Post Game Notes vs Arkansas State
Posted By: Sports
Nebraska improved to 16-3 in regular-season non-conference games under Head Coach Bo Pelini and won for the 11th straight time in a non-league home game. The Husker also improved to 2-0 all-time against Arkansas State and 11-0 all-time against Sun Belt opponents.
4Junior quarterback Taylor Martinez completed 13-of-14 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, including a 42-yard strike to Kenny Bell in the first quarter and a 25-yard TD pass to Bell in the second quarter. Martinez completed 8-of-8 passes for 150 yards in the first half. Martinez's two touchdown passes give him 30 in his career, and he became the ninth quarterback in school history with at least 30 career touchdown passes.
4Martinez's 54 rushing yards pushed his career rushing total to 2,015 yards. Martinez became the 27th player in Nebraska history and fourth quarterback to reach 2,000 career rushing yards. He joins quarterbacks Eric Crouch, Jammal Lord and Steve Taylor in the 2,000-yard club. With 2,015 career rushing yards, Martinez ranks 27th overall on the NU career rushing list.
4Martinez joined Eric Crouch as just the second player in school history and 25th player in FBS history to record 2,000 career rushing yards and 4,000 career passing yards. Martinez is just the 13th player to reach the milestone before the start of their senior season.
4Sophomore receiver Kenny Bell had three receptions for 71 yards, and a 42-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter, and a 25-yard TD reception in the second quarter. Bell has now had at least one reception in 15 straight games with at least three receptions in eight of those games.
4Sophomore I-back Ameer Abdullah rushed 30 times for 167 yards and two touchdowns, all career highs for Abdullah. The 167-yard effort marked Abdullah's second consecutive 100-yard rushing game, after racking up 119 yards last week at UCLA. He also had two touchdowns last week at UCLA.
4Freshman I-back Imani Cross rushed for a career-high 66 yards and his first career touchdown. In addition to his two-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, Cross unleashed a career-long 44-yard run in the final quarter.
4Nebraska rushed for 347 yards in today's game, marking its third straight game with at least 250 yards on the ground. The last time Nebraska had rushed for better than 250 yards in three consecutive games was the first three games of the 2010 season against Western Kentucky, Idaho and Washington. Nebraska is now 19-1 since the start of 2010 when rushing for at least 200 yards.
4Junior receiver Quincy Enunwa had three receptions for 34 yards in today's game, marking his third straight game with three or more receptions. Enunwa has a team-high 13 receptions through three games.
4Nebraska had one scoring drive of 75 yards in today's game and now has eight drives of 75 yards or longer this season. The Huskers also converted 10-of-13 third-down conversions this week after going just 1-of-11 on third down in a loss at UCLA last week. The Huskers were 12-of-15 on third down in the opening game two weeks ago against Southern Miss. NU is 22-of-28 on third down at Memorial Stadium this season.
4Arkansas State made three trips into the Nebraska red zone in today's game and those drives resulted in two field goals. ASU's second red zone appearance occurred after a muffed punt. That drive started at the NU 15 and ASU gained no yardage before a 32-yard field goal. Nebraska has now allowed the opposition to convert just 2-of-12 red zone drives into touchdowns.
4The Nebraska defense limited Arkansas State to 286 total yards – approximately half of the Red Wolves offensive average of 574.5 yards entering the game.
4Nebraska senior safety P.J. Smith had a first-quarter interception to end a Red Wolves scoring threat. The interception was the first of the season for Nebraska and marked the fifth interception of Smith's Nebraska career. Smith led the Huskers with nine total tackles on the day.
4Eric Martin forced and recovered a fourth-quarter fumble that led to Nebraska's final touchdown of the day. Martin also posted a quarterback sack on the play for one of NU's three sacks on the day. Martin added three quarterback hurries in the game.
4Nebraska senior linebacker Will Compton recorded seven tackles in today's game. Compton posted 12 tackles in each of NU's first two games and leads the Huskers with 31 tackles through three games.
4Nebraska senior safety Daimion Stafford recorded seven tackles and one breakup. Josh Mitchell and Ciante Evans also posted seven tackles apiece on the day.
4Today's game captains were junior receiver Quincy Enunwa, senior center Justin Jackson, senior receiver Steven Osborne and junior defensive back Ciante Evans.
4Nebraska continues its three-game homestand next week against Idaho State. The game will be televised by BTN with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. CT.
