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Huskers handle Kansas State to clinch Big 12 North title
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
By Dale Miller
dale.miller@theindependent.com
LINCOLN – Nebraska made what seemed unlikely just a month ago turn into reality Saturday.
The Cornhuskers are the 2009 Big 12 North division champions.
Nebraska stuck to its recent winning formula of an efficient enough offense and a stingy defense to down Kansas State 17-3 at Memorial Stadium in a game to decide which team left with the North trophy.
“This was a good win, a good win for our program,” NU coach Bo Pelini said. “I’m happy for our football team. We’ve kind of been through a lot up to this point. They persevered.
“I still think our best football is out there for us to play, but we have to keep working to get better.”
The Huskers (8-3 overall, 5-2 Big 12) took a 10-3 lead into the second half and then opened with a quick scoring drive.
On third-and-1 from the Nebraska 39-yard line, quarterback Zac Lee connected with Niles Paul for a 49-yard gain, and on the next play Roy Helu Jr. ran it in from 14 yards out.
The Huskers led 17-3 and, even with 13:21 left in the third quarter, the lead loomed large with the way the Blackshirts were playing.
“We knew we couldn’t let them hang around us and be within one touchdown of us,” Nebraska center Jacob Hickman said. “We knew the best way to do it was to come out right out of the half and score.
“All the coaches were fired up after halftime and it really transfers to players. We ran the ball a little bit, passed it. It was a good balanced drive and we got it in there.”
Lee liked the chance to throw long to Paul on the third-down play.
“You always like it when you get a chance to throw the ball downfield especially with a guy like Niles, who has speed and is a big guy,” he said.
Pelini also liked the call from offensive coordinator Shawn Watson.
“Wats felt good about it,” he said. “He wanted to take a shot. It was there.”
Kansas State (6-6, 4-4) had its opportunities to get back within one score but repeatedly came up short in the third quarter.
After Nebraska scored, the Wildcats drove down the field. On third-and-9 from the 13, quarterback Grant Gregory connected with Keithen Valentine. But Larry Asante hit Valentine at the 1-yard line and forced a fumble which Prince Amukamara covered at the 5.
Kansas State again moved into the red zone on its next possession, but this time Josh Cherry’s 32-yard field goal attempt went wide right.
And again the Wildcats came up empty on their next try despite taking over at the Nebraska 43-yard line.
“Our kids have an attitude about keeping people out of the end zone,” Pelini said. “Larry made the hit like (Dejon) Gomes did last week (against Kansas).”
Kansas State’s last try ended at the 27-yard line after eating 4:42 off the clock in the fourth quarter.
“We had ample opportunities,” Wildcats coach Bill Snyder said. “Our football team understands that. I thought we played well enough to win defensively. We couldn’t score on offense.
“We played the entire third quarter in plus territory and still couldn’t get the ball in the end zone. (Nebraska) is a very good defensive football team, so understand that they had something to do with it. It’s not just our offense. But we just weren’t nearly as good as we needed to be to have an opportunity to win the ballgame.”
The Nebraska offense took over and ran out the clock after Lee surged ahead for a first down on fourth-and-1 at the Huskers’ 36-yard line with 2:31 remaining.
Pelini was talked out of punting by his players.
“I’m going to punt it,” he said. “The kids assured me they were going to get it. We rushed back out there and snuck it. They’re lucky they did (make it) or I would be looking pretty dumb.”
Hickman wanted to finalize a trip to the Big 12 Championship game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on the play.
“The game wasn’t completely in question at the time, but I was less than a yard for us to get to Dallas and clinch it,” he said.
Watson credited the offensive line for the big conversion.
“The kids have been so resilient this year, especially Jacob Hickman,” Watson said. “He’s been unbelievable this year in terms of his leadership. He was the one spearheading the movement over there on the sidelines. The offensive line all really appreciated the opportunity to do that.”
Kansas State had its only scoring possession to start the game.
Both teams opened with lengthy drives that ended with field goals. Kansas State went 58 yards in 10 plays in 5:30 to set up a 44-yard try by Cherry, a McCook native.
Nebraska responded to tie it at 3 with 1:44 left in the opening quarter. The Huskers successfully converted three third downs while going 56 yards in 16 plays and 7:37 before Alex Henery hit a 34 yarder.
