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Huskers take Ames, 28-14

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By STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star

Sunday, Oct 08, 2006 - 01:09:00 am CDT

AMES, Iowa — Simplicity was oh, so sweet for Nebraska. Sticking to basic run plays much of the time, and getting a strong defensive effort, 22nd-ranked Nebraska hammered out a crucial Big 12 North triumph Saturday night, beating Iowa State 28-14 before 55,338 fans, the second-largest crowd ever to see a football game at Jack Trice Stadium.

One week after allowing 574 yards to Kansas — the most Nebraska’s defense ever surrendered in victory — the Huskers responded by holding gifted Iowa State quarterback Bret Meyer in check for most of the night. Meyer was 18-for-39 passing for 262 yards and a touchdown, with one interception, and the Cyclones finished with 315 yards to the Huskers’ 382.

Meanwhile, Nebraska pounded away with its ground game against an Iowa State defense that ranked 95th nationally entering the night, as I-backs Cody Glenn and Brandon Jackson enjoyed career nights.

Story Photo
NU's Jay Moore (44) celebrates a defensive stop. (Dior Azcuy)

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Glenn led the way with 19 carries for 148 yards and two touchdowns, while Jackson churned out 116 yards and a TD on 22 attempts. The Huskers wound up with 251 yards on the ground, 131 through the air.

“When you play on the road, you have to run the football and play good defense,” said Nebraska coach Bill Callahan, who praised his team’s overall effort.

“Road wins are hard to come by,” he said. “Our kids played awfully hard — the hardest they’ve played this season.”

The 6-foot, 230-pound Glenn high-stepped over tacklers on the way to the end zone with 1:33 left in the game, capping Nebraska’s scoring. The run put an exclamation point on a nine-play, 78-yard scoring drive in which Glenn carried the bulk of the load.

Nebraska improved to 5-1 overall and stands 2-0 in the Big 12 Conference for the first time since 2001.

“It’s huge,” Husker linebacker Corey McKeon said of NU’s eighth win in nine games dating to last season. “Especially beating Iowa State, a contender for the Big 12 North. We came out and showed how we could play against big-time contenders like that.”

Meyer hooked up with wideout Todd Blythe on a 13-yard touchdown pass with six seconds remaining, but the Cyclones experienced mostly frustration in dropping to 3-3 and 0-2.

Getting pressure on Meyer was key, McKeon said.

“He was running around like a chicken with his head cut off,” McKeon said.

Although Nebraska leaned heavily on its ground game, it was a pass near the end of the first half that proved to be the most significant play of the night.

Taking possession with 1:25 left before the break, the Huskers churned out a seven-play, 60-yard touchdown drive, capped by wide receiver Maurice Purify’s 27-yard scoring reception that pushed the Huskers’ lead to 21-7 with three seconds on the clock.

Taylor held firm in the pocket despite pressure from rushers before lofting the strike to the 6-4 Purify in the end zone over the head of 5-10 cornerback Chris Singleton.

“It was a great play, great execution,” said Callahan, noting Taylor caught Iowa State in a blitz.

Nebraska had established control. The Huskers at halftime had telling advantages in first downs (11-4), total yards (205-91) and possession time (18:58-11:02). NU’s front four on defense was particularly strong and continued that strong play in the second half.

Callahan said he challenged the defensive linemen this week, and they responded.

Neither team scored in the third quarter. Nebraska was stymied in large part by bad field position, with drives starting at its 3-, 7-, 21- and 12-yard lines. Iowa State hurt itself with penalties and Meyer’s interception near the end of the period. Husker cornerback Cortney Grixby hauled in Meyer’s deep pass along the left sideline.

Nebraska played conservatively on offense for much of the second half, what with its lead, its poor field position much of the time, plus the fact the Husker defense was enjoying such a strong night.

“The first thing we said at halftime was, ‘We have to put four quarters together,’” McKeon said. “Last week, we only played a half, and then kind of quit a little bit and let Kansas get at us.”

