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Nebraska stretched its streak of winning season openers to 27 with a 49-20 win over the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. The Huskers were lead by quarterback Taylor Martinez, who had a career day against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, completing 26 of 34 passes for 354 yards and five touchdowns. Martinez completed passes to ten different receivers.
The receivers were lead by Quincy Enunwa, who hauled in six catches for 70 yards. Tight end Kyler Reed had five receptions for 57 yards and a touchdown, while fellow tight end Jake Long had three catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. Running back Ameer Abdullah caught four balls for 39 yards and a touchdown, while Steven Osborne had his first career touchdown reception.
There was bad news for Nebraska as running back Rex Burkhead left the game early due to a MCL sprain. This came just after Burkhead scored the Huskers' first touchdown of the season, outrunning the Golden Eagle defense with the longest run of his career - 57 yards. Nine players rushed for the Huskers for a total of 278 yards, lead by Abdullah, who had 15 carries for 81 yards.
Nebraska jumped out to an early 14-0 lead and appeared to be ready to blow the game open early when Southern Mississippi's Tracy Lampley returned a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown.
The Huskers lead 28-17 at the half.
The Golden Eagles played three quarterbacks. Chris Campbell started the game, going six-for-12 for 69 yards and a touchdown. Ricky Lloyd was 0-for-2 and had four carries for five yards. Anthony Alford replaced Lloyd, completing only one-of-five passes for six yards, but gained 84 yards on 15 carries.
It wasn't a good day for Nebraska special teams. Besides giving up the kickoff return for a touchdown, the normally reliable Husker kicker Brett Maher missed two field goals and shanked his only punt of the day for 21 yards.
The Golden Eagles could manage only a field goal the second half while the Huskers continued to roll, scoring another 21 points. Nebraska's offense was crisp throughout the game, going 11-for-14 on third down conversions, a 79% success rate while committing only one penalty.
The game was the 319th consecutive sell out for Nebraska, a streak stretching back 50 years to 1962.