Penalties started hurting the Wildcats on both offense and defense. They were flagged six times for 54 yards in the first half, and a personal foul on linebacker John Houlik for hitting Lee out of bounds aided the Huskers on their second possession.
On third-and-7 from the KSU 17-yard line, Lee pump faked and then hit tight end Mike McNeill down the middle for the touchdown to put Nebraska up 10-3 with 12:02 remaining in the first half. Lee finished 13-for-19 for 166 yards.
Winning the battle for field position appeared to set NU up to make it 3-for-4 in scoring on its possessions. Henery’s punt angled sharply to the right after hitting the turf and went out of bounds at the 1-yard line.
Three KSU incompletions later and Nebraska started its drive on the Kansas State 35-yard line. But on second-and-goal from the 5, defensive end Jeff Fitzgerald sacked Lee for a 14-yard loss and on the next play Tysyn Hartman picked off Lee in the end zone and returned it 42 yards.
Asante returned the favor by intercepting a pass by Gregory at the NU 16.
“Larry played well, but I thought across the board we all did some good things,” Pelini said.
Nebraska had to punt, and despite starting at its own 24-yard line with 1:01 left and no timeouts, the Wildcats did get a last-second field goal try off by Cherry, but a 51-yard attempt fell short as the half expired.
At halftime Pelini was the coach who felt his team had too many missed opportunities.
“Offensively, we did some good things,” he said. “We have a lot to correct. We made a lot of mistakes. I thought we left some points on the field, especially in the first half.
“We didn’t manage things real well at times, but overall it was a good effort and we did what we needed to do to win the football game. It was a good team win.”
And a win to clinch the Big 12 North was really appreciated by the Husker seniors after facing an uphill climb following back-to-back losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State last month.
“We had our ups and downs this year and throughout my career,” Hickman said. “It’s big to get the Big 12 North title on seniors day.”
Asanted agreed that it was a special day.
“It was a very emotional game,” he said. “It was our last tunnel walk and we had to get this victory for the senior class and we had to go out the right way. The right way was to win the Big 12 North.”
The Cornhuskers are the 2009 Big 12 North division champions.
Nebraska stuck to its recent winning formula of an efficient enough offense and a stingy defense to down Kansas State 17-3 at Memorial Stadium in a game to decide which team left with the North trophy.
“This was a good win, a good win for our program,” NU coach Bo Pelini said. “I’m happy for our football team. We’ve kind of been through a lot up to this point. They persevered.
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| Nebraska's Roy Helu Jr. finds room to run during the first half against Kansas State on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. (Independent/Scott Kingsley) |
The Huskers (8-3 overall, 5-2 Big 12) took a 10-3 lead into the second half and then opened with a quick scoring drive.
On third-and-1 from the Nebraska 39-yard line, quarterback Zac Lee connected with Niles Paul for a 49-yard gain, and on the next play Roy Helu Jr. ran it in from 14 yards out.
The Huskers led 17-3 and, even with 13:21 left in the third quarter, the lead loomed large with the way the Blackshirts were playing.
“We knew we couldn’t let them hang around us and be within one touchdown of us,” Nebraska center Jacob Hickman said. “We knew the best way to do it was to come out right out of the half and score.
“All the coaches were fired up after halftime and it really transfers to players. We ran the ball a little bit, passed it. It was a good balanced drive and we got it in there.”
Lee liked the chance to throw long to Paul on the third-down play.
“You always like it when you get a chance to throw the ball downfield especially with a guy like Niles, who has speed and is a big guy,” he said.
Pelini also liked the call from offensive coordinator Shawn Watson.
“Wats felt good about it,” he said. “He wanted to take a shot. It was there.”
Kansas State (6-6, 4-4) had its opportunities to get back within one score but repeatedly came up short in the third quarter.
After Nebraska scored, the Wildcats drove down the field. On third-and-9 from the 13, quarterback Grant Gregory connected with Keithen Valentine. But Larry Asante hit Valentine at the 1-yard line and forced a fumble which Prince Amukamara covered at the 5.
Kansas State again moved into the red zone on its next possession, but this time Josh Cherry’s 32-yard field goal attempt went wide right.
