Starting quarterback Dan Persa was on the sideline in the second half because of a bum shoulder, and Northwestern’s maligned defense was doing all it could to hold off Nebraska.

Surely, most fans wearing scarlet and cream at Memorial Stadium were thinking it was just a matter of time before the Cornhuskers (No. 10 BCS, No. 9 AP) took control of this game.

The Wildcats wouldn’t let it happen, hanging on to upset Nebraska 28-25 for their first win over a top-10 opponent in two years.

“A great program win for us,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “To come on the road and put together our most complete game of the year. … Not perfect. Not a work of art. There are some things we can correct.”

The critiques can wait, though. There was much to celebrate after this one.

Second-string quarterback Kain Colter ran for two touchdowns and passed for another as Persa cheered him on from the sideline.

Just as important, a defense that had been allowing 32 points and 432 yards a game held up its end.

“We got beat. It’s that plain and simple,” Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said. “They outplayed us, they outcoached us. What are you going to say? They won the football game. They deserve it. I give Northwestern a lot of credit. We didn’t respond.”

The loss to the 17-point underdog Wildcats (4-5, 2-4) dropped Nebraska (7-2, 3-2) into a second-place tie with Iowa and Michigan in the Big Ten’s Legends Division. Michigan State moved into sole possession of first place with its win over Minnesota.

The win was Northwestern’s first over a top-10 team since a 17-10 road victory over then-No. 8 Iowa on Nov. 7, 2009.

Persa injured his left shoulder in the second quarter when he was slammed to the ground by defensive end Eric Martin. Persa tried to play a couple more series, but he was on the sideline with his left arm in a sling after halftime.

Colter, who typically shares playing time with Persa at quarterback, took all but four snaps in the second half. He ran for 58 yards and completed four of six passes for 115 yards. Third-string quarterback Trevor Siemian came in and went 3 of 4 for 67 yards.

“I feel like we could really go into this game and make a statement,” Colter said. “We had a great week of practice, came into the game with a great game plan and a lot of focus. We just went out there and executed. We really wanted this game.”

Jeremy Ebert caught six passes for a career-high 147 yards and went over the 2,000-yard mark for his career on an 81-yard touchdown play that put the Wildcats up 21-10 early in the fourth quarter.

After the Huskers had pulled to 21-18, Colter scored from the 1 with 1:34 left to finish a 13-play, 66-yard drive that chewed more than 7 minutes off the clock.

“I give it up to our O-line,” Ebert said. “We dominated the line of scrimmage. That final drive, for us to score, that was all them.”

Nebraska, missing Jared Crick and two other defensive linemen because of injury, couldn’t stop the running of Colter, Jacob Schmidt and Treyvon Green on Northwestern’s last touchdown drive.

“We’re thin up front,” Pelini said. “They were just getting the push. It looked like we’d have them stopped for no gain and it’d leak for 3 or 4 yards.”

Colter converted a fourth-and-1 with a 4-yard run around right end to the Nebraska 14, and five plays later the Wildcats were in the end zone.

Persa, who was 9 of 14 for 79 yards in the first half, slapped Christian Jones on the helmet, high-fived Drake Dunsmore and gave a quick hug to Colter as they came off the field.

Taylor Martinez, who passed for 289 yards and two scores, hurriedly moved Nebraska down the field. He hit Kenny Bell for a 14-yard touchdown with 18 seconds to play, but Charles Brown recovered the onside kick and Northwestern ran out the clock.

Nebraska finished with a season-low 122 yards on 35 carries, the third time this season it did not rush for at least 200 yards.

The Wildcats bottled up Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead and forced two costly turnovers in the first half.

Burkhead, who had 100-yard outings in five of his last six games, was limited to 69 yards on 22 carries.

Burkhead fumbled for the first time this season after the Huskers had driven to the Northwestern 5. Jack DiNardo reached in and stripped the ball, and Tyler Scott recovered.

Northwestern went nowhere after the turnover and punted into the wind, setting Nebraska up just inside the 50. But Quincy Enunwa got hit hard by Jeravin Matthews after catching a 25-yard pass, and Ibraheim Campbell recovered for the Wildcats.

