NU offense breaks loose with big plays
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
You know things are going well when it’s first-and-35, and there’s no panic in the huddle.
And you know things are going exceptionally well when you gain 49 yards on the ensuing play.
Such was life for Nebraska on Saturday night.
The No. 23 Huskers hammered Troy 56-0 at Memorial Stadium with the help of 10 plays that gained 20 yards or more.
One of those plays came on Nebraska’s second touchdown drive, when quarterback Zac Taylor found wide receiver Nate Swift alone in the secondary. The play, which came after successive penalties of 15 and 10 yards against the Huskers, gave Nebraska first-and-goal at the Troy 6-yard line.
“I don’t think it bothered anybody,” Swift said of the first-and-35 conversion. “It felt like at that point, we could do whatever we wanted. Every play was working in the book.”
Indeed. Nebraska (3-1), a week after using a conservative offensive game plan in a loss at No. 4 USC, steamrolled these Trojans (1-3) in every way possible.
The Huskers ran for 316 yards, threw for 281, and amassed their highest output of the season, 597 yards.
Taylor attempted only one more pass this week (17) than he did against USC (16), but this time completed 14 for 268 yards, including a season-best 67-yard pass to Terrence Nunn.
Last season, Nebraska’s biggest “big-play” game was at Colorado, when the Huskers had seven plays of 20 yards or more.
Nebraska managed eight such plays in the first half alone against Troy. And six of those covered 30 or more yards.
No wonder, than, that the Huskers had amassed 406 yards by halftime, the most in a half under Bill Callahan, and the most in a half for NU since 2000 against Baylor.
“The offensive line,” Taylor said, when asked what was key to the night’s big plays. “They had some huge holes, and I had plenty of time in the pocket. I missed one or two checks that got some pressure on me.”
Sophomore running back Marlon Lucky had touchdown runs of 34, 45 and 51 yards, en route to a career-high 156 rushing yards. Backups Kenny Wilson and Brandon Jackson each had one run of more than 20 yards.
“I just saw the end zone,” Lucky said. “The line blocked, made some big holes, and I just ran through them.”
Lucky said he played through elbow soreness that sidelined him during the second half against USC. Otherwise, he said he felt great.
“Legs was fresh,” he said “Line blocked good today, and we did good today.”
Callahan, who worked extensively throughout the week with the offensive line, credited backside blocking and improved timing overall.
Lucky showed tremendous burst to the outside on his first run, capping Nebraska’s first series. He used a key block from fullback Dane Todd en route to the 34-yard score.
“The backers played inside,” Todd said, “so I just logged ’em on the first run, and Marlon had enough speed to get to the outside, and all of the linemen got ’em cut down on the backside.
“It was just a good blocking job overall. The receivers did a really nice job on the perimeter all day.”
They also weren’t bad catching the ball. Nunn had four receptions for a career-high 102 yards. And Swift, who’d gone two straight games without a catch, had three catches for 79 yards. Junior college transfer Maurice Purify also had a 36-yard reception.
“Part of the game plan was we were going to take some shots on them,” Swift said. “Once we started to see they were playing cover-2 … their safeties were so wide off the hashes. The middle was wide-open, so we just took advantage of that.”
So efficient was Nebraska that Taylor had a sideline seat not long into the third quarter. Joe Ganz, who completed 2 of 6 passes for 13 yards and a touchdown, played until late in the game, when Beau Davis entered.
Other than a late first-half interception, Taylor was virtually flawless.
“We mixed it up with passing and running,” Swift said. “It seemed like they were looking more often for the run at the beginning of the game, and then they were kind of playing the pass.”
Said Lucky: “We worked hard the whole week and came out and did our thing today.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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