Courtesy: Huskers.com
Lincoln -
The Nebraska Blackshirts mustered their best defensive effort of the season,
holding Michigan to just 166 total yards and no touchdowns in a 23-9 victory
over the No. 20 Wolverines at Memorial Stadium on Saturday
night.
Playing in front of the NCAA-record 323rd consecutive
sellout at Memorial Stadium and an ESPN2 national television audience, the
Huskers improved to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in Big
Ten play, while dropping Michigan to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the
conference.
In a game controlled by the defenses, Nebraska
quarterback Taylor Martinez engineered the game's only two touchdown drives in
his head-to-head duel with Michigan dual-threat quarterback Denard
Robinson.
Nebraska jumped to a 7-0 lead early in the second
quarter after managing just one first down in the first quarter. The Huskers
opened the second quarter by flying down the field on six plays against the
vaunted Wolverine defense. Martinez went 5-for-5 passing and had two carries for
two yards to have a hand in all 87 yards on the drive. The Huskers capped their
six-play scoring drive on Martinez's 32-yard scoring strike to Kenny Bell with
13:17 left in the first half.
After a trio of Brett Maher field goals in the third
quarter pushed Nebraska's lead to 16-9 through three quarters, Martinez sealed
Nebraska's first win over the Wolverines in Lincoln with a three-play, 47-yard
drive capped by I-back Ameer Abdullah's 12-yard run over the left end. Martinez
set up Abdullah's eighth rushing touchdown of the year with his own 29-yard
sprint over the right side.
Martinez finished the game with 14 carries for 58
yards, while completing 14-of-24 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. He also
threw one interception on an outstanding play by Michigan's Mario Ojemudia.
Abdullah produced his fourth 100-yard rushing
performance of the season with 24 carries for 101 yards and a score. Abdullah
rolled up 85 yards after halftime, while 36 of Martinez's rushing yards came in
the second half.
For the game, the Huskers produced 326 total yards,
including a season-low 160 rushing yards on 41 carries against a Michigan
defense that had not allowed 100 rushing yards in a Big Ten game. Michigan
managed 188 total yards, including 95 rushing yards and 93 passing yards. The
Wolverines went just 9-of-27 passing with three interceptions.
Redshirt freshman linebacker David Santos led the Blackshirts up front with a team-high 10 tackles,
including six solo stops. The Spring, Texas, native
entered the game with six total tackles
on the season.
Stanley Jean-Baptiste recorded Nebraska's final of
three interceptions off Wolverine reserve quarterback Russell Bellomy with a
leaping grab in the end zone with 6:54 left in the game. Martinez, Abdullah and
the Huskers ran out the clock from there, marching to the Michigan 33 before
taking a knee to end the game.
Nebraska's decisive drive to open the fourth quarter
was set up by Daimion Stafford's interception of Bellomy. The Huskers turned
their first two interceptions in 10 points.
Following Nebraska's first touchdown drive, Michigan
cut the Husker lead to 7-6 with a pair of Brendan Gibbons field goals on drives
quarterbacked by Robinson. But on 2nd-and-7 from the NU 15, Robinson rushed over
the left side where he was tackled by Baker Steinkuhler after a seven-yard gain
good for a first down. Robinson landed awkwardly on his right arm and did not
return.
Bellomy, a 6-3 freshman, lost one yard rushing and
threw a pair of incomplete passes as Michigan settled for a 24-yard Gibbons
field goal. At the point Michigan entered the game, the Wolverines had produced
144 yards on 34 plays. Over their next 22 plays, Michigan managed just one yard
but trailed by just a touchdown heading into the fourth quarter.
Nebraska returns to Big Ten road
action for the third time in the past four games, when the Huskers take on
Michigan State on Saturday, Nov. 3 in East Lansing, Mich. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. (CT) regionally on ABC and will
also be shown on ESPN2.
