Louisiana-Lafayette 0, (25) Nebraska 55

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ULL (2-2)00000
#25NEB (3-1)132171455

Final

7:00 PM ET, September 26, 2009
Memorial Stadium
LINCOLN, NE

Nebraska shuts down La.-Lafayette in 300th straight consecutive sellout

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Top 25 Overview
It was over when... Nebraska scored on its first five possessions, and then Larry Asante had a 74-yard pick-six to put the Huskers up 34-0.
Gameball goes to... Zac Lee. Playing with a broken thumb on his nonthrowing hand, Lee went 16-of-19 for 280 yards and one touchdown.
Stat of the game... 2006. The last time the Cornhuskers recorded a shutout was in 2006 with a 56-0 victory against Troy.
Team Stat Comparison
 
1st Downs1421
Total Yards222433
Passing120300
Rushing102133
Penalties3-146-54
3rd Down Conversions5-166-11
4th Down Conversions1-10-0
Turnovers30
Possession30:0329:57
Air/Ground Leaders
Louisiana-Lafayette Passing
 C/ATTYDSTDINT
Masson13/2210201
McGuire2/51800
Nebraska Passing
 C/ATTYDSTDINT
Lee15/1823810
Green7/86210
Louisiana-Lafayette Rushing
 CARYDSTDLG
Sails1041010
Walker123709
Nebraska Rushing
 CARYDSTDLG
Helu Jr.1583239
Burkhead627012
Louisiana-Lafayette Receiving
 RECYDSTDLG
Green568032
Aubrey427010
Nebraska Receiving
 RECYDSTDLG
Gilleylen285043
Brooks350124
Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTERULLNEB
FG07:06Alex Henery 39 Yd 03
TD05:03Ben Cotton Recovered Fumble In End Zone (Alex Henery Kick) 010
FG00:08Alex Henery 46 Yd 013
SECOND QUARTERULLNEB
TD12:00Chris Brooks 4 Yd Pass From Zac Lee (Alex Henery Kick) 020
TD11:11Roy Helu Jr. 2 Yd Run (Alex Henery Kick) 027
TD06:16Larry Asante 74 Yd Interception Return (Alex Henery Kick) 034
THIRD QUARTERULLNEB
TD08:36Roy Helu Jr. 2 Yd Run (Alex Henery Kick) 041
FOURTH QUARTERULLNEB
TD11:04Rex Burkhead 24 Yd Pass From Cody Green (Alex Henery Kick) 048
TD08:46Cody Green 24 Yd Run (Alex Henery Kick) 055
Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The party at Memorial Stadium turned into quite a blowout.

Nebraska wore throwback jerseys and honored members of its 1962 team Saturday night in celebration of its 300th consecutive sellout. The Cornhuskers' 55-0 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette was almost a sideshow.

Fast Facts

• Wearing their 1962 throwback jerseys honoring the 300th straight sellout in Lincoln, Nebraska delivered a old school beating to Louisiana-Lafayette, piling up over 400 yards of offense.

• Nebraska QB Zac Lee was 16 of 19 for 280 yards and a TD.

• Nebraska moved to 3-0 this year against teams from the Sun Belt and 9-0 all-time against the conference.

• Louisiana-Lafayette fell to 0-14 against Big 12 teams all-time.

-- ESPN Stats & Information

Zac Lee passed for 238 yards and a touchdown, Roy Helu Jr. scored twice and the Huskers beat up on an opponent from the Sun Belt Conference for the third time one week after a devastating 16-15 loss at Virginia Tech.

"Now the season starts. Right now. That's the way we look at it," coach Bo Pelini said. "Time to put the foot on the gas pedal and go. We have a long season and challenges in front of us."

The Huskers (3-1) certainly weren't challenged in the games they've won. They beat Florida Atlantic, Arkansas State and Lafayette by a combined 142-12. Now the Big 12 North favorites get a week off before opening conference play at Missouri on Oct. 8.

