LINCOLN, Neb. — Texas beat Nebraska yet again, and this time there was no doubt.
Garrett Gilbert got the Longhorns out to a two-touchdown lead in the first half, and their defense shut down Taylor Martinez to key a 20-13 upset Saturday, a crushing first defeat for a fifth-ranked Cornhuskers team that was out to avenge last year’s loss in the Big 12 championship game.
“They had more pressure on them today than us, and that’s unusual,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “I thought their fans hung in there with them. But I could feel some of their fans, when we got up 10-0, thinking, ‘You’ve got to be kidding, not again.’ “
The Huskers and the Nebraska faithful had been pointing to this game for 10 months, since last year’s conference title game ended with one second put back on the clock — enough time for the Longhorns to kick the winning field goal and sneak away with a 13-12 victory.
Barring a rematch in the conference championship game, Texas will have won nine of 10 meetings against the Huskers since 1996, with Nebraska’s only win coming in the 1999 title game.
“We’ll let the fans feel sorry for what happened,” Huskers coach Bo Pelini said. “We have to take an experience like this and have it make us stronger. I know our team has a lot of character.”
The Longhorns (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) stymied a Nebraska offense that had been averaging 494 yards a game, holding the Huskers to just 202 yards. Still, the Huskers (5-1, 1-1) were within a touchdown late in the game, thanks to Eric Hagg’s school-record 95-yard punt return.
Martinez, who came in averaging 147 yards a game and almost 11 yards a carry, was held to a season-low 21 yards on 13 carries before being pulled for Zac Lee in the third quarter.