Jackson came up big as Nebraska went up 14-7 midway through the second quarter. He had carries of 21 and 11 yards and capped an 11-play, 68-yard drive with a 1-yard run.

Glenn was key on Nebraska’s first possession of the game, a 10-play, 80-yard march. He rumbled 36 yards on third-and-1 from the Iowa State 45-yard line. He later reeled off a 7-yard run on third-and-4 and eventually capped the drive with a 3-yard run.

Iowa State answered with Meyer’s 1-yard sneak two plays into the second quarter, capping an 11-play, 43-yard drive. The key was Meyer’s 23-yard completion to wideout Austin Flynn on third-and-19.


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D wrote on October 8, 2006 4:52 am:
" NU beat another average team. Does that alone make us above average? Not yet. When we beat an above average team we will be above average. Teh Cyclones have beaten no quality opponent yet this year and calling them average is a stretch of my imagination. However, we get to add another victory to the NU statistical report and that can never be bad. Next week will be interesting considering last years highly competitive game. "

 Roger wrote on October 8, 2006 8:18 am:
" nothing wrong with winning, but we were given several breaks by the officials. "

 whatever wrote on October 8, 2006 9:38 am:
" A win is a win, but our offense was mediocre at best. Iowa State has one of the worst defenses in the country and all we could muster was 28 points? This team is still a long way from the Nebraska teams of old. We will be lucky to get 3 more wins this season. "

 A wrote on October 8, 2006 10:24 am:
" The win was good but not very satisfying. 2nd half NU offense performance was unacceptable. Litmus test this season? When the boys from Texas come to town. "

 JJ wrote on October 8, 2006 10:32 am:
" The Callahan era will be shourt lived. "

 V wrote on October 8, 2006 11:20 am:
" I'm shocked at the reaction of this board. Do they not remember the last two times we visited Jack Trice Stadium? Just because the Huskers didn't put up 56 points on a good conference opponent doesn't mean they aren't a good team. They controlled the pace of the game with great performances by Glenn and Jackson. Taylor made zero mistakes and led the team on a great drive at the end of the first half. The defense played extremely well, only bending at the end of the game when the outcome wasn't in doubt anymore. Be proud of the Huskers; they did everything they set out to do. "

 jm wrote on October 8, 2006 11:32 am:
" This must be the Nebraskans from Iowa room. I thought I was on the Lincoln Journal Star website. Sorry wrong room my mistake. "

 Challenge wrote on October 8, 2006 11:37 am:
" When is the coach going to challange his offensive line to a four quarter game? Why does it take a challenge for team to give 110% for a full game? This week I challenge the coach to mix it up all four quarters!!! RUN PASS PASS / PASS RUN RUN / RUN PASS RUN / PASS PASS RUN / RUN RUN RUN / PASS PASS PASS ? Cody Great Game !!! Coach where was he two games ago!!!!! "

 dwhooch wrote on October 8, 2006 11:48 am:
" Another W. When will Bill put "Mo" in a position to show his game?! Huskers fans want exciting FB not just W's. Come on Bill its time to put Watson at the controls!!!! "

 L wrote on October 8, 2006 12:12 pm:
" give the boys a break, its been along time since we could hold our heads high. Like Whatever wrote. " a win is a win" be pround of the players, and the coaches. I would not want to be put on the spot like they are every weekend. "

 Mark wrote on October 8, 2006 12:38 pm:
" Antoher poor effort by the coaching staff. Mediocrity is well entrenched in Lincoln. "

 Troy wrote on October 8, 2006 12:50 pm:
" Smart game plan. Great use of Timeouts late in 2nd Qtr to set up score. Smart run calls in 3rd Qtr with horrible field position but lead in tact. Taylor is a solid QB, backs are stronger every week, receivers looking good, TE's blocking extremely well and catching balls when thrown to. When the recruits show up on the D side of the ball in the next couple of years, we'll again be back to Nat'l contention year after year. "

