Sept. 12, 2009
Nebraska Postgame Notes
Nebraska 38, Arkansas State 9
* Nebraska improved to 2-0 with today’s victory. This marks the sixth straight season Nebraska has opened the year with a 2-0 record. Nebraska also won its fifth straight home game since last season’s loss to Missouri.
* Nebraska picked up its sixth straight victory overall, the Huskers’ longest streak since winning 13 straight games spanning the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Nebraska has won eight of its past nine games overall.
* Today’s Nebraska game captains were senior defensive end Barry Turner, senior safety Rickey Thenarse, junior I-back Roy Helu Jr. and sophomore receiver Curenski Gilleylen.
* Junior quarterback Zac Lee completed 27-of-35 passes for 340 yards and four touchdowns. The 340 passing yards are the most by a Husker since Joe Ganz threw for 349 yards in an overtime loss at Texas Tech last season. Lee’s four touchdown passes marked NU’s first four-TD passing effort since Ganz threw for four touchdowns in last year’s opener against Western Michigan.
* Lee threw for 213 yards in the season opener and Nebraska has passed for at least 200 yards in 20 straight games dating back to the 2007 season. Nebraska’s 358 passing yards marked NU’s first 300-yard passing day since throwing for 328 yards against Kansas last season.
* Lee was 8-of-9 for 111 yards and two touchdowns on Nebraska’s first two drives of the game, including 5-of-5 for 54 yards on the second scoring drive.
* In addition to his passing yardage, Lee rushed seven times for 11 yards and had 351 yards of total offense in the victory. Lee accounted for 189 yards of total offense in the first half alone.
* Lee completed passes to 11 different receivers in today’s game, including eight in the first half. Four Nebraska receivers caught at least four passes. Overall, 14 Huskers caught at least one pass.
* Junior tight end Mike McNeill caught four passes for 57 yards and two touchdowns. McNeill had a 13-yard TD catch in the first quarter and a 32-yarder in the third quarter. Today’s game marked the first time McNeill has had two touchdowns in the same game and he now has eight career touchdown catches.
* McNeill has caught at least three passes in six straight games and nine of 10 games dating back to last season. McNeill caught a position record 32 passes as a sophomore in 2008.
* Junior I-back Roy Helu Jr. rushed 14 times for 60 yards Helu added four receptions for 44 yards and accounted for 104 all-purpose yards.
* The Nebraska offense gained 494 total offensive yards, marking the 16th time in its past 20 games NU has topped 400 yards of total offense.
* Senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh had an impressive outing in today’s win. Suh shared a 12-yard sack with Jared Crick on the final play of the first quarter. Suh finished the game with five total tackles, 1.5 sacks (17 yards), and three tackles for loss (18 yards).
* Suh moved closer to the top 10 on the Nebraska career TFL and sacks list. He now has 37 career tackles for loss to rank just 0.5 tackles outside of the top 10 on that list. Suh moved his career sack total to 13.5, 2.0 sacks shy of Mike Rucker’s 10th-place career total of 15.5 sacks.
* Junior receiver Niles Paul rushed for a 30-yard touchdown in the second quarter of today’s game. The touchdown run was Paul’s first career rushing touchdown.
* Paul caught six passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. The six catches and 69 yards were both career highs. His two-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter was his first career touchdown catch. Paul now has three career touchdowns, with his first touchdown coming on a kickoff return against San Jose State last season.
* Adding in 53 kickoff returns yards and 17 punt return yards, Paul finished the day with 169 all-purpose yards.
* Redshirt freshman fullback Tyler Legate made the most of his first career reception, catching a three-yard touchdown pass from Zac Lee to open the scoring.
* Junior place-kicker Alex Henery made his first field goal of the season in the second quarter, connecting on a 26-yard attempt. Henery later missed a 54-yard attempt and is now 27-of-31 on FG attempts in his career. Henery’s miss ended a streak of 10 straight made field goals. Henery also made five extra points in today’s game. With his eight points today, Henery improved his career total to 194, good for a tie for 16th place on the NU career scoring list. He is just 17 points from 10th place on the career chart.
* Nebraska recorded at least one touchdown in all four quarters today and has at least one touchdown in every quarter this season.
* Senior safety Larry Asante had eight tackles in today’s game. He pushed his career tackle total to 160 and moved into the top 50 on Nebraska’s career tackles list.
* The Nebraska defense forced one turnover in today’s game. The Huskers have forced four turnovers in two games. Nebraska forced just 17 turnovers in 13 games in 2008.
* Nebraska registered four sacks in today’s game after not recording a sack in the season opener. NU has had at least three sacks in five of the last six games
* The second-quarter touchdown by Arkansas State ended a streak of six-plus quarters in which the Nebraska defense did not allow a touchdown. Nebraska’s previous touchdown allowed came with 10:06 remaining in the third quarter of the Gator Bowl win over Clemson. The span between that TD and Arkansas State’s in today’s game was more than 109 minutes of game action.