Nebraska scored on its first five possessions against the Ragin' Cajuns (2-2) before Larry Asante ran back an interception 74 yards to make it 34-0 in the middle of the second quarter.

The Ragin' Cajuns generated only 222 yards and penetrated the Nebraska 20-yard line once, losing the ball on one of their three turnovers.

The Huskers' uniforms -- with script numbers on the jerseys and numbers rather than the traditional 'N' on the helmets -- matched those worn in 1962, when the NCAA-record sellout streak began. Figures associated with Nebraska's tradition -- retired sportscaster Keith Jackson, ex-Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, ex-Nebraska coach and player Frank Solich among them -- gave video tributes to the fans.

"We knew there would be a lot of hoopla," said receiver Chris Brooks, who caught a touchdown pass. "There have been so many good players here, so many who were building blocks, and we wanted to hold up our end of the deal and get the job done."

The Huskers, playing before a stadium-record crowd of 86,304, posted their first shutout since a 56-0 win over Troy in 2006. The Cajuns, 1-23 against ranked opponents, were held scoreless for the first time since a 27-0 loss to North Texas in 2002.

"Any time you shut someone out, it's not easy to accomplish," Pelini said. "But I said before that our football team would come out and play with great passion. I like the attitude of this team after the trouble we hit last week. We didn't play perfect, but we did some good things in all phases."

Lee, who struggled against Virginia Tech, had no problems despite playing with a broken left thumb. He throws right-handed, though, and he completed 15 of 18 passes.

"That was important for me personally after the Virginia Tech game," Lee said. "I wanted to come out sharp and get back on track."

Lee left in the middle of the third quarter, and backup Cody Green hit 7 of 8 passes for 62 yards and led the Huskers' last two scoring drives.

"It just kind of snowballed on us tonight," Lafayette coach Rickey Bustle said. "That's a good football team out there. You hand them some plays on a silver platter and they're going to beat you to death."

Nebraska's first TD came when Helu, who ran for 83 yards, fumbled into the end zone on first-and-goal from the Ragin' Cajuns 4 and tight end Ben Cotton recovered.

Helu scored from 2 yards for a 27-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Chris Masson completed five straight passes in moving the Cajuns from their 20 to the Nebraska 29, but Asante stepped in front of a ball intended for Luke Aubrey, cut to the inside and then outran Masson to the end zone.

Undrea Sails led Lafayette with 41 yards rushing, and Masson completed 13 of 22 passes for 102 yards.

"It was very frustrating because if we can't move the ball and put up points and put our defense in bad positions, it's going to be a long night," Sails said. "We thought we were going to come in here and play better than that."

College Football Scores

Other Scores:

Thursday, September 24th
4 Mississippi 10 Final
South Carolina 16
Saturday, September 26th
1 Florida 41 Final
Kentucky 7
UTEP 7 Final
2 Texas 64
Arkansas 7 Final
3 Alabama 35
Iowa 21 Final
5 Penn State 10
6 California 3 Final
Oregon 42
7 LSU 30 Final
Mississippi State 26
8 Boise State 49 Final
Bowling Green 14
9 Miami (FL) 7 Final
11 Virginia Tech 31
Washington State 6 Final
12 USC 27
Illinois 0 Final
13 Ohio State 30
Fresno State 20 Final
14 Cincinnati 28
15 TCU 14 Final
Clemson 10
Grambling State 6 Final
16 Oklahoma State 56
Texas Tech 28 Final
17 Houston 29
South Florida 17 Final
18 Florida State 7
Colorado State 23 Final
19 Brigham Young 42
Southern Miss 28 Final
20 Kansas 35
Arizona State 17 Final
21 Georgia 20
22 North Carolina 7 Final
Georgia Tech 24
Indiana 33 Final
23 Michigan 36
24 Washington 14 Final
Stanford 34
Louisiana-Lafayette 0 Final
25 Nebraska 55