Reds 24
Whites 14

April 19, 2008 • 1 p.m. Central
Memorial Stadium •Lincoln, NE
1st2nd3rd4th F 
Whites070714
Reds14100024
1st quarter
RED: Lucky 1 run (Henery kick) 13:20
RED: Gilleylen 77 pass from Ganz (Henery kick) 9:06
2nd quarter
RED: Mendoza 24 pass from Ganz (Henery kick) 11:54
WHI: Helu 3 run (Kunalic kick) 6:51
RED: Henery 35 FG, 2:02
4th quarter
WHI: Jones 10 pass from Lee (Kunalic kick) 11:18

                       WHITE      RED
First downs ............. 15       12
  Rushing ................ 8        3
  Passing ................ 7        9
  Penalty ................ 0        0
Rushes-net yds ...... 34-103    32-68
Net yards passing ...... 156      243
  Comp-Att-Int ..... 14-26-1  11-23-0
Total offense ....... 60-259   55-311
Fumbles-lost ........... 4-2      2-1
Penalties-yards ........ 1-5     3-20
Punts-Avg. .......... 5-47.6   5-45.8
Punt returns-yds ....... 0-0      0-0
Kickoff returns-yds .... 1-9      0-0
Interceptions-yds ...... 0-0      1-0
Fumble returns-yds ..... 0-0      0-0
Possession time ...... 30:22    29:38
Third-down conv. ...... 7/14     7/14
Fourth-down conv. ...... 0/0      0/0
Sacks by-yards ........ 4-22     3-19

RUSHING
WHI: Helu 16-69; Castille 5-39; Lee 6-15; Ebke 1-10; A. Jones 3-3; Brooks 1-(-12); Witt 2-(-21).

RED: Lucky 13-37; Mendoza 7-33; Castille 4-8; B. Davis 2-1; Lawson 1-0; Spano 1-(-3); Ganz 4-(-8).

PASSING
WHI: Witt 6/12 61 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT;
     Lee 6/11 87 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT;
     Ebke 2/3 8 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT. 

RED: Ganz 4/9 131 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT;
     Spano 4/6 47 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT;
     Davis 1/5 48 yds, O TD, 0 INT;
     Witt 2/3 17 yds; 0 TD, 0 INT.

RECEIVING
WHI: Peterson 3-23, Castille 2-55, Helu 2-25, A. Jones  2-21, Brooks 2-21, R. Hill 1-8, Paul 1-3, Lester 1-0.

RED: Holt 3-31, Gilleylen 2-89, Mendoza 2-39, Swift 2-25, Donahue 1-48, Martin 1-11. 

Attendance: 80,149

Roy Helu run, 2008 Nebraska football spring gameRoy Helu Jr. is chased by Terrence Moore (90) and Faron Klingelhoefer during the second half. · Lincoln Journal Star · Newspapers.com

Coverage

Stats & recap
Latravis Washington and Quentin Castille

Latravis Washington tries to bring down Quentin Castille. | Courtesy of Huskers.com

Record crowd sees Ganz lead Reds to win

A Nebraska Spring Game record crowd of more than 80,000 watched Joe Ganz and the Husker Reds jump out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter on their way to a 24-14 win over the Whites in Bo Pelini’s head coaching debut at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Nebraska’s returning starter at quarterback from the end of the 2007 season, Ganz completed four passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns to power the Reds, while Marlon Lucky added 37 yards and a touchdown on the ground in limited action. The Reds amassed 311 yards of total offense in just 55 plays in a game that lasted just two hours and 19 minutes because of a running second-half clock.

While the Red offense performed well, Pelini’s defense supplied the first highlight on the game’s opening play from scrimmage. Linebacker Tyler Wortman broke through the White offensive line and hit quarterback Patrick Witt as he attempted to pitch the ball to I-back Roy Helu. Wortman hustled after the loose ball and recovered it at the White 7-yard line to set up the Reds’ opening score.

Three plays later, Lucky plunged in from one yard out to give the Reds a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. After the Reds held on the next drive, Ganz and wide receiver Curenski Gilleylen provided the game’s longest play with a 77-yard scoring strike to put the Reds up 14-0 with 9:06 left in the opening quarter.

Game stories
Pregame & team info
2008 schedule
04/19Reds 24, Whites 14
08/30W. MichiganW 47-24
09/06San Jose St.W 35-12
09/13New Mexico St.W 38-7
09/27Virginia TechL 30-35
10/04MissouriL 17-52
10/11@ Texas TechL 31-37
10/18@ Iowa St.W 35-7
10/25BaylorW 32-20
11/01@ OklahomaL 28-62
11/08KansasW 45-35
11/15@ Kansas St.W 56-28
11/28ColoradoW 40-31
01/01ClemsonW 26-21

Commentary

Sipple

Nebraska fans’ collective passion might have waned in some quarters in recent years. But you saw passion in full bloom Saturday.

Lincoln Journal Star
Douglass

This was about Nebraska fans ... turning out to show their support and give a hurting program a collective hug.

Grand Island Independent
Stryker

Sophomores Roy Helu Jr. and Quentin Castille both looked impressive at times behind an offensive line that showed promise of becoming a solid unit.

North Platte Bulletin
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