Nebraska (2-6, 1-4 Big Ten) dominated early and dominated late, rolling to a 45-9 win over Bethune-Cookman (4-5) that allowed several Huskers to make their Nebraska debuts and several more to see significant action for the first time all season.
It took just seven plays for Nebraska to reach paydirt on its opening drive, capped by a 14-yard run up the gut from senior running back Devine Ozigbo. The defense forced a three-and-out on its first series, and wideout JD Spielman took the ensuing punt 77 yards to the house and the route was on.
Nebraska rang up 38 points and 364 yards of offense in the first half behind another strong outing from quarterback Adrian Martinez. The freshman went 15-for-22 for 213 yards and two scores (with a pick, though), hitting senior wideout Stanley Morgan Jr. for both scores.
Ozigbo ran for 110 yards on 11 carries — his third consecutive 100-yard outing — and freshman Maurice Washington added another 48 and a score. Add to that a defense that held the Wildcats to 3 yards a run and 5 yards a play and Nebraska went into the halftime break with its day essentially done.
None of the offensive starters saw the field in the second half. Instead, sophomore quarterback and Nebraska native Noah Vedral made his Husker debut along with freshman running back Miles Jones.
Vedral's first play on Tom Osborne Field was an option, because of course. On his third drive, he ran a 20-yarder in for six.
Noah Vedral with his first touchdown in his first appearance for the #Huskers. pic.twitter.com/2atZqJSmYr
— Derek Peterson (@DrPeteyHV) October 27, 2018
The Wahoo native finished with 29 yards passing and 13 yards rushing — he went 2-for-9 with a pick… not the best day numbers-wise — but in his first appearance, Vedral got plenty of love from Husker Nation.
On defense, linemen Vaha Vainuku and Damian Jackson made their season debuts while the Huskers went three-deep all over the field. The Wildcats went over the 300-yard mark on offense but Nebraska produced three turnovers and four sacks. The turnovers were a season-high and the sacks were the most since the opener against Colorado.
If it was to serve as a tune-up ahead of next week's opponent, things looked pretty tuned for the starters. Nebraska will travel to Columbus, Ohio, next Saturday for an 11 a.m. matchup with No. 11 Ohio State (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten).
Derek is a newbie on the Hail Varsity staff covering Husker athletics. In college, he was best known as ‘that guy from Twitter.’ He has covered a Sugar Bowl, a tennis national championship and almost everything in between (except an NCAA men’s basketball tournament game… *tears*). In his spare time, he can be found arguing with literally anyone about sports.
