Nebraska 34
Florida St. 14

Sep. 19, 1981
Memorial Stadium | Lincoln, NE | ESPN
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
Florida St. 0 7 0 7 14
Nebraska 10 0 14 10 34 
1st quarter
NEB: Nate Mason 8 run (Kevin Seibel kick)
NEB: FG Seibel 24
2nd quarter
FSU: Ricky Williams 1 run (Mike Rendina kick) 
3rd quarter
NEB: Irving Fryar 82 punt return (Seibel kick)
NEB: Tony Felici 13 fumble return  (Seibel kick)
4th quarter
NEB: FG Eddie Neil 21
FSU: Dennis McKinnon 3 pass from Rick Stockstill (Rendina kick)
NEB: Roger Craig 94 run (Seibel kick)

                        FSU      NEB 
First downs              15       22 
Rushes-yards          41-54   63-472 
Passing yards           173       31 
Return yards              1      151 
Passes              16-26-1    3-8-1 
Punts                8-51.1   2-33.5 
Fumbles-lost            3-2      4-4 
Penalties-yards        3-43     9-71 
Time of possession    30:25    29:35

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing
FSU: Williams 13-29, Billy Allen 5-16.
NEB: Craig 20-234, Mike Rozier 11-72, 
     Phil Bates 8-66, Mason 13-63.

Passing
FSU: Stockstill 16-25-1-173.
NEB: Mason 2-7-1-15,
     Turner Gill 1-1-0-16.

Receiving
FSU: Sam Childers 5-47, Williams 4-86,
     McKinnon 3-24.
NEB: Jamie Williams 3-32.

Attendance - 76,289

Coverage

Recap
Roger Craig
Roger Craig ran for 234 yards.

OFFICIAL RECAP

Nebraska exploded for two touchdowns within six seconds midway in the third quarter to break up a close game, and the Huskers went on to crush Florida State, 34-14, in the home opener.

The Huskers were leading, 10-7, when Irving Fryar returned a punt 82 yards for a TD with 8:31 left, then, on the ensuing kickoff, Tony Felici picked a fumble out of mid-air and ran 13 yards to score at the 8:25 mark to give Nebraska an insurmountable 24-7 lead.

The Seminoles did pull back within 27-14 midway in the fourth quarter, but Roger Craig’s 94-yard touchdown run put the game away-in addition to tying the Nebraska record for longest touchdown run and wrapping up a 234-yard day for Craig, which earned him national back-of-the-week honors.

Felici came off the bench to record 13 tackles, earn Big Eight defensive player-of-the-week honors and nail down a starting job at defensive right end.

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natemason_vs_fsu (45K)
Nate Mason at quarterback

Pregame & team info
1981 schedule
04/25 Whites 22, Reds 21
09/12 @ Iowa L 7-10
09/19 Florida St. W 34-14
09/26 Penn St. L 24-30
10/03 Auburn W 17-3
10/10 Colorado W 59-0
10/17 @ Kansas St. W 49-3
10/24 @ Missouri W 6-0
10/31 Kansas W 31-15
11/07 @ Oklahoma St. W 54-7
11/14 Iowa St. W 31-7
11/21 @ Oklahoma W 37-14
01/01 Clemson L 15-22
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