Lincoln, Neb. – Quarterback Zac Taylor shook off a slow start to lead four consecutive touchdown drives as No. 20 Nebraska pulled away for a 49-10 victory over Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
The Huskers, who won their 21st consecutive season opener, effectively mixed the run and pass against their overmatched opponent and amassed 584 total yards.
Taylor misfired on his first three passes and was intercepted on his fourth, but he finished 22-of-33 for 287 yards and matched his career high with three touchdown passes.
“It was a rocky first 10 minutes, but that always happens the first quarter of the first game. Other than that, it was pretty smooth,” said Taylor, a senior who has thrown at least two touchdown passes in nine of his past 10 games.
Nebraska scored on the last series of the first half and opening series of the second to break open a 14-10 game on its way to extending the nation’s longest winning streak in openers.
Four tight ends caught touchdown passes. Taylor’s were thrown to Matt Herian, J.B. Phillips and Josh Mueller, and backup quarterback Joe Ganz threw one to Hunter Teafatiller late in the game.
The Huskers, 105th nationally in rushing last season, ran for 252 yards. It was the first time in 14 games that the Huskers had rushed for more than 200 yards.
“All in all, it was a good day for us,” Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. “We tried to balance the board with our running game. We featured some tight ends, which we hadn’t been doing.”
Nebraska chipped away at the Bulldogs in the first half, with its longest run going for 13 yards. The long run of the day came late when Brandon Jackson broke five tackles on his way to a 25-yard touchdown.
“I don’t have the feeling sitting here right now that they just jammed it down our throat,” Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. “I was fearful they were going to jam it down our throat running the ball.”
Callahan made good on his promise to involve all four of his I-backs. Cody Glenn had 88 yards on 13 carries, Marlon Lucky 79 on 13, Kenny Wilson 47 on 15 and Jackson 36 on three.
Glenn, Lucky and Jackson each had touchdowns.
“I really believe they all have equal ability,” Callahan said. “There were some spectacular runs, some hard-nosed runs. All those guys brought something a little bit different.”
First-time starter Zac Champion completed 12-of-27 passes for 231 yards and a touchdown, with one interception for Louisiana Tech.
Glenn finished an 11-play, 78- yard drive with a 1-yard run just seven seconds before halftime, and Taylor threw a 6-yard scoring pass to Phillips for a 28-10 lead early in the third quarter.
Taylor completed 12-of-13 passes on the two scoring drives, including 10 in a row.
The attendance of 85,181 was a Memorial Stadium record.
