MANHATTAN, Kan. — Instead of resenting No. 7 Nebraska for leaving the Big 12, maybe Kansas State should thank the Cornhuskers.
Who wants to keep playing a team that always beats you silly?
Quarterback Taylor Martinez rushed for 241 yards and four touchdowns and Nebraska ended a 99-year rivalry in the same lopsided fashion it began, thrashing the slower, outmanned Wildcats 48-13 on Thursday night.
Martinez, a redshirt freshman, pushed his five-game rushing total to 737 yards and also threw a 79-yard scoring pass for the Huskers (5-0), who head off for the Big Ten next year with an overall record against Kansas State (4-1) of 78-15-2.
Unbeaten in their first four games and with senior running back Daniel Thomas averaging 157 yards per game, Kansas State fans had hoped to send the Huskers out the Big 12 door with a loss. But the Wildcats were helpless against such offensive and defensive speed, and the night belonged to Martinez. He broke the team record for rushing yards by a quarterback and tied the team mark for rushing TDs by a quarterback, while Thomas was held to 63 yards on 22 carries.
“Pretty much everything we ran was clicking pretty good,” Martinez said. “I was making the right reads. I just do what I can do — make plays.”
Martinez’s rushing total broke Jammal Lord’s Nebraska record for a quarterback and his four rushing TDs tied the team quarterback mark. He was 5-of-7 for 128 yards as the Huskers piled up 587 yards of total offense in the conference opener for both teams.
It was not the sort of birthday present Kansas State coach Bill Snyder wanted. He turned 71 on Thursday.
“Happy birthday,” he said as he opened his postgame news conference. “I hope yours was better than mine.”
