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Lucky, Nebraska hold off Wake Forest

Sep 8, 2007 - 9:59 PM WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Marlon Lucky and his Nebraska teammates gave coach Bill Callahan another reason to smile.

Lucky scored the go-ahead touchdown and Sam Keller threw for another score as the 16th-ranked Cornhuskers held off Wake Forest, 20-17, on Saturday afternoon.

Sean Hill caught a touchdown for Nebraska (2-0), which cruised to a 52-10 rout of Nevada in its season opener last Saturday. The Cornhuskers have a showdown with No. 1 Southern California next week.

But Callahan was glad his team did not look past Wake Forest.

"This was a BCS championship football team with a lot of pride, and they have always had a good defensive football team," Callahan said. "We are pleased to come out of this game with a win.

"Our fans were tremendous. We had more than 10,000 fans in this stadium - about a third of this stadium - and they were a factor in the game today."

It has been a good week for Callahan, whose team racked up 625 yards of total offense in its thorough, season-opening win. Three days later, the veteran coach inked a five-year contract extension through the 2011 campaign.

Callahan coached Nebraska to the Big 12 Conference's North Division title last season, the Cornhuskers' first division title since 1999. And it has been a good start to this season.

Much of that success can be attributed to Lucky, who ran for a career-high 233 yards and three touchdowns last Saturday. His touchdown reception in that contest made him the first Nebraska player to score four touchdowns in a game since David Horne in 2002.

In this one, Lucky struggled for much of the contest, rushing for just 88 yards on 24 carries. However, Lucky gave the Cornhuskers the lead for good with a 22-yard touchdown run to cap an eight-play, 74-yard drive with 8:13 left in the third quarter to make it 20-17.

But it was a shaky final period for Nebraska.

A fumble by Keller was recovered by Wake Forest's John Russell at the Cornhuskers' 15 with 8:03 remaining. But on third down, Demon Deacons quarterback Brett Hodges was intercepted by Zackary Bowman in the end zone.

Nebraska attempted to run out the clock, but Lucky was stopped on fourth-and-2 with 1:54 left, giving Wake Forest one more chance at a comeback. The Demon Deacons eventually turned the ball over on downs.

"When you are in these types of games where you are the road and the pendulum swings back and forth, the important thing is how you adjust and how you respond as a football team," Callahan said. "I was really proud of how our team responded to get the win today."

Hodges went 12-of-24 for 137 yards and two interceptions for Wake Forest (0-2), which played without starting quarterback Riley Skinner, who had a shoulder injury.