Yeah, And I want it framed and matted.....
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Published Sunday
September 24, 2006
Speedy Recovery: NU overwhelms Troy
BY RICH KAIPUST
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
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NU-Troy game statistics
PHOTO GALLERY
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NU 56, Troy 0 - Sept. 23, 2006
LINCOLN - Look no further than one play midway through the first quarter Saturday night for the clear hint that Nebraska wasn't going to have much trouble with Troy.
Husker Marlon Lucky runs away from defender Tavares Williams.
Ahead 7-0, the Huskers were moving again when Mike Huff was called for a chop block and Matt Slauson for holding on consecutive plays. After taking the 25 yards in penalties, Nebraska faced first-and-35 at its 45-yard line.
So quarterback Zac Taylor settled into the pocket, found receiver Nate Swift wide open and made the sideline crew march the first-down chains right back the other way with a 49-yard pass play.
The Huskers scored on the next play, and the romp to a 56-0 victory began at Memorial Stadium.
"I don't think that was bothering anybody because it felt like, at that point, we could do whatever we wanted," Swift said, recalling the first-and-35. "Every play was working in the book."
That comment was accurate by the time Nos. 23 and 24 NU (3-1) was through with Troy before a crowd of 84,799.
It made for a solid bounce-back effort after the 28-10 loss at Southern Cal the week before. It also wrapped up several days of rumblings about the game plan that didn't muster enough firepower against the Trojans.
"To come back in this fashion and in this type of form was very satisfying," NU coach Bill Callahan said. "As we explained to them Sunday when we came back from Los Angeles, we had to re-establish our focus quickly. Certainly Troy had our attention."
Troy (1-3) simply had enough Saturday night in its third straight road game against a major-conference opponent.
The Huskers almost threw as much in the first half as they did overall at USC. Taylor already was finished by NU's second series of the second half, leaving with near-perfect passing numbers and a 42-0 lead.
The Huskers ran wherever they wanted, too, collecting a season-high 316 yards and six touchdowns via the ground game. Sophomore I-back Marlon Lucky produced a career-high 156 yards on just 10 carries, and junior Kenny Wilson tacked on 106 for his most as a Husker.
Callahan attributed much of that success to the offensive line, the unit he spent extra time with this week during practice.
"Anytime you score like we did and gain yards like you do, that's something to hang your hat on," fullback Dane Todd said. "We know we played well, but there's always things to fix, always corrections to make."
The defensive performance was equally impressive against Troy's spread offense. The Trojans were held to 140 total yards as the Huskers claimed their first shutout under defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove.
Troy crossed midfield just once, stringing together plays of 10, 25, 5 and 7 yards late in the second quarter. That threat then ended when safety Andrew Shanle intercepted Omar Haugabook on the Husker 4-yard line, part of a long day of harassment and mistreatment for the Troy quarterback.
"I'm just happy our kids played well," Cosgrove said. "They followed the game plan, they played well, the execution was outstanding."
Senior defensive end Jay Moore was a little more emotional about the shutout.
"It's huge for Cos," Moore said. "I feel so good for him, just because it's his first one here. He works so hard for us, and it just feels good to get it for such a good man like that."
Lucky powered an opening drive that covered 73 yards in 10 plays. When he bounced outside and darted 34 yards for the first of his three touchdowns, it was the initial sign the Huskers had shaken any hangover from the week before.
Taylor hit Swift on pass plays of 28 and 49 yards on the second series, the latter on the first-and-35. Taylor followed with a 6-yard TD pass to tight end J.B. Phillips for a 14-0 lead.
When Lucky and Wilson tacked on second-quarter scoring runs, it was obvious Troy didn't have much left after causing all kinds of trouble for Florida State and Georgia Tech the prior two weeks.
"I think the biggest thing, this was the third big-time game we had played in a row," Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. "I think we got run down a little bit."
Nebraska wasn't about to let up in its final tuneup before Big 12 play begins next Saturday against Kansas. It took the Huskers just five plays and three plays to score in their opening two series in the third quarter as the lead ballooned to 42-0.
Taylor's final pass was a 1-yard touchdown to backup fullback Matt Senske. Before Joe Ganz and Beau Davis finished for him, Taylor had completed 14 of 17 passes for 268 yards.
"Zac was on, and when he's on he's on," Callahan said. "He was determined to have a good football game tonight."
The talk had been about how he maybe didn't get that chance last week, throwing just 16 passes overall at USC. But a little carefree attitude returned Saturday night, including Taylor lining up in the shotgun from the NU 4 - after the Shanle interception - and throwing a 67-yard pass to Terrence Nunn inside the final minute of the first half.
"Part of the game plan was we were going to take some shots on them," Swift said
Team Statistics (Final)
2006 Nebraska Cornhuskers
Troy vs Nebraska (Sept 23,2006 at Lincoln, Neb.)
