Nebraska's no-frill win

The pregame and halftime speeches of Bo Pelini for his head coaching debut may become a Nebraska football mystery.

"I can't repeat a lot of it," quarterback Joe Ganz said. "He was intense. He's different than what we had before. He gets fired up. I like it. …He had some interesting words to say. That's all I'll say."

Whatever Pelini said, it worked.

While it wasn't the most impressive victory in Nebraska football history, the Huskers will take a 47-24 win over Western Michigan at Memorial Stadium that extended their nation-leading streak of season-opening wins to 23.

There were areas that could be criticized -- three 80-yard drives given up by the defense, fourth-quarter turnovers that gave the Broncos an opportunity to try to crawl back into the game or some untimely 15-yard penalties.

But Pelini was focusing on the end result after the game.

"It's a win. I'm excited," he said. "The kids worked hard. We won the football game. We're 1-0 and that's what we came here to do.

"I don't want to say anything to take away from them, but we can get better, obviously, on both sides and on special teams, but that's to be expected."

Pelini downplayed the game being extra special for him since it was his first one as a head coach without an "interim" tag attached to the title.

"I've been to a lot of football games and I'm just happy we won the football game," he said. "I appreciated the effort of the coaches and players and what they've done up to this point."

And the players appreciated Pelini's work. The game captains presented Pelini with the game ball following the win.

"What was said was, ’Coach, we want to present you with this game ball for the first of many wins at Nebraska,'" guard and co-captain Matt Slauson said.

And what was Pelini's reaction?

"Really flattered," Slauson said. "He was pleased. He was pleased with the win and he's a real emotional guy, so it was good. It was nice."

After warming up, the NU offense proved to be tough for Western Michigan to stop. After punting on their first possession, the Huskers scored the next seven times they had the ball.

Ganz completed 20 of 36 passes for 345 yards and four touchdowns while the Nebraska defense limited Western Michigan to 8 yards rushing on 25 carries.

Joe Ganz displayed his abilities as a dual-threat quarterback to set up the first score after the Nebraska defense forced a three-and-out. He opened the drive with a 32-yard run, then moved NU into the red zone on a 12-yard pass to Todd Peterson.

On the next play, Marlon Lucky took a pitch to the left side, waited for his blocks to set up, then zipped into the end zone for a 14-yard score. That gave Nebraska a 7-0 lead with 8 minutes, 6 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Defensive end Barry Turner said the defense felt good about its start especially with the way the NU offense followed up.

"It was very important (to get the three-and-out), especially since our offense punted," he said. "We gave them the ball back and they scored off it."

The Huskers used a big play to open the next drive en route to another touchdown. Quentin Castille caught a 31-yard pass, and the Huskers' drive was kept alive on a pass interference call on third-and-8 from the Western Michigan 29-yard line.

Peterson's 10-yard reception again extended the drive on third-and-9, and two plays later Ganz found tight end Mike McNeill wide open on the right side of the end zone on a play-action pass for a 3-yard TD.

Nebraska's defense helped set up the next score. Cody Glenn stripped the ball from running back Brandon West after a reception, and cornerback Eric Hagg recovered the fumble at the WMU 31.

The Huskers settled for a 44-yard field goal by Alex Henery to go up 17-0 10 seconds into the second quarter.

Western Michigan took advantage of Nebraska penalties to cut the lead to 17-7 with 11:07 left in the half. Of an 80-yard drive, 30 yards came on a pair of flags -- one for pass interference that nullified an interception, another for a personal foul.

The Broncos converted three times on third down, including a 3-yard pass from Tim Hiller to Branden Ledbetter for the score.

Nebraska came right back to add another touchdown. After Peterson's 12-yard reception on third-and-10, Nate Swift had a career-high 61-yard touchdown catch. Swift had to put a hand down to keep his balance on the play, which put NU up 24-7 with 10:14 remaining in the second quarter.

Ganz continued to mix-and-match passes to his receivers. The next NU drive included receptions by three players, with Lucky adding a 16-yarder to set up another 44-yard field goal by Henery.

For the game, Ganz divided his 20 completions between seven players.

Western Michigan settled for a field goal to cut the lead to 27-10 with 3:02 left in the first half despite having a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

Nebraska capped off the first half by running its two-minute drill to perfection. It went 59 yards in four plays and needed 37 seconds with Swift adding a 2-yard touchdown reception to give NU a 34-10 lead into halftime.

Ganz finished the first half 16-for-23 for 230 yards and three touchdowns.

"Our goal is to go out there and score every time," Ganz said. "That's what we focus on."

Henery added his third field goal of 44 yards with 8:23 left in the third quarter, extending the Huskers' lead to 37-10.

Western Michigan used its first big play against the NU defense - a 50-yard pass from Hiller to Ledbetter - to start out another 80-yard touchdown drive. West moved the Broncos within 37-17 on a 1-yard run with 6:11 on the clock.

After the Broncos forced the second Nebraska punt of the game, the Huskers got back to putting points on the board with a two-play, 77-yard drive.

Tight end Dreu Young snagged a pass over a pair of Western Michigan defenders and rumbled for a 55-yard gain. On the next play, Lucky caught a 19-yard touchdown strike from Ganz. That gave Ganz an NU record fourth 300-yard passing game.

Western Michigan put together its third drive of 80 yards to get within 44-24 on a 9-yard touchdown catch by Juan Nunez 17 seconds into the fourth quarter.

"It can be better," Glenn said of the defense's play. "We made a lot of mistakes tonight, a lot of day one things."

The Broncos couldn't take advantage of a pair of Ganz interceptions in the fourth quarter, and Henery capped off the scoring with an unlikely fourth-straight field goal from 44 yards.

"We just made a couple of mistakes," Pelini said of the second half. "We have to keep our concentration and focus for four quarters. You have to think we were a little bit on a high to start the game.

"That's the first time we've played four quarters. I don't think (building the lead in the second quarter) had anything to do with intensity."

Pelini said he planned to enjoy the win, go to bed and then get back to work on San Jose State as soon as possible.

"The guys went out there, they had fun, they played together and now it's our job as coaches to fix plays and come together and get a fix for the mistakes we made," he said. "I've known very few teams to come into an opener and play perfect. That's why it's called an opener."

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