Nebraska Postgame Notes -- Oct. 8, 2005 vs. Texas Tech
**Nebraska dropped its first game of the season and fell to Texas Tech for the second straight season with the 34-31 loss. Nebraska still leads the series by a 7-2 margin but lost for the first time in four matchups in Lincoln. Nebraska lost its Homecoming game for the first time since 1968, as Tech snapped Husker streak of 36 straight Homecoming wins. NU’s last loss on Homecoming came against Kansas State.
**The first-quarter touchdown by Texas Tech marked the first points Nebraska has allowed in the first quarter this season. Texas Tech’s touchdown also marked the first touchdown against Nebraska in the first half this season. Tech scored 21 points in the first half of today’s game. Before today’s game, Nebraska’s first four opponents scored a combined six points in the first half.
**Nebraska senior I-back Cory Ross produced 119 all-purpose yards in today’s game. Ross rushed 15 times for 68 yards and caught four passes out of the backfield for 51 yards. Ross is averaging 132.6 all-purpose yards per game this season.
**Nebraska junior quarterback Zac Taylor completed 21-of-35 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns in today’s game. Taylor has thrown for a combined 660 yards in the past two games, including a school-record 431 yards passing in last week’s win over Iowa State. Taylor completed just 3 of his first 10 pass attempts, but connected on 18 the remainder of the day. Taylor completed passes to eight different receivers in today’s game.
**Nebraska freshman running back Cody Glenn scored the first two touchdowns of his Nebraska career this afternoon. Glenn scored on runs of 5 and 1 yards in the second quarter, slicing Texas Tech’s lead at the half to 21-14. Glenn carried the ball 12 times for 49 yards in today’s contest.
**Nebraska senior wide receiver Mark LeFlore caught five passes for 53 yards in today’s game (six is career high at Mizzou in 2003). LeFlore had five receptions for a career-high 110 yards last season at Texas Tech.
**Nebraska sophomore wide receiver Terrence Nunn caught three passes for 39 yards in today’s game. Nunn had a 19-yard third-quarter touchdown reception from Taylor, Nunn’s first career touchdown reception. Nunn added a four-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter to give NU its first lead of the game.
**Nebraska converted five trips into the Red Zone in today’s game into four touchdowns and a field goal. Texas Tech penetrated the Nebraska Red Zone six times in today’s game and scored three touchdowns and two field goals.
**Nebraska senior linebacker Adam Ickes blocked a Alex Trlica field goal attempt in the first quarter, marking Ickes’ second blocked field goal of the season and the third by Nebraska in 2005. Ickes also blocked a Pitt field goal on the final play of Nebraska’s win over the Panthers and freshmen Zach Potter and Barry Turner teamed up to block a Pitt field goal in the first quarter of that game.
**The Nebraska defense recorded four sacks in today’s game, giving the Huskers 30 in 2005, after recording a total of 25 sacks in 2004.
**Nebraska junior defensive end Jay Moore had the best day of his Nebraska career. The Elkhorn native had a 12-yard sack of Cody Hodges, finished the game with three tackles for loss, totaling 18 yards, and also forced a Red Raider fumble and had a pass breakup at the line of scrimmage.
**Texas Tech had 412 yards of total offense today, and 294 yards at the half. After halftime, Texas Tech managed just 118 yards of total offense.
**Nebraska senior punter Sam Koch punted one time for a 32-yard average in today’s game. Koch’s punt in today’s game was downed inside the Tech 20.
**Nebraska committed five turnovers in today’s game, after committing just a pair of turnovers in the previous three games combined. Nebraska’s defense allowed 13 second-half points after turnovers. Tech hit a pair of field goals on Husker turnovers inside its own 20 to start the third quarter of today’s game and added a game-winning touchdown after forcing a fumble following Le Kevin Smith’s interception late in the fourth quarter. On Nebraska’s first turnover of the day, the Huskers blocked a field goal, while following a fourth-quarter fumble, the Nebraska defense forced a fumble that resulted in a touchdown and a 28-27 NU lead.
**Nebraska takes to the road for the first time this season next Saturday when the Huskers travel to Waco, Texas to take on Baylor in a 6:05 p.m. contest. The Bears enter the game with a 4-1 record, including a 1-1 mark in the Big 12, following a 23-13 victory at Iowa State on Saturday.
