Boxscore

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A high powered West Coast offense proved to be too much for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (0-1; 0-0 WAC) to handle as they were bested by the Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-0; 0-0 Big XII) 49-10 Saturday, Sept. 2 at Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 85,181.

The Huskers got on the scoreboard first with a 13-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Zac Taylor to senior tight end Matt Herian with 1:54 left in the first quarter to give Nebraska the lead 7-0.

The Bulldogs answered shortly after a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal from junior Danny Horwedel to make the score 7-3. The Bulldogs started at their own 20-yard line where junior quarterback Zac Champion hooked up with senior wideout Johnathan Holland twice in the drive for a total of 49 yards. Sophomore Patrick Jackson also tacked on 22 yards.

Nebraska extended its lead to 14-3 with 5:54 left in the first half with a 12-play, 74-yard drive capped off with a 13-yard score from sophomore Marion Lucky. Lucky finished the game with 79 yards rushing.

Tech?s only touchdown of the day came from what appeared to be an overthrow by Champion but turned into a spectacular one-handed grab by Holland for the score from 42 yards out. Horwedel added the point-after and the Bulldogs were in reach at 14-10. Champion finished the day 12-27 for 231 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Holland led the Tech receiving corps with seven receptions for 139 yards.

?It was an unbelievable catch,? Tech head coach Jack Bicknell said. ?I was proud of Zac. He went to the right place with the ball all game and played well. He didn?t get rattled and kept working. Seeing him play in this game was very encouraging.?

The Bulldogs seemed as if they were going into halftime down 14-10, but another long drive by the Huskers all but took the wind out of the Tech defensive unit?s sails after sophomore tailback Cody Glenn punched it in from one-yard out with :07 left in the first half to take the lead 21-10. Tech would not score for the rest of the day.

?I thought Nebraska did a great job on that drive,? Bicknell said. ?They made the plays they needed to make. They kept throwing that out route. (Sophomore linebacker Quinn Harris) almost made that interception on third down, and that would have been huge.?

Nebraska came out firing at the beginning of the second half and wasted no time scoring as Taylor connected with junior tight end J.B. Phillips for a six-yard strike to make the score 28-17 with 12:31 in the third quarter.

The last bit of momentum left the Bulldogs in the very first play of the fourth quarter when Champion hit sophomore Josh Wheeler for a 56-yard strike that was fumbled and recovered by Nebraska. The Huskers would score three more times on the afternoon, and took the game with the final score 49-10.

?I felt like the game should have been closer than the score indicated,? Bicknell said. ?It was frustrating. It felt like it went from 28-10 to 49-10 very quickly. Even so, I thought our defense made great plays. This was a very tough offense to open our season with.?

Harris and true freshman Antonio Baker led the team with 10 total tackles apiece, both finished the game with a forced-fumble. True freshman D?Anthony Smith recorded Tech?s lone interception of the afternoon.

Jackson gave the Bulldogs 46 yards on the ground on nine attempts, while junior Freddie Franklin added 35 yards on six carries.

The Bulldogs return to action Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. against instate opponent Nicholls State.