And again the Wildcats came up empty on their next try despite taking over at the Nebraska 43-yard line.
“Our kids have an attitude about keeping people out of the end zone,” Pelini said. “Larry made the hit like (Dejon) Gomes did last week (against Kansas).”
Kansas State’s last try ended at the 27-yard line after eating 4:42 off the clock in the fourth quarter.
“We had ample opportunities,” Wildcats coach Bill Snyder said. “Our football team understands that. I thought we played well enough to win defensively. We couldn’t score on offense.
“We played the entire third quarter in plus territory and still couldn’t get the ball in the end zone. (Nebraska) is a very good defensive football team, so understand that they had something to do with it. It’s not just our offense. But we just weren’t nearly as good as we needed to be to have an opportunity to win the ballgame.”
The Nebraska offense took over and ran out the clock after Lee surged ahead for a first down on fourth-and-1 at the Huskers’ 36-yard line with 2:31 remaining.
Pelini was talked out of punting by his players.
“I’m going to punt it,” he said. “The kids assured me they were going to get it. We rushed back out there and snuck it. They’re lucky they did (make it) or I would be looking pretty dumb.”
Hickman wanted to finalize a trip to the Big 12 Championship game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on the play.
“The game wasn’t completely in question at the time, but I was less than a yard for us to get to Dallas and clinch it,” he said.
Watson credited the offensive line for the big conversion.
“The kids have been so resilient this year, especially Jacob Hickman,” Watson said. “He’s been unbelievable this year in terms of his leadership. He was the one spearheading the movement over there on the sidelines. The offensive line all really appreciated the opportunity to do that.”
Kansas State had its only scoring possession to start the game.
Both teams opened with lengthy drives that ended with field goals. Kansas State went 58 yards in 10 plays in 5:30 to set up a 44-yard try by Cherry, a McCook native.
Nebraska responded to tie it at 3 with 1:44 left in the opening quarter. The Huskers successfully converted three third downs while going 56 yards in 16 plays and 7:37 before Alex Henery hit a 34 yarder.
Penalties started hurting the Wildcats on both offense and defense. They were flagged six times for 54 yards in the first half, and a personal foul on linebacker John Houlik for hitting Lee out of bounds aided the Huskers on their second possession.
On third-and-7 from the KSU 17-yard line, Lee pump faked and then hit tight end Mike McNeill down the middle for the touchdown to put Nebraska up 10-3 with 12:02 remaining in the first half. Lee finished 13-for-19 for 166 yards.
Winning the battle for field position appeared to set NU up to make it 3-for-4 in scoring on its possessions. Henery’s punt angled sharply to the right after hitting the turf and went out of bounds at the 1-yard line.
Three KSU incompletions later and Nebraska started its drive on the Kansas State 35-yard line. But on second-and-goal from the 5, defensive end Jeff Fitzgerald sacked Lee for a 14-yard loss and on the next play Tysyn Hartman picked off Lee in the end zone and returned it 42 yards.
Asante returned the favor by intercepting a pass by Gregory at the NU 16.
“Larry played well, but I thought across the board we all did some good things,” Pelini said.
Nebraska had to punt, and despite starting at its own 24-yard line with 1:01 left and no timeouts, the Wildcats did get a last-second field goal try off by Cherry, but a 51-yard attempt fell short as the half expired.
At halftime Pelini was the coach who felt his team had too many missed opportunities.
“Offensively, we did some good things,” he said. “We have a lot to correct. We made a lot of mistakes. I thought we left some points on the field, especially in the first half.
“We didn’t manage things real well at times, but overall it was a good effort and we did what we needed to do to win the football game. It was a good team win.”
And a win to clinch the Big 12 North was really appreciated by the Husker seniors after facing an uphill climb following back-to-back losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State last month.
“We had our ups and downs this year and throughout my career,” Hickman said. “It’s big to get the Big 12 North title on seniors day.”
Asanted agreed that it was a special day.
“It was a very emotional game,” he said. “It was our last tunnel walk and we had to get this victory for the senior class and we had to go out the right way. The right way was to win the Big 12 North.”
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| Huskers crank up 90-77 win over TCU | Husker Gameday Notebook |
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