Nebraska Postgame Notes

Nebraska Postgame Notes
vs. Western Kentucky
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Sept. 4, 2010

• Nebraska's 49-10 victory in tonight's game marked Nebraska's 25th straight win in a season opener, a nation-leading streak. Nebraska has won each of the games by at least 10 or more points.
• Tonight's game captains were seniors Niles Paul, Alex Henery, Pierre Allen and Rickey Thenarse.
• First-time starters for Nebraska tonight included: linebackers Lavonte David and Alonzo Whaley, defensive tackle Baker Steinkuler, defensive end Cameron Meredith on defense; quarterback Taylor Martinez, left tackle Jeremiah Sirles, and center Mike Caputo on offense.
• Nebraska redshirt freshman quarterback Taylor Martinez became the redshirt or true freshman to start a season opener for Nebraska. Several freshman had previously made starts at quarterback, most recently Cody Green last season, however a freshman had not been the starter in game one.
• Martinez finished the game with 127 rushing yards and three touchdowns on seven carries, including a 46-yard touchdown run on his first career carry. Martinez is the first Nebraska quarterback to rush for more than 100 yards since Jammal Lord had 109 yards against Texas A&M in 2003. The last time a Husker quarterback rushed for more yards than Martinez's 127 yards was Lord's 234 yards against Texas in 2002. The last time a Nebraska quarterback had more rushing yards in a season opener was Tommie Frazier's 130 yards against West Virginia in the 1994 Kickoff Classic.
• Prior to tonight, the last Nebraska freshman quarterback to rush for more than 100 yards was in 1998 when redshirt freshman Eric Crouch rushed for 108 yards at Kansas State. Martinez's 127 yards are the most by any Nebraska freshman since David Horne had 128 yards at Texas A&M in 2002. 
• The three rushing touchdowns by Martinez marked the second straight season an NU player has rushed for three touchdowns in the season opener, as Roy Helu Jr. scored three rushing touchdowns against Florida Atlantic last season.
• Martinez also completed 9-of-15 passes for 136 yards. Martinez connected on his first five passes, before his first incompletion late in the second quarter of tonight's game.
• Sophomore I-back Rex Burkhead rushed for 57 yards on five carries, including a 20-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Burkhead also caught two passes for 47 yards in the contest to average to average nearly 15 yards per touch.
• Nebraska's 289 rushing yards topped last year's season high of 259 vs. Florida Atlantic in the season opener. The Huskers' rushing total tonight is its best since rushing for 340 yards at Kansas State in 2008.
• Nebraska's 536 total yards are the most by the Huskers since gaining 610 at Kansas State in 2008. 
• Senior receiver Niles Paul caught five passes for 92 yards in tonight's game. With his five receptions, Paul pushed his career total to 69 and moved up five spots to 12th on the Nebraska career receptions chart. Paul is just three catches from the top 10. He also moved his career receiving yardage total to 1,108, good for 12th on that list, just 49 yards from the career top 10.
• Junior receiver Brandon Kinnie caught a career-best six passes for a career-best 59 yards in tonight's game. Kinnie finished the 2009 season with 15 receptions.
• Paul accounted for 158 all-purpose yards with 58 punt return yards and eight rushing yards in addition to his 92 receiving yards.
• Nebraska allowed a fourth-quarter touchdown in tonight's game, ending a streak of nine straight quarters without allowing a touchdown (second quarter of Texas game). The touchdown also ended a streak of 13 straight quarters of not allowing a touchdown at Memorial Stadium (second quarter touchdown pass by Iowa State). Nebraska did not allow a touchdown at home in games against Kansas State and Oklahoma to end the 2009 season.
• Nebraska has allowed 20 or fewer points in nine straight games dating back to last season, the longest streak in the nation.
• Three true freshmen saw action in tonight's game--wide receiver Quincy Enunwa, defensive back Ciante Evans and offensive guard Andrew Rodriguez. Among other players seeing their first action as Cornhuskers were: QB Taylor Martinez, OT Jeremiah Sirles, OT Jermarcus (Yoshi) Hardrick, OG Brent Qvale, LB Lavonte David, TE Jake Long, FB C.J. Zimmerer, DE Jason Ankrah, DL Thaddeus Randle, OL Cole Pensick, OL Seung Hoon Choi, WR KC Hyland.