Football

Nebraska Postgame Notes

Nebraska Postgame Notes
Nebraska vs. Kansas-Nov. 14, 2009
FINAL: Nebraska 31, Kansas 17                          

  • Nebraska improved to 7-3 with today's win and 4-2 in Big 12 play. Today's win snapped a three-game losing streak in Lawrence, as Nebraska had not won at Kansas since a 51-7 win in 2001.
  • Nebraska is 2-0 in November this season and Bo Pelini is now 6-1 in the month in his Husker career.
  • The road win was Nebraska's fourth straight road victory against a Big 12 Conference team. Before today's win, the last time a Husker team had won four straight Big 12 road games came from 1999-2000. NU is also off to its first 3-0 start in Big 12 road games since 2001.
  • Nebraska scored a touchdown on its first drive today, marking the first time NU scored a touchdown on its first possession since the Arkansas State game. Nebraska did kick a field goal on its opening offensive possession at Baylor two weeks ago.
  • Nebraska junior wide receiver Niles Paul caught four passes for a career-high 154 yards in today's game. Paul's 154 yards are the sixth-most in school history and the most since Maurice Purify had 158 yards at Kansas on Nov. 3, 2007.
  • Paul registered his third 100-yard receiving game of the season (also 143 vs. ISU and 102 vs. Missouri). Paul's four receptions covered 154 yards, with catches of 35, 37, 37 and 45 yards. Paul's first reception set up a Nebraska touchdown, his third set up a field goal to give NU a 10-0 lead and his fourth set up a field goal that gave the Huskers a 13-10 edge.
  • Paul now has nine receptions of 20 yards or longer this season, and his three 100-yard receiving games is tied for fifth on the single-season list. The NU record for 100-yard receiving games is four on four occasions, including Nate Swift last season and Maurice Purify in 2007. Paul has a team-high 29 receptions for a team-leading 567 yards this season. Paul is 63 yards from the top 10 on Nebraska's single-season yardage list.
  • Paul also totaled a career-high 244 all-purpose yards in today's game, including 154 receiving yards, 72 on kickoff returns and 18 punt return yards. The total eclipsed his previous career best of 208 total yards vs. Iowa State set last month and he was just seven yards shy of tying for the eighth-best total in NU history.
  • Nebraska junior I-back Roy Helu Jr. rushed 28 times for 156 yards in today's game, including 86 yards in the fourth quarter. Helu also opened the scoring by recovering a fumble in the end zone and added the final two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to tie his career high with three TDs. Helu pushed his season rushing total to 962 and 1,974 career rushing yards.
  • Nebraska junior quarterback Zac Lee completed 13-of-21 passes for 196 yards in the game. Lee also rushed nine times for a career-high 53 yards, including a career-long 32-yard run in the second quarter.
  • Junior tight end Mike McNeill caught four passes for 27 yards in today's game. His four receptions tied his career and season high, also against Florida Atlantic and Arkansas State in 2009 and Baylor and Kansas in 2008. McNeill has 11 career games with three or more receptions.
  • Junior place-kicker Alex Henery connected on three field goals in today's game, a 25-yarder in the second quarter, a 33-yarder in the third quarter and a 38-yarder in the fourth quarter. Henery improved to 15-of-18 on field goals this season and 41-of-47 in his career.
  • Henery has four multi-FG games this season and nine in his career. His 11 points today moved him into seventh place on the career scoring list, just 17 points from the top five.
  • Kansas' second-quarter touchdown marked the first offensive touchdown against Nebraska since the second quarter of the Iowa State game, ending a streak of 11 quarters without allowing an offensive touchdown. Baylor scored a touchdown in that stretch, but it was a defensive touchdown.
  • Senior safety Matt O'Hanlon recovered a third-quarter KU fumble to tie for the team lead with two fumble recoveries. He has accounted for four takeaways in the past two games following his three interceptions last week vs. Oklahoma. O'Hanlon leads Nebraska with four interceptions in 2009.
  • Junior defensive back Dejon Gomes finished with eight tackles, bettering his career-high of six against Texas Tech. Gomes also forced a fumble, had two breakups and a quarterback hurry.
  • Nebraska junior cornerback Prince Amukamara finished the game with four tackles, including a nine-yard sack and one PBU. Amukamara entered the game leading the Big 12 Conference in passes defended with nine PBU and three interceptions.
  • Redshirt freshman Tim Marlowe returned the opening kickoff 40 yards to kickstart Nebraska's opening touchdown drive. The 40-yard return by Marlowe was the longest by Nebraska this season, but was surpassed by a 44-yard return by Niles Paul in the fourth quarter.
  • Kansas completed 19-of-41 passes, marking the seventh opponent NU has held to less than 50 percent passing.
  • Today's game captains were junior tight end Mike McNeill, senior linebacker Phillip Dillard, senior defensive end David Harvey and junior linebacker Thomas Grove.