LINCOLN, Neb. — The offense is new, but there’s no doubt Nebraska relies on the same guy to make it go.
Sophomore quarterback Taylor Martinez ran for 135 yards and three touchdowns Saturday out of the no-huddle system, helping the No. 10 Cornhuskers rout Chattanooga 40-7 in their first game as a Big Ten team.
Martinez showed no signs of the toe and ankle injuries that limited him the second half of last season. He scored on runs of 7, 43 and 47 yards against the Mocs and completed 11-of-22 passes for 116 yards before giving way to Brion Carnes in the fourth quarter.
“I thought early in the game Taylor was very anxious. He was putting a lot of pressure on himself,” said Nebraska coach Bo Pelini. “He didn’t get a lot of help around him at times. We had some busts around him, but overall, not a bad day.”
The Huskers’ new system under first-year offensive coordinator Tim Beck revealed lots of triple-option plays and quick short passes.
Old-school Nebraska fans surely loved Beck’s first call of the game. Tyler Legate’s 1-yard run marked the first time a fullback had carried the ball for Nebraska since 2004.
But make no mistake, this offense is built around Martinez’s strengths as a runner. He carried 19 times, which might be a bit more than ideal for a quarterback the Huskers desperately need to keep healthy.
“I didn’t know how many times I ran,” Martinez said. “It’s pretty much based on what the defense is running and giving us.”
Junior I-back Rex Burkhead added 75 yards and a touchdown. The Huskers had 364 total yards and won their 26th consecutive season opener, the longest streak in the nation.
The Huskers lost yards on seven plays in the first half and on five more in the second. Martinez dropped a snap, made a bad pitch under pressure and had Burkhead bump into him from behind as he set up to pass.
“We came out a little slow and weren’t clicking,” Burkhead said. “We have a lot of things to improve upon as a team to be where we want to be. If we want to be good in the Big Ten, we have to improve on them every day.”
Nebraska was the next in a line of major powers to play Chattanooga. The Mocs lost to the last two national champions, 62-24 at Auburn last year and 45-0 at Alabama in 2009, and 57-2 in 2008 against BCS runner-up Oklahoma.
The Mocs can look forward to playing South Florida, Alabama and Tennessee the next three years.
