Lincoln - The Nebraska Blackshirts scored three touchdowns and forced four Wake Forest turnovers to power the Huskers to a 31-3 victory over the Demon Deacons in front of the NCAA-record 270th consecutive sellout and a TBS national television audience on Saturday night.
Playing in front of a crowd of 77,380, the Husker defense fueled Nebraska to a 2-0 start on the season by not only slowing Wake Forest's potent running game, but by providing plenty of offensive punch.
Sophomore linebacker Corey McKeon opened the Blackshirts' onslaught by intercepting a Benjamin Mauk pass and racing 38 yards to paydirt to give the Huskers a 7-0 lead with 6:24 remaining in the first quarter. Sophomore linebacker Bo Ruud, who scored on a fourth-quarter interception in NU's season-opening win over Maine, provided the pressure on Mauk that led to his ill-advised throw to the center of the field that was snagged on the dead run by McKeon. McKeon finished the night with 10 total tackles including two for a loss of eleven yards.
Less than four minutes later, senior strong safety Daniel Bullocks, who led the defense with 13 total tackles, gave the Blackshirts their third touchdown in two quarters by forcing a fumble by Demon Deacon running back Micah Andrews and racing 30 yards untouched into the end zone to give the Huskers a 14-0 lead. The two defensive touchdowns in the first quarter represented the first time in more than 40 years that Nebraska had produced a pair of defensive scores in the same quarter.
In the fourth quarter, linebacker Stewart Bradley intercepted another Mauk pass and raced 43 yards into the end zone with 10:23 left in the game to produce the final margin. The Blackshirts' history-making performance stretched the NU record book. It was the fifth time in school history that the Huskers had scored twice in the same game on interception returns, most recently against Texas A&M in 2003.
The Blackshirts' scoring barrage also marked the first time in school history that the defense had scored three return touchdowns in a game and the first. It was also the first time in history that the NU defense scored two touchdowns in the same quarter.
The Blackshirts have returned three interceptions for touchdowns in their first two games of 2005, providing a serious threat to the school record of five interception returns for touchdowns in the Huskers' national championship seasons of 1971 and 1995.
Senior free safety Blake Tiedtke forced a fourth Wake Forest turnover with his first interception on the Demon Deacons' opening possession of the second quarter. Tiedtke raced 28 yards on the return to give the Huskers 139 yards in defensive returns on the night.
While the Blackshirts owned the first half, the Husker offense came alive on the opening drive of the second half. Junior quarterback Zac Taylor converted on third down by hitting sophomore wide receiver Terrence Nunn for a 13-yard gain.
On the next play, senior I-back Cory Ross ran into the Nebraska record book by sprinting 57 yards down the Wake Forest sideline to go over 100 yards on the night and 2,000 yards in his career. Ross finished the night with 20 carries for 123 yards for his 10th career 100-yard game.
After connecting with Nunn again on a short gain, Taylor hooked up with sophomore wide receiver Frantz Hardy on a four-yard touchdown for the first touchdowns of their Nebraska careers by the former Butler County Community College teammates. Jordon Congdon's PAT pushed the Huskers' lead to 21-3.
Taylor continued to heat up in the third quarter, completing six consecutive passes to four different receivers, including two each to Hardy and Grant Mulkey, who made a highlight-reel 25-yard grab to spark the Husker march. NU's drive stalled at the Wake Forest four yard line with a pair of incompletions, but Congdon increased Nebraska's lead to 24-3 with a 21-yard field goal with 1:41 left in the third quarter.
The Huskers thoroughly controlled the third quarter, piling up 160 yards of total offense while owning the ball for 8:38 to carry their 24-3 lead into the fourth quarter, before Bradley produced the final margin with his fourth quarter interception return.
Wake Forest place-kicker Sam Swank provided the lone highlight for the Demon Deacons with his 51-yard field goal in the final second of the first half. Swank's field goal tied for the second-longest kick by an opponent at Memorial Stadium, trailing only a 52-yard field goal by Auburn's Al Del Greco on Oct. 3, 1981, and sent the teams to halftime with Nebraska leading 14-3.
The game marked the first time since Nov. 11, 2000 that Wake Forest went without scoring a touchdown in a game.
Wake Forest helped the Huskers jump to an early lead with a pair of miscues by its kickoff return team. After the Huskers won the opening toss and deferred for the second straight week, the Demon Deacons fumbled the kickoff at the goal line and were buried at the two yard line. After McKeon's touchdown, Congdon's second kickoff was mishandled in the end zone and was carried into the field of play, where the Demon Deacons were forced to start their drive at the one yard line.
Taylor finished the night with completing 14 of 33 pass attempts for a total of 114 passing yards. The Huskers put up 234 total yards of offense on the Demon Deacons, who recorded a total of 247 yards of offense.
Nebraska continues its five-game season-opening homestand by taking on Pittsburgh (0-2) at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 2:30 p.m. The Huskers' game with the Panthers will be televised live nationally by ABC.