Dean Jacobs photo
Mike McNeill scores in the second quarter.

Nebraska 17
Kansas St. 3

Nov. 21, 2009 • 6:45 p.m. Central
Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE • ESPN
1st 2nd 3rd 4th  F 
Kansas St. 3 7 7 0 3
Nebraska 3 0 0 0 17 
1st quarter
KSU: Josh Cherry 44 field goal, 9:26
NEB: Alex Henery 34 field goal, 1:44
2nd quarter
NEB: Mike McNeill 17 pass from Zac Lee (Henery kick) 12:02
3rd quarter
NEB: Roy Helu Jr. 14 run (Henery kick) 13:21              

                           KSU       NEB
First Downs................ 19        19
  Rushing................... 9         7
  Passing................... 7         9
  Penalty................... 3         3
Rushes-Yards (Net)..... 34-140    45-101
Passing Yards (Net)....... 153       166
  Att-Comp-Int........ 33-12-1   19-13-1
Total Offense.......... 67-293    64-267
Fumble Returns-Yds........ 0-0       1-4
Punt Returns-Yds......... 2-27       2-3
Kickoff Returns-Yds...... 3-50      2-53
Int. Returns-Yds......... 1-42       1-0
Punts-Average.......... 5-39.4    6-45.5
Fumbles-Lost.............. 3-1       0-0
Penalties-Yards.......... 7-69      3-34
Possession Time......... 28:30     31:30
  1st Quarter............ 7:18      7:42
  2nd Quarter............ 4:34     10:26
  3rd Quarter............ 8:51      6:09
  4th Quarter............ 7:47      7:13
Third-Down Conv. ........ 3/14      7/16
Fourth-Down Conv. ........ 1/2       1/1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances... 0-2       3-4
Sacks By-Yards........... 2-24      4-30

RUSHING
KSU: Daniel Thomas 19-99; Grant Gregory 13-22; Brandon Banks 1-18; Keithen Valentine 1-1.

NEB: Roy Helu Jr. 26-95; Rex Burkhead 6-17; Zac Lee 11-minus 5; TEAM 2-minus 6.

PASSING
KSU: Grant Gregory 11-31-1-126; Collin Klein 1-1-0-27; Team 0-1-0-0.

NEB: Zac Lee 13-19-1-166.

RECEIVING
KSU: Brandon Banks 5-48; Daniel Thomas 4-51; Keithen Valentine 2-30; Attrail Snipes 1-24.

NEB: Niles Paul 4-82; Mike McNeill 3-26; Brandon Kinnie 2-20; Tyler Legate 1-13; Rex Burkhead 1-9; Khiry Cooper 1-8; Dreu Young 1-8.

INTERCEPTIONS
KSU: Tysyn Hartman 1-42. 
NEB: Larry Asante 1-0.

FUMBLES
KSU: Grant Gregory 2-0; Keithen Valentine 1-1.
NEB: None.

Attendance: 85,998

 

Coverage

Stats & Recap
Complete Stats

Huskers Win Big 12 North Crown

Lots of defense, success on special teams and just enough offense. That was the recipe as the Huskers earned a Big 12 Championship Game berth with a 17-3 win over Kansas State.

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, playing in his final game at Memorial Stadium, registered nine tackles, including 1.5 sacks, a pair of pass breakups and a quarterback hurry.

Safety Larry Asante also had a huge night with 10 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble on a bone-rattling hit that kept Kansas State out of the end zone in the third quarter. Linebacker Phillip Dillard added eight tackles, including a nine-yard sack and a forced fumble that stopped another KSU drive.

Leading 10-3, Nebraska opened the third quarter with a bang. Zac Lee connected with Niles Paul on a 47-yard strike on 3rd-and-2 to give the Huskers a first down at the KSU 14. Roy Helu Jr. burst through the KSU defense on the next play and sprinted into the end zone to give the Huskers a 17-3 lead.

Suh and company did the rest for the Nebraska, while Helu continued his climb in the Nebraska rushing record book, becoming the 25th Husker with 2,000 or more career yards and posting the 29th 1,000-yard season in NU history.

Omaha World-Herald
Lincoln Journal Star
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Topeka Capital-Journal
Kansas City Star
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Pregame & team info

Nebraska
Roster | Depth
Stats | Results
Pregame notes

Kansas State
Roster | Depth
Stats | Results
Pregame notes

Pregame press
Series history
Predictions
Stats comparison

2009 schedule
04/18 Reds 31, Whites 17
09/05 Florida Atlantic W 49-3
09/12 Arkansas St. W 38-9
09/19 @ Virginia Tech L 15-16
09/26 Louisiana W 55-0
10/08 @ Missouri W 27-12
10/17 Texas Tech L 10-31
10/24 Iowa St. L 7-9
10/31 @ Baylor W 20-10
11/07 Oklahoma W 10-3
11/14 @ Kansas W 31-17
11/21 Kansas St. W 17-3
11/27 @ Colorado W 28-20
12/05 Texas L 12-13
12/30 Arizona W 33-0
Courtesy of Huskers.com
Phillip Dillard pressures the QB

Commentary

Stryker

The Huskers plan to ride Suh — who is as valuable a player as anyone in college football today — as far as he will take them.

Tad Stryker
HuskerMax
Shatel

Big Red football in 2009 isn't about style points. You want style points, go buy a tape from 1983 or 1995.

Tom Shatel
Omaha World-Herald
McKewon

NU clinched a north title because it had the better personnel. Much better.

Sam McKewon
Nebraska StatePaper
Sipple

It’s probably a good sign when you beat Bob Stoops and Bill Snyder in the same month.

Steven M. Sipple
Lincoln Journal Star
Chatelain

Suh has helped teach us something nobody who cheers Big Red should take for granted: Bo and Carl can teach football. Teach.

Dirk Chatelain
Omaha World-Herald
McKeever

If there’s one thing Bo Pelini has seemed to master in two seasons, it’s the art of producing strong late-season runs.

Curt McKeever
Lincoln Journal Star
Hamar

Now fans will look ahead to that game against Texas, but the Huskers can’t.

Bob Hamar *
Grand Island Independent
Barfknecht

A trip to the Big 12 championship game was, at times on Saturday, tantalizingly close for this ugly duckling of a team [Kansas State].

Lee Barfknecht
Omaha World-Herald
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