 "Photo: Chris VanKat")
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Only 3 minutes, 54 seconds into Saturday's game, Nebraska got all the scoring it needed.
The Cornhuskers' touchdown on their first possession of the game gave them a 7-0 lead, and the defense did the rest.
The Blackshirts held a young Kansas State offense to 294 total yards - with only 22 of those yards coming on the ground - in a 21-3 win over the Wildcats in front of a crowd of 50,723 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
NU Coach Bill Callahan said the Blackshirts' ability to stop K-State's ground game was the catalyst for the Huskers' first win in Manhattan since 1996.
"Our defense really had a stalwart effort today against their running attack and forced them into a one-dimensional game," NU Coach Bill Callahan said.
Nebraska's first touchdown came when it successfully attempted a fake field goal on fourth-and-8 from K-State's 17-yard line. Sophomore Jake Wesch, the holder, found sophomore tight end Hunter Teafatiller in the end zone for a touchdown pass to cap the Huskers' nine-play, 80-yard scoring drive.
Saturday's game marked the fourth consecutive contest in which the Huskers scored a touchdown on their opening possession.
Nebraska (6-1, 3-0 Big 12 Conference) scored another touchdown with 11:02 remaining in the second quarter when senior quarterback Zac Taylor connected with junior tight end Josh Mueller for a three-yard TD pass to complete a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive.
K-State freshman quarterback Josh Freeman finished the game 23 of 47 through the air for 272 yards. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked four times.
The Wildcats (4-3, 1-2 Big 12) had minus-19 rushing yards in the second half.
K-State freshman running back Leon Patton, who got the majority of the carries, gained 13 yards on 12 attempts, an average of 1.1 yards per carry.
"Establishing the line of scrimmage was a big thing for us because we wanted to stop the run," NU sophomore nose tackle Ndamukong Suh said. "One of our goals was to make K-State one-dimensional. We wanted to keep their young quarterback in the pocket and go after him for sacks."
Nebraska's offense wasn't exactly high-powered in the second half as the Huskers gained only 124 of their 356 yards in the final two quarters.
Sophomore I-back Marlon Lucky's 40-yard touchdown run in the third quarter accounted for nearly one-third of the Huskers' yards in the second half.
Once again, Nebraska's running game set the tone for the offense.
The Huskers picked up 190 yards on 43 rushing attempts, an average of 4.4 yards per carry. Lucky averaged 5.9 yards on 12 carries, junior Brandon Jackson averaged 5.8 yards on 16 attempts and sophomore Cody Glenn averaged 2.2 yards on 10 carries.
"That's what we want to do," Glenn said. "We're Nebraska, and we want to run the ball. We want to show everybody that we can run the ball no matter what, so it's real big for us to get the ground game going early and often."
Nebraska has now won nine of 10 games since last season's 40-15 loss at Kansas.
Callahan attributed the Huskers' success to execution and attention to detail in all phases of the game.
"For a coach, that's satisfying," Callahan said, "but we've got an awful lot to improve just based on what we saw out there today."
