Kansas benefited from a Nebraska special-teams mistake to prolong a drive at the end of the first quarter. Kansas gained six yards in three plays and punter Joey Pelfanio got off a 28-yard punt, but the ball was ruled to have hit DeAntae Grixby’s foot, and Brandon Wier wisely fell on the ball to give Kansas possession on the NU 45. Kansas capitalized with Joe Garcia’s 45-yard field goal.
Kansas’ Quincy Roe had an apparent interception and return of about 25 yards voided when he was flagged for pass interference on the play. It was Roe’s second pass interference penalty on the day.
With his 127 rushing yards, Eric Crouch became NU’s all-time leading rushing QB. His four rushing TDs tied a school record for QB rushing touchdowns in a game.
Kansas suffered no serious injuries against Nebraska. Dylen Smith (ankle), David Winbush (ankle), Algie Atkinson (bruised lower back), Ervin Holloman (stinger), Nate Dwyer (knee bruise), John Oddonetto (right ankle sprain) and Andrew Davison (sprained neck) suffered new injuries. Moran Norris (ankle) did not play for the second straight week. Allen said all the injured players should be able to return for Texas next Saturday.
Kansas made a minor change to its defense Saturday. Chaz Murphy, normally an outside linebacker/defensive end, played inside ‘backer, and Tim Bowers moved from inside to outside linebacker.
True freshman J.T. Thompson had a career-best three catches for a career-best 70 yards. Reggie Duncan had a career day with 96 yards off 11 carries. Ryan Atkinson recovered his first career fumble. Adrian Jones had his first career reception.
Among the notables at Saturday’s game was Darin Erstad, the former NU baseball player and punter who plays for the California Angels.
Weather at game time: 62 degrees and sunny with an 8 mph wind out of the south.
Navy coach Charlie Weatherbie, father of KU quarterback Jonas Weatherbie, attended the KU-NU game. Navy had a bye Saturday, allowing the older Weatherbie the chance to see his son play for the first time this season. Jonas did not play.
NU starting linebacker Randy Stella was held out of Saturday’s game for violating team policy. Junior Mark Vedral made his first career start in Stella’s place.
Saturday’s game was the 238th straight sellout at Memorial Stadium, an NCAA-record streak dating to 1962. The announced crowd of 78,096 fans for NU’s homecoming was an all-time high. The reason? The Huskers brought in a few dozen folding chairs for homecoming royalty. The previous high was 78,070 against Iowa earlier this season.
Former NU coach Tom Osborne won a special exemption to serve alcohol at his likely congressional victory party. The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission voted Friday morning to turn down a request for a special license for Osborne’s party at the Hastings City Auditorium, but the commission later relented. Osborne is expected to handily defeat Rollie Reynolds for the 3rd District House seat, but the group planning his victory party was late in asking for permission to serve booze. Not that it matters to Osborne. He’s a teetotaler.
9:57 Eric Crouch 1 run. Kansas took game’s first possession and lost two yards in three plays before punting, and NU took over on own 44. Scoring drive covered 56 yards in seven plays. Dan Alexander gained 55 of those yards. He had big runs of 23, 14 and 10 yards, and NU never faced third down. Josh Brown kick. (Nebraska 7, Kansas 0).
4:00 Crouch 1 run. Kansas actually moved ball on second possession, driving from own 25 to NU 35 where, on third-and-10, Harrison Hill hauled in a Dylen Smith pass, but fumbled when hit by DeJuan Groce, and Erwin Swiney recovered to give Huskers possession on own 47. Huskers took eight plays to cover 53 yards. Big plays were 17-yard pass from Crouch to Bobby Newcombe on third down, Crouch’s 21-yard run and 11-yard Correll Buckhalter run. Brown kick. (Nebraska 14, Kansas 0).
1:42 Crouch 3 run. After forcing another three-and-out possession, Nebraska took over on KU’s 38 after 12-yard Newcombe punt return. Huskers scored in just three plays, including Alexander’s 23-yard run on first play with incidental face mask call on Kansas tacked onto end to give NU first and 10 from 11. Crouch scored untouched on option keeper. (Nebraska 21, Kansas 0).
13:40 Joe Garcia 45 FG. On final possession of first quarter, Kansas went three-and-out and Joey Pelfanio got off a 28-yard punt, but the ball bounced and was ruled to have ticked off the foot of NU’s DeAntae Grixby. KU’s Brandon Wier wisely fell on the ball, and the drive was kept alive. On first play after punt, Smith hit J.T. Thompson with a 23-yard pass, and KU made it to the Nebraska 20 before backing up to the 27 with a holding call. (Nebraska 21, Kansas 3).
11:24 Tracey Wistrom 3 pass from Crouch. After Kansas field goal, NU took over on own 20 and promptly went 80 yards in seven plays, including 47-yard run by Crouch on first play. Other big plays were eight-yard Buckhalter run on fourth-and-one from the KU 24, and pass interference call against KU’s Quincy Roe that gave NU first-and-goal from the two. On second-and-goal, Crouch faked a handoff, then threw pass that was deflected by KU’s Carl Nesmith into Wistrom’s hands. Brown kick. (Nebraska 28, Kansas 3).
1:41 Crouch 1 run. Nebraska took its penultimate possession of first half on own 11 and went 89 yards in 12 plays. Series appeared to have ended when Quincy Roe picked off a Crouch pass on fourth play of drive, but Roe was flagged for pass interference to keep drive alive. Big plays were a pair of 18-yard runs by Crouch. Huskers converted three third downs on drive that covered 5 minutes, 54 seconds. Brown kick. (Nebraska 35, Kansas 3).
10:16 Buckhalter 4 run. Nebraska took first possession of second half and set sail on 80-yard, 11-play drive. Big plays were runs of 20 and 16 yards by Buckhalter, and again NU didn’t have a third-down play. On TD, Buckhalter took handoff, went up middle and dragged Ervin Holloman and Kareem High into end zone. Brown kick. (Nebraska 42, Kansas 3).
:06 Jammal Lord 5 run. Though he lost a fumble on his first series, backup QB Lord directed the Huskers on a 54-yard, 10-play drive on his second, which started after Jeremy Slechta intercepted Smith at midfield. Big play of drive was 11-yard run by Lord. Brown kick. (Nebraska 49, Kansas 3).
13:20 Smith 6 run. Immediately after NU TD, Kansas responded with seven-play, 74-yard scoring drive. Big plays were runs of 34 and 13 yards by Reggie Duncan and 21-yard pass from Smith to Hill. Kansas scored on fourth-and-goal from the six. Garcia kick. (Nebraska 49, Kansas 10).
9:14 Judd Davies 3 run. After KU’s late score, Nebraska set off on 61-yard, nine-play drive. Big plays were 27-yard pass from Lord to Davies, 12-yard run by Dahrran Diedrick, 12-yard pass from Lord to Diedrick and seven-yard pass from Lord to John Gibson on fourth-and-five from the KU 10. Brown kick. (Nebraska 56, Kansas 10).
3:57 Duncan 2 run. Freshmen (red-shirt and true) dominated this 12-play, 80-yard drive. Red-shirt freshman QB Zach Dyer completed a 30-yard pass to Thompson, a true freshman, and Duncan rushed for 17 yards. Dyer also had a seven-yard run and completed a short pass to red-shirt freshman tight end Adrian Jones. Garcia kick. (Nebraska 56, Kansas 17).
