Lord leads Huskers

Junior quarterback Jammal Lord rushed for a Nebraska quarterback record 218 yards and three touchdowns as the Huskers rebounded from back-to-back losses to defeat McNeese State 38-14 Saturday before 77,192 at Memorial Stadium.

Lord, who was pulled during last week’s loss at Iowa State and almost lost his starting job, scored on runs of 5, 57 and 56 yards and connected with wingback Troy Hassebroek on a 10-yard scoring pass. Lord completed 12 of 18 passes for 151 yards to finish with a school-record 369 yards of total offense. He was interecepted once, which was the Huskers' only turnover.

"Jammal did a good job throwing the ball, and he did a good job running the ball," NU Coach Frank Solich said. "He did everything at the top of his game. It has not been an easy week or two or three weeks for him. I appreciate the way he has hung in there."

Solich said that Lord was "not up to taking any questions," and was not made available for postgame interviews.

Lord bettered NU's quarterback rushing record of 191 yards, set by Eric Crouch last year against Missouri.

The Nebraska offense, which had struggled to produce big plays earlier in the season, had several against the Div. 1-AA Cowboys. In addition to Lord’s long scoring runs, true freshman wide receiver Mark LeFlore scored on a 64-yard reverse in the fourth quarter to give the Huskers a 31-7 lead.

"I thought we made a step forward in that direction today," Solich said, "and the defense made a step in terms of getting a number of three-and-outs."

Nebraska, now 4-2, returns to Big 12 Conference action next week, playing host to Missouri at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. McNeese State, which was rated No. 2 in Div. I-AA last week, fell to 4-1.

Notes

-- True freshman I-back David Horne, seeing his first action of the season as the top backup to starter Dahrran Diedrick, rushed 12 times for 81 yards. Diedrick had 15 carries for 64 yards.

"David did an excellent job for his first time in a college game," Solich said. "He was nervous at the start, but I thought he settled in and did a good job."

-- Nebraska finished with 444 yards rushing and 595 yards in total offense. McNeese State finished with 355 total yards, including 234 through the air.

-- Four Huskers made their first career starts – junior defensive tackle Patrick Kabongo, junior rush end Trevor Johnson, redshirt freshman rover Daniel Bullocks and true freshman cornerback Fabian Washington.

-- Starting rush end Chris Kelsay suffered a hamstring injury in the first quarter and did not return.

-- Sophomore quarterback Mike Stuntz, who many expected to get the starting nod, didn’t enter the game until Nebraska’s final possession, with 1:51 remaining.