“We had a lot of passion in practice and that really got spread around,” defensive end Quentin Williams said. “Really, the defense and the whole team collectively really put our foot down and said enough is enough. We really needed to come out here and play a complete game, defense especially.”

Northwestern kept alive its hopes of being bowl eligible for a fifth straight year. The Wildcats have no more road games and finish with Rice, Minnesota and Michigan State.

“I said it after last week, that if we wanted to make this season special we had to make it a November to remember,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re two steps up the mountain. But this one will go for naught if we’re not humble.”

— Associated Press —

Rex Burkhead was flat on his back, writhing in pain and holding his left leg after the 31st of his 35 runs against Michigan State. Nebraska coach Bo Pelini rushed across the field to check on his star running back.

“I saw he was cramping up,” Pelini said, “and I was pretty relieved.”

After going to the sideline for one play, Burkhead was back on the field running a wheel route and catching the 27-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Martinez that sealed Nebraska’s 24-3 victory over the Spartans (No. 11 BCS, No. 9 AP) on Saturday.

“Unless he’s on crutches, he’s going to be out there,” Pelini said. “The guy is a warrior. You can’t ask for more than he gives this football team.”

What Burkhead gave Nebraska (No. 14 BCS, No. 13 AP) was 130 hard-earned yards rushing and three touchdowns in only Nebraska’s second win in 17 games against a top-10 opponent.

More important, the Huskers (7-1, 3-1) moved into a tie with Michigan State (6-2, 3-1) and Michigan for the Big Ten Legends Division lead. Iowa also would have a share of the lead with a win over Minnesota. The Huskers own the tiebreaker with Michigan State and are yet to play Michigan and Iowa.

Burkhead went over 100 yards for the fifth time in six games. The junior scored at the end of 80- and 89-yard drives in the third quarter that broke the spirit of an MSU team that was coming off the high of last week’s incredible finish to its win over Wisconsin.

“What a difference a week makes,” MSU coach Mark Dantonio said.

Michigan State could have essentially locked up the division with a victory against its third straight ranked opponent. But quarterback Kirk Cousins, as he has throughout his career, struggled on the road.

After throwing for 290 yards and three TDs at home against Wisconsin, Cousins missed on 12 of his first 16 passes and finished 11 of 27 for 86 yards. He was intercepted on the Spartans’ first possession, was nearly picked off three other times and often threw into double coverage.

“We’re a much better team than we showed today and we still have a lot of things in front of us to accomplish,” Cousins said. “It’s important to push on and understand that so much of what happens to us this season is not what happened to us but how we respond. It’s important that we respond the right way.”

Nebraska’s defense, criticized after it allowed 486 yards in a 48-17 loss at Wisconsin on Oct. 1 and leaky in the first half of a 34-27 win over Ohio State two weeks ago, held the Spartans to 187 yards in its best performance of the year.

“I thought our guys were locked in this week,” Pelini said. “I’m proud of that group. They saw today what we’re capable of doing when they play the right way. That’s a pretty good football team we played out there today.”

The Huskers led 10-3 at half and put away the game with their two time-consuming drives in the third quarter.

Martinez completed only a shovel pass for no yards and was intercepted on a poorly thrown ball in the first half, but offensive coordinator Tim Beck called on him to throw anyway.

He went 4 for 4 on the series and completed third-down passes to Tim Marlowe and Brandon Kinnie before Burkhead scored from a yard out to make it a two-touchdown lead.

Officials initially ruled Burkhead lost a fumble at the goal line, but the video review showed that the ball crossed the goal line.

After another defensive stop by Nebraska, Martinez led the Huskers on a 12-play series that lasted 5:24 and essentially wrapped up the game. Burkhead carried on eight of the first nine plays and then, two plays after limping off the field with that cramp in his left cramp, caught his touchdown pass.

“We were in a rhythm, and I wanted to be out there,” Burkhead said.

Burkhead led a rushing attack that finished with 190 yards against a defense that had been allowing 88.9 a game.

“You could tell they were getting winded,” Burkhead said, “and our guys were getting to them up front. Things were opening up quicker and easier. The no-huddle tempo wore them down a little bit.”

Cousins, who last week became the winningest quarterback in MSU history, struggled from the start and was sacked four times.

