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Nebraska becomes fourth team to earn 800th win

Oct 15, 2006 - 2:46 AM MANHATTAN, Kansas (Ticker) -- Nebraska is now a member of an elite club.

Zac Taylor threw for 134 yards and a touchdown and Marlon Lucky ran for 83 yards and a score as the 21st-ranked Cornhuskers cruised to a 21-3 victory over Kansas State in a Big 12 Conference matchup.

By posting its first win here since 1996, Nebraska (6-1, 3-0 Big 12 North) joined Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas as the only Division I-A programs to have at least 800 victories.

"First off, it's great to be part of the 800th win in Nebraska football history," Cornhuskers coach Bill Callahan said. "It's a definite milestone and something that we're very proud to contribute to tonight. We're awfully proud of the way our players performed tonight."

It did not take long for the Cornhuskers, who snapped a four-game losing streak here, to take control of the contest.

"It's very huge for us, that was our goal throughout fall camp," Nebraska nose guard Ndamukong Suh said of the win. "We wanted to come out and win at Iowa State and Kansas State before going back home to face Texas."

Nebraska defeated Iowa State, 28-14, on October 14 and will host sixth-ranked Texas on October 21.

They jumped ahead for good on their opening drive when kicker Jake Wesch hooked up with Hunter Teafatiller on a fake field goal for a 17-yard score 3:54 into the contest.

"(The Cornhuskers) took their best shot on the opening drive," Kansas State coach Ron Prince said. "I was very impressed with how the ball moved for them. We got down there, they lined up for a field goal and they faked it. It was a very well executed fake. We could have defended that better, and that put us behind 7-0 in the start."

Taylor made it 14-0 by throwing a three-yard strike to Josh Mueller with 11:02 left before halftime. In the third, Lucky found a hole in the middle and broke away for a 40-yard TD run for a 21-point advantage.

Nebraska's defense had four sacks and two interceptions while allowing just 22 rushing yards.

"Establishing the line of scrimmage was a big thing for us. We wanted to stop the run," Suh said. "One of our goals was to make K-State one-dimensional. We wanted to keep their young quarterback (Josh Freeman) in the pocket and go after him for sacks."

Freeman completed 23-of-47 attempts for 272 yards and Jeff Snodgrass kicked a 53-yard field goal for the Wildcats (4-3, 1-2 North), who had their three-game winning streak ended.