Huskers overcome slow start, wallop No. 10 Jayhawks
Nebraska locked up a share of its fifth consecutive Big Eight championship with a 41-3 victory at 10th-ranked Kansas. The win was Nebraska’s third over a top-10 foe in four weeks.
The Huskers were sluggish in the first half but capitalized on Kansas errors to take a 14-3 lead into intermission.
Nebraska opened the scoring with a fumble recovery in the end zone by Jon Vedral on a botched Kansas punt return. The Huskers extended their advantage to 14-0 on Tommie Frazier’s one-yard TD run. The drive was set up by a Kansas fumble.
At halftime, the Jayhawks held a 199-110 edge in total offense and owned the ball for six minutes more than the Huskers, but Nebraska wasted little time establishing dominance in the second half. The Huskers opened with an eight-play, 58-yard touchdown drive capped by Frazier’s one-yard pass to tight end Vershan Jackson.
Nebraska extended its lead to 28-3 late in the third quarter on Lawrence Phillips’ six-yard TD run. The Huskers added two fourth-quarter scores: a five-yard run by Frazier and an 86-yard interception return by cornerback Mike Fullman.
Frazier passed Jerry Tagge to claim the school total offense record with 5,313 career yards. He also broke Dave Humm’s passing touchdowns record with the 42nd of his career.
I-back Ahman Green became just the fourth freshman in Big Eight history and 28th in NCAA history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season.
Summary condensed from 1996 media guide