“There were plays where there was nothing there, no matter how long the protection lasted,” he said. “There were plays where protection broke down where I had something. There were plays where it was a combination. It was a total mix.”

Lance Thorrell stepped in front of Cousins’ pass for B.J. Cunningham and returned it 26 yards to set up the Huskers at the Spartans’ 25. Burkhead scored from the 1 seven plays later.

Cousins couldn’t get the Spartans into the end zone after Johnny Adams intercepted Martinez and ran it back to the Nebraska 28. A defensive holding call put the ball inside the 10, but Cousins’ end-zone pass to Cunningham was too hot to handle and then Nebraska safety Daimion Stafford dropped a bad throw that could have been run back for a touchdown.

The good news for the Spartans is that their schedule becomes much easier the rest of the way. They play Minnesota at home next, go to Iowa, host Indiana and finish at Northwestern.

Nebraska is starting a rugged stretch of games. After playing Northwestern at home next Saturday, the Huskers have back-to-back road games against Penn State and Michigan, and they finish at home against Iowa.

“We’ve got to win out,” linebacker Will Compton said.

— Associated Press —

Nebraska piled up the yards like Tom Osborne’s teams from back in the day, and all coach Bo Pelini could think about was how much better Rex Burkhead and Co. could have been.

The demanding coach sees the potential in these Huskers, and Pelini wasn’t about to be satisfied with a dominant victory against an overmatched opponent.

Burkhead rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown and No. 13 Nebraska racked up 346 yards on the ground in a 41-14 victory over Minnesota on Saturday.

“We had a lot of yards,” Pelini said with a shrug. “I thought there was a lot of things we needed to get cleaned up. I would give us probably somewhere around a ‘B’ in how we played in the run game.”

The Huskers (6-1, 2-1 Big Ten) took over TCF Bank Stadium in their first trip to the Twin Cities since 1989. More than two-thirds of the stadium was filled with red-clad Nebraska backers, and they had plenty to cheer about.

Taylor Martinez threw for 162 yards and a touchdown and Austin Cassidy returned a fumble for another score in the Huskers’ first game since losing star defensive tackle Jared Crick to a season-ending injury.

“When you shut a team out in the first half, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, it feels good,” Cassidy said.

MarQueis Gray was 9 for 18 for 122 yards for the Golden Gophers (1-6, 0-3), including just 2 for 8 for 9 yards in the first two quarters. Minnesota has been outscored 144-31 in three Big Ten games this season, including a 58-0 loss at Michigan and a 45-17 defeat at Purdue.

After Bill Callahan tried to bring more of a pro-style offense to Lincoln, Pelini has returned the Huskers to their power-running roots that made them perennial title contenders under Osborne. Martinez chipped in 52 and Kenny Bell added an 82-yard reverse for a score.

The woeful Gophers defense managed to hold Nebraska to a couple of field goals deep in their own territory early in the game. But the Huskers eventually got their high-powered ground game going.

Nebraska scored its first touchdown thanks to a bizarre play on fourth-and-1 from the Minnesota 13. The Gophers collapsed the line on the option dive, so Martinez pulled it and pitched it left to Aaron Green. The pitch was high and Green couldn’t handle it, but he knocked the ball forward and it landed out of bounds ahead of the first down marker.

After a short conference, the officials spotted the ball there because it was a backward pass, therefore marking it where it landed out of bounds, and not where the muff occurred.

Minnesota coach Jerry Kill protested vehemently, but to no avail.

“I didn’t understand the rule myself,” Pelini said.

Martinez hit Tyler Legate for a 10-yard TD pass two plays later to make it 10-0.

That seemed to suck the life out of the heavy underdogs. Bell scored on his reverse on the next drive and Cassidy returned Gray’s fumble 11 yards to make it 27-0 with under 10 minutes to play in the first half.

“I think we’re getting used to what type of offense we are and what we’re going to become,” Martinez said. “I think we’re doing a great job.”

Burkhead’s 4-yard touchdown dive right before halftime made it 34-0, but Pelini will have plenty of things to point out on film to keep his players from getting too confident.

