Nebraska 25
Maine 7

Sept. 3, 2005 • 6:10 p.m. Central
Memorial Stadium •Lincoln, NE • PPV
1st2nd3rd4th F 
Maine00007
Nebraska0961025
2nd quarter
NU: Congdon 23 field goal, 5:21
NU: Ross 1 run (Congdon kick failed) 2:46
3rd quarter
NU: Congdon 38 field goal, 12:07
NU: Congdon 33 field goal, 5:55
4th quarter
MU: McMahan 52 pass from Whitcomb (Donnelly kick) 11:57
NU: Ruud 27 interception return (Congdon kick) 9:58
NU: Congdon 23 field goal, 4:40

                              MU       NU
FIRST DOWNS.................. 10       17
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)........ 37--6   42-121
PASSING YDS (NET)........... 151      192
  Att-Comp-Int.......... 36-16-1  36-15-2
TOTAL OFFENSE ........... 73-145   78-313
Fumble Returns-Yards........ 1-3      0-0
Punt Returns-Yards.......... 0-0   10-198
Kickoff Returns-Yards...... 5-92     1-43
Int. Returns-Yards.......... 2-0     1-27
Punts (Number-Avg)...... 13-39.8   4-46.8
Fumbles-Lost................ 3-1      5-3
Penalties-Yards............ 7-55      0-0
Possession Time........... 31:48    28:12
Third-Down Conv. ....... 7 of 21  5 of 17
Fourth-Down Conv. ....... 0 of 1   1 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances..... 0-0      4-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards...... 2-5    11-69

RUSHING
MU: Montell Owens 8-30; Jerron Pearson 6-18; Chris Legree 6-17; Arel Gordon 1-minus 1; Ron Whitcomb 16-minus 70.
	
NU: Ross, Cory 20-80; Lucky, Marlon 13-44; Jackson, B. 6-18; Taylor, Zac 2-minus 5; TEAM 1-minus 16.

PASSING
MU: Ron Whitcomb 15-32-1-149; Chris Legree 1-4-0-2.
NU: Nebraska-Taylor, Zac 15-36-2-192.

RECEIVING
MU: Kevin McMahan 7-93; Arel Gordon 3-9; Ryan Waller 2-27; Montell Owens 2-9; Josh Radulski 1-8; Ron Waller 1-5.

NU: Hardy, Frantz 7-152; Sievers, C. 2-12; Phillips, J.B. 2-7; Mulkey, Grant 1-12; Nunn, Terrence 1-8; Todd, Dane 1-1; Ross, Cory 1-0.

Attendance: 77,469
Franz Hardy

Courtesy of Huskers.com

Frantz Hardy had seven receptions for 152 yards in his Husker debut.
 

Coverage

Stats & Recap
Complete Stats

Cornhuskers struggle past Maine in opener

In a game that featured one of the top five receiving performances in Nebraska history, it was the Huskers’ defense and special teams that stole the show in a hard-fought 25-7 victory over visiting Maine.

The Blackshirts tied school records with 18 tackles for loss and 11 quarterback sacks. Linebacker Cory McKeon recorded four tackles for loss among his team-leading 10 tackles, while Le Kevin Smith, Stewart Bradley and Adam Carriker each posted two sacks.

Linebacker Bo Ruud recovered a fumble early in the fourth quarter and picked off a Ron Whitcomb pass and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown to seal the Husker victory with 9:58 left in the game.

The Husker offense was hampered by five turnovers, and Maine’s defense kept the Huskers out of the end zone most of the night. Junior quarterback Zac Taylor completed 15 of 36 passes for 192 yards, including seven catches for 152 yards by sophomore wide receiver Frantz Hardy. Hardy’s 152 receiving yards ranked as the fourth-highest total in school history.

On special teams, Terrence Nunn ripped off punt returns of 62 and 45 yards to help the Huskers find the scoreboard in the first half. He finished with four returns for 135 yards. Cortney Grixby added five for 61 yards to push the team punt return total to 198 yards, just 10 yards shy of the school record.

Nebraska received four field goals from freshman Jordan Congdon and a one-yard scoring plunge from senior I-back Cory Ross to produce the final margin. Ross finished with 20 carries for 80 yards.

Omaha World-Herald*
Lincoln Journal Star*
Grand Island Indep.*
Huskers.com
More Sources
Daily Nebraskan
Bangor Daily News
Associated Press
Maine Athletics
Photos/Audio/Video
Photos
Video
Pregame & team info
2005 schedule
04/16Red 14, White 42
09/03MaineW 25-7
09/10Wake ForestW 31-3
09/17PittsburghW 7-6
10/01Iowa StateW 27-20
10/08Texas TechL 31-34
10/15@ BaylorW 23-14
10/22@ MissouriL 24-41
10/29OklahomaL 24-31
11/05@ KansasL 15-40
11/12Kansas St.W 27-25
11/25@ ColoradoW 30-3
12/28MichiganW 32-28

Commentary

Colonel Mustard

It is hard to sugar-coat the fact that an inexperienced mid-level 1-AA team took us deep into the 4th quarter. That is frightening.


Colonel Mustard
HuskerMax
Shatel

Terrence Nunn and Cortney Grixby are a major upgrade at punt returns. Too bad they weren't on the team last year. Oh, you mean they were?

Tom Shatel
Omaha World-Herald
McKeever

Breathe a sigh of relief, and say a prayer for [Zac] Taylor while you’re at it. He’s bound to have better days, but is still very much a product of construction.

Curt McKeever *
Lincoln Journal Star
Leever

As non-remarkable as Taylor’s performance was, with last year’s quarterback we might have lost this game.

Jeffrey A. Leever
HuskerMax
Meier

I believe the Black Bears believed in themselves and that is the mental lesson to carry onto Wake Forest.

Jim Meier
HuskerMax
Husker Dan

The Huskers averaged 2.9 yards against a lower division team that last year allowed over 400 yards a game on defense!

Husker Dan
HuskerMax
Khus the Red

We knew the play selection would be thin and vanilla for this game, the only question was how much. The answer: Very.

Khus the Red
HuskerMax
Husker Mike

That ‘thud’ sound you heard last night was another group of fans jumping off the Steve Pederson and Bill Callahan bandwagon.

Husker Mike
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