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Lucky helps Nebraska rout Troy

Sep 24, 2006 - 2:11 AM LINCOLN, Nebraska (Ticker) -- Troy had a chance against Florida State and Georgia Tech. The Trojans never were in the game against Nebraska.

Marlon Lucky ran for three touchdowns and the 23rd-ranked Cornhuskers dominated on both sides of the ball to post a 56-0 victory over Troy in a non-conference matchup.

Troy (1-3) had close calls against Florida State and Georgia Tech, and was looking to pull off a major upset Saturday. The Trojans held a 17-10 fourth-quarter lead over Florida State before losing and were tied, 14-14, heading into the final period before Georgia Tech finally pulled away.

This time, the Trojans ran into a team looking to make amends for a rough outing last week in the Cornhuskers, who racked up 407 yards of offense in the first half and never looked back.

The Cornhusker defense posted its first shutout since a 28-0 blanking of Iowa State in 2003 while the offense rebounded from a sub-par performance.

Nebraska was held to 211 yards, including only 68 rushing, in a 28-10 loss at Southern California last week. On Saturday, Nebraska found it much easier going against a less talented group of Trojans.

"This was a good win for our football team. I'm really excited about our defense throwing a shutout today," Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. "It was a good win for our football team in the way that we handled ourselves in the preparation of the week coming off of (Southern California).

"It just shows the maturity about this football team. To come back in this fashion was very satisfying, and we look forward to the next game against Kansas."

Lucky opened the scoring with a 34-yard rush in the first quarter and ripped off a 45-yard TD run in the second quarter to make it 21-0. Nebraska (3-1) held a 28-0 lead at the half and went up by 35 points in the third after Lucky scored on a 52-yard run.

While Lucky paced the ground attack with a career-high 156 yards on 10 carries, Zac Taylor turned in an efficient performance, completing 15-of-18 passes for 269 yards and two TDs. His one-yard TD pass to Matt Senske gave the Cornhuskers a 42-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

"A lot of the backside blocking came up big, especially on Marlon's runs," Callahan said. "The timing is getting better. You can see the execution of the offensive line and the backs tonight, and we're making strides in that area."

After consecutive trips to Tallahassee and Atlanta before coming to Lincoln, the Trojans just ran out of gas against the bigger and faster Cornhuskers. Troy managed just 10 first downs and 159 total yards.

"We had played pretty well against Florida State," Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. "We played pretty well against Georgia Tech leading into the fourth quarter when we were tied.

"But this bunch of guys is different. Their style of play and their physical approach and their ability with Taylor to throw the football down the field really gave us more than we could handle. We were probably overmatched in some areas."

Nebraska leads the all-time series, 4-0, with all meetings held here. Troy is 1-8 all-time against members of the Big 12 Conference.

"Best football team we've faced in a long time. Great coaching on their side of the field," Blakeney said. "Their players were prepared and ready and big and fast. I don't know what they call that offense, if it's West Coast or East Coast or South Coast or whatever, but it was very well-designed and it gave us more than we can handle."