Nebraska Postgame Notes vs. New Mexico State

Nebraska Postgame Notes
vs. New Mexico State
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008
Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.

• Tonight’s victory improved Nebraska to 3-0 for the first time since 2005. The win also guaranteed NU a winning non-conference record for the 27th straight year.
• Nebraska improved to 3-0 all-time against New MexicoState and improved to 21-1 all-time against Western Athletic Conference opponents.  The Huskers have won 20 straight games against WAC opponents.
• Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini improved to 4-0 as the Huskers’ head coach, tying him with Tom Osborne for the fifth-best start for an NU head coach.
• New MexicoState’s fourth-quarter touchdown marked the first points by the Aggies in three all-time meetings with Nebraska. The Aggies were blanked 57-0 in 1979 and 68-0 in 1982. NMSU was scoreless for more than 11 quarters against the Huskers before putting a touchdown on the scoreboard.
• Senior I-back Marlon Lucky rushed 15 times for 103 yards and two touchdowns in tonight’s game. The 103 rushing yards marked Lucky’s eighth career 100-yard rushing game.
• Lucky had a career-long 58-yard run in the third quarter. His previous long was a 51-yard touchdown run against Troy in 2006. It is also the longest run by a Husker since Cory Ross’ 86-yard touchdown run against Missouri in 2004.
• With his 103 rushing yards tonight, Lucky became the 24th player in school history to rush for 2,000 career yards and finished the game with 2,045 career yards. Lucky is the first player to surpass 2,000 career rushing yards since Cory Ross accomplished the feat in 2005.
• Lucky ran for an eight-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and a one-yard TD run in the third quarter. He has scored at least one touchdown in six straight games dating back to last season. He also caught three passes for 21 yards in the game, and has caught at least three passes in 16 of Nebraska’s last 21 games.
• Lucky totaled 124 all-purpose yards tonight, pushing his career total to 3,634 yards, good for fourth on the Nebraska career charts. Lucky passed Eric Crouch and Cory Ross to move from sixth to fourth in tonight’s game. He trails only Heisman winners Johnny Rodgers (5,586) and Mike Rozier (5,445), as well as Ahman Green (4,280) on the career all-purpose yards list.
• Lucky completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Joe Ganz in the second quarter to give Nebraska a 14-0 lead. The touchdown pass was the third of Lucky’s career. He had a 25-yard touchdown pass to Nate Swift against Texas in 2006, and a 20-yard scoring strike to Sean Hill against IowaState last season. Lucky is 3-of-5 passing for 65 yards in his career (367.20 NCAA pass efficiency rating).
• Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz became the third player in school history to have touchdowns by rushing, receiving and passing. The previous players to accomplish the feat were Heisman winners Eric Crouch (1999 vs. California) and Johnny Rodgers (1973 Orange Bowl vs. Notre Dame).
• Ganz threw for 158 yards in tonight’s game, marking the first time in his six games as a starter he has not thrown for at least 200 yards. 
• Ganz’s 33-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was a carer-long run and marked his fourth career touchdown run. Ganz rushed for a career-high 69 yards in tonight’s game, bettering his 38 rushing yards in the season opener against Western Michigan. The 69 rushing yards by Ganz is the most by a Husker quarterback since Jammal Lord rushed for 79 yards in the 2003 Alamo Bowl against MichiganState.
• Ganz’s 20-yard TD catch was the first reception of his career. The 20-yard catch by Ganz was the longest by an NU quarterback since Eric Crouch’s 63-yard touchdown catch against Oklahoma in 2001. It was also the first reception on a designed throw by a Nebraska quarterback since Joe Dailey had a 19-yard reception at IowaState in 2004. Zac Taylor was the last NU quarterback with a reception, catching his own batted ball for a four-yard loss in 2005.
• Nebraska rushed for 330 yards in tonight’s game, marking the first time Nebraska has topped 200 rushing yards since last season against OklahomaState. The 330 rushing yards is Nebraska’s most since opening last season with 413 rushing yards against Nevada. It also marks just the fourth time Nebraska has topped 300 yards on the ground since the start of the 2004 season (2004 vs. Western Illinois, 363; 2006 vs. Troy, 316;  2007 vs. Nevada, 413).
• Nebraska scored at least 35 points for the sixth straight game dating back to last season. The six straight games is the third-longest streak in school history with 35 or more points. Nebraska scored 35 or more points in eight straight games in 1989, and had 35 or more points in a school-record 13 straight games, including all 12 games in 1995 and the 1996 season opener.
• Nebraska has gained 400 or more yards of total offense in seven of the past eight games. Nebraska has totaled 500 or more yards in of those eight games.
• Nebraska held New MexicoState scoreless in the first half of tonight’s game, marking the first time in 23 games Nebraska has shut out an opponent in the first half. Nebraska led KansasState 14-0 at halftime in Manhattan in 2006, en route to a 21-3 victory. The seven points allowed was NU’s fewest since that contest.
• Nebraska had a pair of interceptions in tonight’s game, marking the third straight game Nebraska has had at least two takeaways. The Huskers’ six takeaways this season is just five shy of their total of 11 last season.
• The interceptions by Armando Murillo and Matt O’Hanlon were the first career interceptions for both players.
• Senior defensive lineman Zach Potter blocked a New MexicoState field goal in the first quarter. Potter’s block was the third blocked kick of his career. He blocked a field goal in Nebraska’s win over Pitt in 2005 and blocked a PAT later that season against KansasState. Potter finished with three tackles, including an eight-yard sack.
• Sophomore place-kicker Alex Henery missed a 35-yard field goal in the first quarter. The miss ended Henery’s streak of kicking perfection in his Nebraska career. He added a 19-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Henery had connected on his first 12 career FG attempts, while also hitting on all 55 PAT attemtps entering tonight’s game. Henery did remain perfect on career PAT attempts by hitting all five of his attempts.
• Eric Hagg had a career-high 10 tackles, including nine solo stops, against New MexicoState after recording nine tackles in his previous nine games as a Husker.

   

• Henery’s missed field goal in the game ended a streak of 87 consecutive made kicks by Nebraska kickers dating back to the 2006 season. Before Henery’s first-quarter miss NU kickers had made 72 straight PATs and 15 consecutive field goals.
• True freshmen making their collegiate debut in tonight’s game: DE Cameron Meredith
• Nebraska won for the 46th time in its last 48 non-conference home games since 1991, and improved to 26-3 all-time in night games at Memorial Stadium.
• Tonight’s game marked the 292nd consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium.