10/8/2010
Salina Journal

MANHATTAN — Nebraska freshman quarterback Taylor Martinez needed just over three quarters to break the school single-game quarterback rushing record.

With the last of his four touchdowns, a 41-yarder with 12:20 left, he totaled 241 yards on 15 carries to break Jammal Lord’s 234-yard mark in 2002.

Martinez also completed 5 of 7 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown – a 79-yarder to Kyler Reed.

“He made some mistakes but he did a lot of good things,” Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said. “He ran for a lot of yards.

“He is an explosive player. He creates some problems for defenses.”

Coffman gets hook, returns

Kansas State quarterback Carson Coffman lasted one series in the second half before backup Collin Klein took over with just under four minutes gone.

On his second play, Klein ran 22 yards for a first down, but his next two carries netted just 1 yard and the Wildcats were forced to punt.

The two quarterbacks alternated the rest of the third quarter before Coffman took over in the fourth and led the Wildcats to their first touchdown with 9:57 left. Coffman threw 2 yards to Chris Harper for the score after running twice for 47 yards to set it up.

K-State coach Bill Snyder didn’t rule out a change at quarterback with the Wildcats set to face Kansas next Thursday night in Lawrence.

“It probably opened itself up a little bit,” he said of the quarterback race. “We have a lot of things to reassess.

“Obviously we can’t continue the way we were tonight and I’m not talking about the quarterback situation, I’m talking about collectively. There may be position changes in a lot of different places – there may or may not, I don’t know.”

‘Cat and mouse game

Nebraska won the first game of cat and mouse between the teams on the game’s opening drive, when K-State decided to go on fourth down and 2 from the Husker 25-yard line.

First K-State lined up in a wishbone formation with Braden Wilson at fullback, flanked behind him by Daniel Thomas and William Powell. The Wildcats called timeout.

After kicker Josh Cherry warmed up during the timeout, the Wildcats lined up to go again, this time with Carson Coffman in the shotgun and an empty backfield. Nebraska called time.

Finally K-State came out again in the same formation with three wide receivers to the left and Brodrick Smith going in motion from right to left. Coffman kept the ball going wide right and was buried a yard short.

Personnel moves

Sophomore Chris Harper made his first K-State start at slot receiver in place of Tramaine Thompson. Also on offense, junior Clyde Aufner made his first start of the season since coming back from an injury that sidelined him the first two games.

Defensively, Ty Zimmerman made his fourth straight start at safety, but first in place of Tysyn Hartman. Zimmerman, a freshman from Junction City, started the previous three for Emmanuel Lamur.

Hartman did come on and forced a fumble by Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez early in the second quarter, though the Huskers recovered.

Smith injured

K-State wide receiver Brodrick Smith hurt his left leg with 10:10 left in the game and was driven off the field on a cart.

Smith was injured trying to block for Daniel Thomas on an option run to the left side near the Nebraska goal line. The Wildcats scored their first touchdown of the game on the next play.

Snyder said he did not know the extent of the injury, but “it didn’t look good at all. My guess is that he’ll be out for a while.”

End of an era

Bill Snyder has a long history with Nebraska during his Kansas State coaching career, and probably nothing elevated the Wildcat program more nationally than a 1998 victory over NU that ended the Cornhuskers’ 29-game winning streak in the series.

So Snyder predictably expressed regret that Nebraska is moving to the Big 10 next year, meaning the 95th edition of the series Thursday night at Snyder Family Stadium probably was the last.

“I feel badly that they’re going, disappointed that they’re going. I’d love to retain them in the Big 12 Conference,” Snyder said earlier this week. “But every school’s going to do what it is they need to do and feel is in their best interest.

“So I certainly understand.”

K-State fans, who like many in the Big 12 blamed Nebraska for the conference shakeup, greeted the Huskers with a loud chorus of boos when they took the field before the game.

Worth noting

nRepresentatives from the Fiesta Bowl, Alamo Bowl and Texas Bowl were on hand for the game, along with scouts from 14 different NFL teams.

nJosh Cherry’s 46-yard field goal with 8:47 left in the first half extended K-State’s scoring streak to 169 games – the nation’s 10th longest.

nFormer Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop was on the field for the pregame coin toss.

nThe weather at kickoff was 79 degrees under clear skies with the wind from the east at 7 mph.

— By ARNE GREEN/Salina Journal

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