LOS ANGELES - As sophomore I-back Marlon Lucky left the field under the bright lights at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after Saturday night's game, Southern California fans booed, made obscene hand gestures and screamed obscenities at him.
It was the Trojan fans' way of welcoming home the North Hollywood, Calif., native.
Lucky kept walking toward the locker room and didn't acknowledge the crowd, probably still thinking about what had just transpired on the field in front of 92,000 fans and a national television audience.
Lucky, who rushed for a career-high 103 yards in the Cornhuskers' last game against Nicholls State on Sept. 9, was limited to just 27 yards on 10 carries against the Trojans.
"We made a lot of mistakes today, and we've just got to learn from them," Lucky said.
But Lucky wasn't the only Nebraska I-back who struggled Saturday.
Junior Kenny Wilson only managed 46 yards on 19 carries, while Brandon Jackson gained 1 yard on two carries.
Sophomore Cody Glenn, who rushed for 135 yards on 24 carries in the Huskers' first two games and had a team-high three touchdowns, didn't get any carries against the Trojans in limited action.
Even though Glenn didn't get any touches, Callahan said the sophomore was "fine."
Overall, Nebraska had racked up a combined 513 yards on 98 carries the past two weeks against Louisiana Tech and Nicholls State.
But in their 28-10 loss to the Trojans, the Huskers gained only 68 yards on 36 carries - a feeble average of 1.9 yards per carry.
Despite struggling in the ground game, Nebraska didn't attempt to air it out much either.
NU senior quarterback Zac Taylor completed 8 of 16 passes with an average of 8.4 yards per attempt.
NU Coach Bill Callahan said the Huskers wanted to establish a running game against the Trojans.
"It didn't happen and we're disappointed," Callahan said. "We'll take a look at it."
The Huskers only picked up 44 yards on 19 carries in the first half, but they continued to try finding holes in USC's defensive line in the second half.
Taylor only attempted eight passes after halftime, completing four of them. The Huskers did not attempt a pass on a first down until the end of the third quarter
NU Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell said the coaching staff wanted to maximize the Huskers' strengths on offense while trying to negate USC's strengths on defense.
Unfortunately for the Huskers, that game plan didn't work quite as well as planned.