 S wrote on October 8, 2006 1:16 pm:
" We are running the ball and passing the ball well. Something that has never happened in the history of Nebraska football. Frazier was the last QB that could do it against GOOD TEAMS and win. Being predictable on offense is one thing but throw in some mediocre players we had back in 2000-2004 and it is a train wreck waiting to happen. The people who think the coaching staff is terrible and their to blame for the teams lack of success. LETS LOOK AT REALITY SHALL WE? Solich took over for Osbourne after we had won three champoinships. The program slowly began to deteriorate due to lack of quality players especially at the skilled positions. We were not competing with Texas,K-State,Oklahoma. Oklahoma did give us one before we got schooled by Colorado but the point being I think peterson made the decision he made based on the information he had at the time which was we were not competing with good teams very well. The option offense works well as long as your are not playing a quick speedy defense that can get to the corner with your QB and your pitch guy. Callahans offense has the ability to attack a defense's weak points or add variety to make defensive cordinators loose sleep at night unlike the old days where they know what we were going to do probebly before we even knew. When we played the speedy florida teams 8.5 times out of 10 we got our butts handed to us. Solich dug us a hole people and sometimes like it or not it takes time to fill it back in again. "

 Jim wrote on October 8, 2006 2:57 pm:
" There were some horrible, horrible calls by the officials in this game. "

 Tim wrote on October 8, 2006 3:07 pm:
" You have got to love the Huskers... Great job guys, a win is a win. Beat them next week, I'll be cheering you on the same way I have since I saw my first game in 1968! "

 DP wrote on October 8, 2006 7:21 pm:
" It doesn't seem to matter what the topic is, people who write comments on LJS are always negative. We won the game didn't we? We are ranked 21st in the country not 1st, so don't expect NU to beat everyone by 40 points like the good old days. You have to take every victory and move on to the next game and try to win that game. If you aren't a Husker fan that's fine but if you are one, just enjoy the win and cheer them on next week and stop complaining about everything. "

 Taylor wrote on October 8, 2006 7:50 pm:
" Huskers need to be more consistent and work on their defense a little more but other than that they had a decent game "

 Ann Richards wrote on October 8, 2006 8:04 pm:
" Texas awaits you! "

 Cori wrote on October 8, 2006 8:33 pm:
" Not that I'm unhappy about the win, but I have to wonder what direction the game would have gone, had the officials not taken away the obvious TD that ISU made in the 3rd quarter. That probably killed a lot of the momentum for ISU. "

 Robert Whelchel wrote on October 8, 2006 10:07 pm:
" Game blacked out in Northern, CA. I have been noting a common practice for years by NU pass coverage. NU Coverage men most always appear to be in reach of long down field passes caught. Deep backs seem unware that the ball is arriving. Work extensively on down field defensive pass drill(s). Close games are coourage games. Congradulations. If you were not satisfied with last weeks Iowa State victory ( a team that barely lost to the team that barely lost to number 1 Ohio State),then you obviously never sat in the old South end, $.25 knot whole seats and watched NU take a whopping almost every week and we`re still fans. We only had one All American then Novak from Grand Island, I think. Then there were the Bobby Reynolds agaimst Oklhoma`s Billy Vessels years. Keep inproving NU I believe a Big North Championship is possible. Concentrate on games films and correct that old down field coverage problem it will equate to one or two extra wins this season. GO BIG RED "

 NU Fan in Florida wrote on October 8, 2006 11:02 pm:
" Although we are living in Florida, we are still BIG RED fans! This said, I must comment on the constant negativity written after every game. A popular regional radio station down here ran a poll wanting to know what college team had the most loyal and faithful fans... listeners were calling in from all over, and hands down, the Husker Fans were overwhelming number one! It made me puke to hear that, knowing what kind of "suppport" alot of their "fans" showed after every game. Wow.. wonder how many of them have ever even played in a game except their Friday night highschool games. And you call yourself a Husker Fan... guess only if the win is big enough for ya! The team deserves more!!!! "

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