Defense Shines in First Scrimmage

Lincoln -- The Nebraska football team worked through its first full scrimmage of fall practice on Saturday, with the defense dominating play for the most part. In more than 100 offensive snaps, the defense surrendered less than 300 total yards, while forcing four turnovers and recording 10 quarterback sacks.

The strong defensive showing impressed Coach Frank Solich.

"It was pleasing to see the defense keep them out of the endzone, even though there were a few drives against them. They were able to keep the offense from generating points."

The Huskers will take their first day off from practice since fall practice began on Aug. 3, when they enjoy the day off on Sunday. Nebraska returns to two-a-day practices on Monday with practice scheduled from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. The Huskers will hold their second practice on Monday from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Solich on the Scrimmage:
"All in all, it was about what I expected. We had guys moving around very well. The contact was excellent. We have a long ways to go in terms of execution on both sides of the ball. It was pleasing to see the defense keep them out of the endzone, even though there were a few drives against them. They were able to keep the offense from generating points. On the offensive side of it, there was some good things that happened. We were able to move the ball some, sustain some drives, but there were too many long-yardage situations. Some of that came from penalties, some of that came from turnovers, and some came from missed assignments. We have a long way to go as far as execution, but there was some good signs."

"You try to get your offense as many reps as possible. This was good for us. This was the first scrimmage. This was really the first all-out contact that we've had in fall camp, so we didn't expect to see great execution, but we wanted to see great effort. We'll build on that. The execution will get better."

Solich on NU's No. 10 ranking in the preseason AP poll:
"That's fair. We're positioned where if we take care of ourselves and win some football games, we have the ability to move up. Tenth is fine."

 

Scrimmage Stats

Rushing	No.	Net	TDs	LG
Robin Miller	11	55	0	15
Mike Stuntz	13	43	1	29
David Horne	4	23	0	13
Cory Ross	6	19	0	7
Marques Simmons	7	18	0	8
Dahrran Diedrick	4	16	0	8
Steve Kriewald	4	12	0	3
Josh Davis	6	11	0	6
Thunder Collins	4	7	0	8
Grant Miller	1	5	0	5
Dane Todd	2	3	0	4
Judd Davies	2	2	0	1
Curt Dukes	7	(-17)	0	9
Jammal Lord	7	(-35)	0	2
Totals	78	162	1	29
Passing	C-Att-Int.	Yds.	TDs	LG
Curt Dukes	7-11-0	97	0	33
Jammal Lord	4-11-0	37	0	18
Mike Stuntz	1-3-1	2	0	2
Totals	12-25-1	136	0	33
Receiving	No.	Yds.	TDs	LG
Ben Zajicek	3	31	0	17
Wilson Thomas	2	24	0	18
Kiffin Wigert	1	33	0	33
Cory Ross	1	17	0	17
Matt Herian	1	15	0	15
Will Dabbert	1	8	0	8
Ross Pilkington	1	5	0	5
Dane Todd	1	2	0	2
Josh Davis	1	1	0	1
Totals	12	136	0	33
Punting	No.	Yds.	Avg	Lg
Kyle Larson	3	165	55.0	63
Josh Brown	2	52	26.0	35
Team	1	0	0.0	0
Punt Returns	No.	Yds.	TDs	Lg
Mike McLaughlin	1	18	0	18
Ben Cornelsen	1	13	0	13
Mark LeFlore	1	2	0	2
Kiffin Wigert	1	0	0	0
Kickoff Returns	No.	Yds.	TDs	Lg
None
Interceptions	No.	Yds.	TDs
Dan Burrow	1	0	0

Sacks: Scott Shanle (2-24); Adam Carriker (2-16); Jon Clanton (2-13); Titus Adams (1.5-9); Gabe Fries (1-10); Ryon Bingham (1-5); LeKevin Smith (0.5-5)

Other Tackles for Loss: Curt Tomasevicz (3-5); Barrett Ruud (2-4); Patrick Kabongo (1-2); Jon Clanton (1-1); T.J. Hollowell (1-2); Ira Cooper (1-2); Chad Buller (1-1)

Fumble Forced: Chad Kelsay
Fumble Recoveries: Ryon Bingham, Curt Tomasevicz
Pass Breakups: Lornell McPherson

Scoring Summary
Mike Stuntz 28 run (Brown PAT)

Missed Field Goals
None

New Injuries:
None

Players who did not scrimmage Saturday (8)
Philip Bland, Seppo Evwaraye, DeAntae Grixby, Kellen Huston, John Klem, Jay Moore, Kyle Ringenberg, Chad Sievers