**Keith Wysocki of Lincoln and Sarah Demmel of Grant were crowned king and queen of the University of Nebraska Homecoming at halftime of today’s game.
Texas Tech Postgame Notes
**Texas Tech lost the opening coin toss and fell to 2-of-5 on the opening toss this season. Nebraska elected to defer until the second half.
**Today’s attendance at Memorial Stadium was 77,580.
**Today’s game at Nebraska marked the Red Raiders first road game of the season after starting the year with four straight home games at Jones SBC Stadium in Lubbock.
**The win gives Tech a 4-0 record and its best start to a season since 2000 when Tech also jumped out at 4-0.
**The win gives Head Coach Mike Leach a career record of 43-25 and a 2-2 record against Nebraska.
**The win moves Tech’s record to 34-1 (in Mike Leach era) when leading at halftime.
**The win gives Tech its first-ever win over Nebraska at Memorial Stadium.
**Senior running back Taurean Henderson broke a key Nebraska defensive streak when he scored on the game’s opening possession. The Nebraska defense had not allowed a touchdown in the first quarter of any game this season. The touchdown drive was Tech’s third of the season on its opening possession (Sam Houston State and Kansas previously) and marked the fourth longest of the year (85 yards).
**Taurean Henderson set the Texas Tech school record for career receptions when he caught his fourth pass of the game with 1:46 remaining in the first quarter that gave the Red Raiders a first down. Henderson now has 262 career receptions.
**The Texas Tech defense came out strong in the second half as Tech ended Nebraska’s first two drives with forced turnovers. Chris Hudler recovered a fumble on the first drive while Brinkley intercepted a pass on the Huskers’ second. The multiple turnover game by the Tech defense was the unit’s fourth this season and third straight (only non-multi turnover game was Sam Houston State).
**The Tech defense recorded its third turnover with 12:09 remaining in the fourth quarter when Dwayne Slay forced a fumble and Fletcher Session recovered. The three-turnover game marks Tech’s second of the season (last vs. Indiana State).
**Sophomore placekicker Alex Trlica moved past Chris Birkholz (1998-00) into fifth place on the school extra points list.
**Senior cornerback Khalid Naziruddin picked up his first career interception on Nebraska’s first drive of the first quarter.
**The Nebraska defense blocked a 49-yard field goal attempt by Alex Trlica in the first quarter and that was the first blocked field goal by an opponent since SMU in 2002.
**Redshirt freshman defensive back Darcel McBath saw his first game action of the season late in the first quarter on a third and long situation.
**Joel Filani hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass with 14:36 remaining in the second quarter to give the Red Raiders a 13-0 lead. The 94-yard touchdown drive also marked Tech’s second longest of the season.
**Filani picked up his second touchdown of the game with 9:25 remaining in the second quarter to give Tech a 20-0 lead. Today’s game marked just the second time in his career that he has had a multiple touchdown game (last vs. Sam Houston State).
**Filani hauled in this third touchdown of the game on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining in the game. Filani’s has five touchdowns on the season and seven in his career.
**Senior linebacker John Saldi picked up his first sack of the season and his first since 2003 when he took down Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor late in the first half. Saldi now has 3 ? sacks in his career at Texas Tech.
**Junior nose tackle Chris Hudler recovered his second fumble of the season on Nebraska’s opening drive of the second half. Hudler came into the season with just one career fumble recovery (against Texas in 2003) and picked up his second earlier this year against Florida International.
**The Texas Tech offense improved to 31-of-31 in the redzone as Alex Trlica hit two field goals of 37 and 26 yards in the third quarter to give Tech a 27-14 lead. Tech is now 32-of-32 in the redzone this season as Cody Hodges hit Joel Filani on a 10-yard pass with 12 seconds remaining in the game to clinch the victory for the Red Raiders.
**Senior linebacker Sylvester Brinkley hauled in his second interception in as many games midway through the third quarter. Brinkley picked up his first career INT last week against Kansas.
**Tech’s winning touchdown with 12 seconds to go in the game marked the first time Tech has scored a touchdown in the last minute of the game to win since beating Texas in 1998.