crick’s blocked kick was the first of his career. Nebraska blocked six kicks last season as a team.

September 5, 2009

Nebraska 49, FAU 3

A View from the Stands

The Actual Footage

September 5, 2009

Nebraska Cornhuskers 49, Florida Atlantic Owls 3

First Quarter

NU – 7:41 – Menelik Holt 28 pass from Zac Lee (Alex Henery kick) – 5 plays, 44 yards, 2:32, NU 7-0

Second Quarter

NU – 13:43 – Curenski Gilleylan 51 pass from Lee (Henery kick) – 4 plays, 72 yards, 1:49, NU 14-0

FAU – 8:13 – Ross Gornall 21 field goals – 11 plays, 71 yards, 5:20, NU 14-3

NU – 0:51 – Helu 1 run (Henery kick) – 15 plays, 82 yards, 7:16, NU 21-3

Third Quarter

NU – 12:36 – Helu 7 run (Henery kick) – 4 plays, 62 yards, 2:17, NU 28-3

NU – 7:26 – Helu 44 run (Henery kick) – 4 plays, 68 yards, 1:49, NU 35-3

NU – 0:00 – Rex Burkhead (Henery kick – 4 plays, 55 yards, 2:00, NU 42-3

Fourth Quarter

NU – 6:03 – Cody Green 1 run (Henery kick) – 7 plays, 80 yards, 3:14, NU 49-

Final: Nebraska 49, Florida Atlantic 3

Attendance: 85,719

Time of Game: 3:02

Source: NU Media Relations