Nebraska twice had to settle for field goals in the first half after driving inside the Minnesota 5, once because of a bad pitch from Martinez to Burkhead that went for a loss of 7 yards and once when Burkhead was stuffed by cornerback Kyle Henderson on an option pitch to the right.

And the few times Martinez tried to throw the ball down the field, the passes were rarely close to the intended receivers. Two good ones were dropped by Bell and Jamal Turner.

“We had some repeat errors and didn’t get some hats on hats,” Pelini said. “I’ll put it this way, we left a lot of big plays out there today.”

The one bright spot for the Gophers offense came in the third quarter, when Gray hit Da’Jon McKnight on a 53-yard pass off of a double-reverse flea flicker to set up Gray’s 1-yard TD run. The score snapped a streak of 145 straight points for the Huskers in the series against Minnesota. The Huskers won 56-0 in 1990 and 48-0 in 1989.

“We have no room for error and we certainly don’t need to help anybody (with mistakes),” Kill said. “We can’t overcome that.”

— Associated Press —

No. 9 Nebraska finally can set its sights on its first Big Ten Conference game with a trip to Wisconsin next weekend.

“We knew going into the year it was going to be a challenge, and it’s staring us right in the face right now,” Huskers coach Bo Pelini said after Nebraska beat Wyoming 38-14 on Saturday night. “We’ll see how our guys react. I think everyone is looking forward to it. We’ll find out a lot about our football team.”

First things first, though. Nebraska took care of the Cowboys with Rex Burkhead rushing for two touchdowns and a career-high 170 yards and quarterback Taylor Martinez adding 157 passing yards and another score.

The Huskers (4-0) rolled up 490 yards total offense, including 333 on the ground, in their first road game of the season and last game before their highly anticipated Big Ten debut after officially leaving the Big 12 over the summer.

“We’re all excited and we’re looking forward to the challenge,” said Burkhead, who had TD runs of 45 and 16 yards and piled up the yards on just 15 carries. His previous career high was 129 yards against Iowa State in 2010.

“Rex has been playing like that all year,” Pelini said. “It doesn’t surprise me. Rex is a heck of a player and ran his butt off again tonight.”

Wyoming (3-1) was led by quarterback Brett Smith, who passed for 166 yards and two scores.

“I thought we had a great game plan,” Smith said. “We were able to execute a few times, but not enough.”

The Cowboys entered the game with their first 3-0 start since 1996, although two of their games this year were against lower-division FCS teams, and they struggled with Nebraska.

The Huskers scored on their first two possessions of the second half and opened a 31-7 lead on Burkhead’s 16-yard scamper, a 20-yard field goal by Brett Mahar and an 8-yard TD pass from Martinez to Kenny Bell.

Smith connected with Robert Herron on a 10-yard TD pass, only to see Nebraska drive for a score on its next possession on a 1-yard run by Braylon Heard. Wyoming, which entered the game averaging 36 points and 492.3 yards of offense, was held to 305.

Nebraska led 14-7 at halftime. Burkhead scored on his second carry of the game, romping 45 yards off the left side on first down. Martinez followed with an 8-yard TD run up the middle before Wyoming answered with a 48-yard TD pass from Smith to Mazi Ogbonna, who took a short slant pass and avoided three Nebraska tacklers as he cut across the field.

Nebraska star defensive tackle Jared Crick did not suit up for the game after suffering an unspecified injury the week before against Washington. The 6-foot-6, 285-pound senior had started 31 straight games for Nebraska. He has 14 tackles and one sack in three games this season.

Nebraska cornerback Alfonzo Dennard played in his first game of the season after pulling a muscle in his right leg in mid-August. He sat out most of the second half, finishing with four solo tackles.

“I feel pretty good. No soreness at all,” Dennard said.

It was Nebraska’s first road game at a non-BCS conference school since a 38-14 win in 2003 at Southern Miss., and the first time the Huskers had visited Laramie even though the two states border each other. The game drew 32,617 people to War Memorial Stadium, making it the third-largest population center in Wyoming on Saturday. Many were wearing Nebraska red.

The stadium has a listed capacity of just about 29,200, which the smallest stadium Nebraska has played in since 1971. Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium seats 80,000.

“I’m sure it will be different up in Madison for our offense,” Pelini said.

