In what likely was Callahan's last game at Memorial Stadium, the Huskers turned back the clock with a performance reminiscent of the not-so-distant past as they drilled the Wildcats, 73-31, before a senior day crowd of 84,665.

"That was about as thorough a defeat as we've had in our program and personally," K-State coach Ron Prince said after watching Nebraska rack up 702 yards total offense, score on 10 straight possessions and put the Wildcats' postseason hopes in serious jeopardy. "As a professional, you expect better of yourself and those around you."

Instead, things could not have gone much worse for K-State, which after leading twice early on saw Nebraska break the game open in the second quarter and continue to pour it on.

"Clearly the game got away from us and got legs," said Prince, whose Wildcats fell to 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big 12 with their second straight road loss.

Nebraska (5-6, 2-5) broke a five-game losing streak and kept its bowl chances alive with one game left in two weeks at Colorado.

"It's a tough loss, especially the way that it happened," said K-State senior linebacker Justin Roland. "K-State and Nebraska's a rivalry and it's tough."

Nebraska junior quarterback Joe Ganz, who threw for 405 yards and four touchdowns in last week's embarrassing 76-39 loss at Kansas, upped the ante against the Wildcats and made them look foolish in the process.

"It's an incredible feeling," said Ganz, who completed 30 of 40 passes, breaking school single-game records with 510 yards and seven. "If feels good to go out there and play a complete game.

"I'm more proud of not turning the ball over really than those two records."

K-State led 10-7 when Brooks Rossman kicked a 31-yard field goal with 4:34 left in the opening quarter, but from there it was all Nebraska.

The Huskers took the lead for good, 14-10, on Ganz's 26-yard strike to running back Marlon Lucky and were not stopped again until the killed the clock at the end. The romp included nine touchdowns and a 27-yard Alex Henery field goal.

"They are absolutely a terrific offensive team," Prince said of the Huskers. "I was concerned about that.

"They can run the football effectively enough tow here they really tease you and keep you honest enough with it, and then they were really able to do, with this quarterback, whatever they wanted to do in the passing game."

After taking the lead at the end of the first quarter, NU added three touchdowns and a field goal in the second to lead 38-10 at the half.

The most damaging score came after the Wildcats gambled on fourth down and 24 at Nebraska's 46-yard line with less than half a minute left in the half, and the Huskers moved 54 yards in 14 seconds. Ganz hit Todd Peterson with a 23-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to four touchdowns at the break.

"That was on me," Prince said. "I wanted to try to give us an opportunity to get a score.

"It backfired on us completely."

In addition to Ganz' record-breaking performance, Nebraska rushed for 183 yards, including 103 and two touchdowns by Lucky. Lucky also caught six passes for 78 yards and a score.

Maurice Purify did not find the end zone but had six receptions for 108 yards. Frantz Hardy caught three passes for 84 yards and touchdowns of 36, 8 and 39 yards, and two of Peterson's four grabs went the distance.

"This was a great day for our seniors," Callahan said. "For the players, I think it's great that they played hard and played well against a good football team."

While K-State's defense looked powerless to stop Nebraska, the offense sputtered as well after a promising start.

The Wildcats scored first on Josh Freeman's 21-yard pass to Jordy Nelson with 8:55 left in the opening quarter, but Nebraska answered in just 13 seconds when Cortney Grixby returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

"It was obviously a big play," Nelson said. "They responded.

"That is part of our special teams that we have not been very good at and it hurt us again today. When you get a lead, you can not give seven points right back to them."

The Wildcats finished with 428 yards total offense, 320 through the air, but by the time they scored their three second-half touchdowns the game was already out of reach.

"It came down to making plays and they were able to and we weren't," said Freeman, who completed 26 of 44 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns, but was sacked four times. "Today they came out and played and we couldn't answer."

Nelson was again Freeman's favorite target, catching nine passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Brett Alstatt caught the other touchdown pass, a 1-yarder with 10:02 left.

The Wildcats rushed for only 108 yards against a Nebraska defense that yielded an average of 240 a game on the ground. And 53 of those came on James Johnson's 53-yard touchdown with 2:19 left, giving him 129 for the day.

"These stay with your for a long time," Prince said of the loss. "When you're old and gray, you remember these.

"But we don't have much time to let it happen. We've got to move on and put a plan together for Missouri next week."

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+++Sports writer Arne Green can be reached at 822-1408, or by e-mail at agreen@salina.com.