TROY NU
FIRST DOWNS................... 10 25
Rushing..................... 6 12
Passing..................... 4 11
Penalty..................... 0 2
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 48 316
Rushing Attempts............ 27 46
Average Per Rush............ 1.8 6.9
Yards Gained Rushing........ 109 333
Yards Lost Rushing.......... 61 17
NET YARDS PASSING............. 92 281
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 15-24-1 16-23-1
Average Per Attempt......... 3.8 12.2
Average Per Completion...... 6.1 17.6
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 140 597
Total offense plays......... 51 69
Average Gain Per Play....... 2.7 8.7
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 6-2 0-0
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 10-80 8-65
PUNTS-YARDS................... 8-325 2-72
Average Yards Per Punt...... 40.6 36.0
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 40.4 36.5
Inside 20................... 2 0
50+ Yards................... 1 0
Touchbacks.................. 0 0
Fair catch.................. 1 1
KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 1-65 9-518
Average Yards Per Kickoff... 65.0 57.6
Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 38.0 43.2
Touchbacks.................. 0 1
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 1--1-0 2-2-0
Average Per Return.......... -1.0 1.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 8-109-0 1-27-0
Average Per Return.......... 13.6 27.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 1--2-0 1-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 1-11-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0
Possession Time............... 23:46 36:14
1st Quarter................. 4:46 10:14
2nd Quarter................. 7:38 7:22
3rd Quarter................. 8:07 6:53
4th Quarter................. 3:15 11:45
Third-Down Conversions........ 1 of 11 7 of 11
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 2 1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 0-0 5-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-12 4-36
PAT Kicks..................... 0-0 8-8
Field Goals................... 0-0 0-0
Troy
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
-------------------------------------------------
Allen, Josh 4 39 0 39 0 17 9.8
Cattouse, Kenny 5 26 1 25 0 12 5.0
Jones, Anthony 5 15 3 12 0 9 2.4
Banks, Gary 1 2 0 2 0 2 2.0
Wright, Jason 2 9 15 -6 0 0 -3.0
Foster, Julian 3 5 12 -7 0 3 -2.3
Haugabook, Omar 7 13 30 -17 0 7 -2.4
Totals... 27 109 61 48 0 17 1.8
Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack
-------------------------------------------------
Haugabook, Omar 21-12-1 88 0 25 3
Foster, Julian 2-2-0 12 0 9 1
Banks, Gary 1-1-0 -8 0 0 0
Totals... 24-15-1 92 0 25 4
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
----------------------------------------
Hampton, Smokey 4 16 0 6
Banks, Gary 2 30 0 25
Rutledge, Toris 2 13 0 9
Terry, Mykeal 1 10 0 10
East, Marlo 1 10 0 10
Williams, C. 1 9 0 9
Allen, Josh 1 9 0 9
Davis, Andrew 1 7 0 7
Jones, Anthony 1 -4 0 0
Haugabook, Omar 1 -8 0 0
Totals... 15 92 0 25
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
---------------------------------------------------
Vera, Adrian 1 27 27.0 27 0 0
Wright, Jason 7 298 42.6 52 2 0
Totals... 8 325 40.6 52 2 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
--------------------------------------------------
Rutledge, Toris 0 0 0 1 13 13 0 0 0
Terry, Mykeal 0 0 0 1 4 4 0 0 0
Bray, Justin 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -2 0
McKelvin, L. 1 -1 0 3 48 26 0 0 0
Mack, Elbert 0 0 0 2 10 7 0 0 0
Cattouse, Kenny 0 0 0 1 34 34 0 0 0
Totals... 1 -1 0 8 109 34 1 -2 0
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
FUMBLES: Troy-Wright, Jason 2-1; McKelvin, L. 1-1; Foster, Julian 1-0; Mack, Elbert 1-0;
Allen, Josh 1-0. Nebraska-None.
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Nebraska
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
-------------------------------------------------
Lucky, Marlon 10 156 0 156 3 51 15.6
Wilson, Kenny 19 106 0 106 2 21 5.6
Jackson, Brandon 11 63 3 60 1 26 5.5
Taylor, Zac 3 8 0 8 0 5 2.7
Nunn, Terrence 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
TEAM 1 0 2 -2 0 0 -2.0
Ganz, Joe 1 0 12 -12 0 0 -12.0
Totals... 46 333 17 316 6 51 6.9
Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack
-------------------------------------------------
Taylor, Zac 17-14-1 268 1 67 0
Ganz, Joe 6-2-0 13 1 12 1
Totals... 23-16-1 281 2 67 1
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
----------------------------------------
Nunn, Terrence 4 102 0 67
Swift, Nate 3 79 0 49
Purify, Maurice 2 45 0 36
Phillips, J.B. 2 16 1 10
Senske, Matt 2 13 1 12
Hardy, Frantz 1 16 0 16
Mueller, Josh 1 8 0 8
Lucky, Marlon 1 2 0 2
Totals... 16 281 2 67
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
---------------------------------------------------
Titchener, Dan 2 72 36.0 37 0 0
Totals... 2 72 36.0 37 0 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
--------------------------------------------------
Nunn, Terrence 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Shanle, Andrew 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Wilson, Kenny 0 0 0 1 27 27 0 0 0
Totals... 2 2 3 1 27 27 1 0 0
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
FUMBLES: Troy-Wright, Jason 2-1; Foster, Julian 1-0; Allen, Josh 1-0; McKelvin, L. 1-1; Mack,
Elbert 1-0. Nebraska-None.
FUMBLES: Troy-Wright, Jason 2-1; Allen, Josh 1-0; Mack, Elbert 1-0; McKelvin, L. 1-1; Foster,
Julian 1-0. Nebraska-None.
I would say that NU gave Troy $700,000 worth of butt-kickin.....
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