— Associated Press —

Another time, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini would have been enraged by his defense’s performance.

Not this time.

No. 11 Nebraska defeated Washington 51-38 in a wild game Saturday in which the teams combined for 884 yards of offense — and the usually defensive-minded Pelini was all smiles.

He wouldn’t say it during the week, but this game was about revenge.

“I would hope our football team took personal what happened out in San Diego, losing that football game,” Pelini said. “End of the day, we all wanted a win. I don’t care what the score is.”

The Cornhuskers (3-0) won the third meeting of the teams in 364 days. Nebraska won 56-21 in Seattle last September but lost 19-7 in a rematch at the Holiday Bowl.

Taylor Martinez threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third in the fourth quarter that looked to put away the Huskies (2-1).

But the Huskies wouldn’t quit in the mist at Memorial Stadium, with Keith Price passing 52 yards to James Johnson for his fourth TD toss to make it a 13-point game with 4:27 left.

“I think we could have easily cashed it in there when the game was out of hand,” Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said, “and I thought our guys competed for four quarters.”

The Huskies (2-1), who had their six-game winning streak ended, kept coming back after big mistakes allowed Nebraska to quickly increase its 20-17 halftime lead to 34-17.

Washington’s Chris Polk ran 22 times for 130 yards, and Nebraska’s Rex Burkhead had 22 carries for 120.

Price was 21 of 37 for 274 yards. He was intercepted twice, with his last one allowing Nebraska to go into victory formation with just over a minute to play.

Martinez completed 10 of 21 passes for 155 yards, and he ran for 83 yards on 17 carries.

It looked as if the Huskers would take control after Washington, as Sarkisian said, had a “complete meltdown” in the third quarter.

The Huskies gave Nebraska a short field when Desmond Trufant was penalized 15 yards for interfering with Burkhead as he tried to catch a punt, and they were charged another 5 yards for sideline interference.

Nebraska started at its 44 and ran on seven of eight plays before Burkhead bulled into the end zone from the 1.

The Huskers were set up at the Washington 1 second later. Bishop Sankey dropped the kickoff, and teammate Kevin Smith couldn’t come up with the ball as a horde of Huskers converged. Mathew May recovered, and Burkhead punched it in for his second touchdown in 9 seconds.

“It’s a present in your hands,” Burkhead said of Washington’s turnover. “It’s a great feeling. You just scored a touchdown, and you realize you’ve got another opportunity right there.”

Pelini said it was a great effort by May, who lunged for the ball over teammate Eric Martin.

“You feel for that kid from Washington,” Pelini said.

At the time, some Nebraska players thought the win had been secured.

“I didn’t personally think we put them away,” Martinez said, “but I kind of think our team did.”

Linebacker Lavonte David said, “We kind of let down a little bit.”

Nebraska was up 44-17 after Aaron Green’s 6-yard TD run with 12:18 left, but within five minutes it was a 13-point game. Polk scored on a 2-yard run, and Price hit Johnson for a 10-yard TD.

“I didn’t like the way we finished defensively,” Pelini said. “We relaxed a little and did a couple boneheaded things there at the end. But I like where we are right now. We’re 3-0 and the process continues.”

Martinez threw for two touchdown passes in the first half, marking the second time in his career he has thrown for more than one TD in a game.

Martinez connected with Kenny Bell for 50 yards on the game’s first play from scrimmage before flipping a 3-yarder to fullback Tyler Legate for a touchdown. It was Nebraska’s first on an opening series in nine games.

After Ameer Abdullah’s 66-yard kick return set up the Huskers at the Washington 34 in the second quarter, Martinez threw a 25-yard TD pass to Green.

Washington copied from Fresno State’s game plan a week ago against Nebraska and had Price roll the pocket to the outside. He and Jermaine Kearse teamed up for two touchdown passes, a 38-yarder on the Huskies’ first series and a 6-yarder after Abdullah muffed a punt.

Nebraska has scored at least 40 points in each of its first three games for the first time since the 1995 national championship season.

“It was a good win for our football team,” Pelini said. “I told the team that the beautiful part about it is there’s a lot more out there for us. We can get a lot better in every phase.”

— Associated Press —