Eagles fall to Nebraska in season opener

The story of the game was Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez, as his 354 passing yards topped his previous career mark of 323 passing yards against Oklahoma State in 2010. Martinez completed 26 of his 34 pass attempts, and threw five touchdown passes to five different receivers.

“It’s what I expected from Taylor,” Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini said of Taylor’s performance. “I’ve been seeing a lot of good things. I thought, to be efficient, he had to handle the offense well. I thought he directed things very well. He got us out of some bad plays and into some right plays. For the most part, (he) made good decisions. I know he had one throw that we were lucky to get back, but for the most part, I thought he played very well, very efficient. (He) made good decisions, and he distributed the ball well. I thought there were a lot of positives there.”

Martinez and the Husker offense moved the ball at will against Southern Miss, as the Golden Eagle defense surrendered a dismal 632 yards of total offense and failed to record a single turnover.

“Defensively I think it was poor,” Southern Miss head coach Ellis Johnson said of his team’s defensive performance. “I think that Nebraska is a really good team, so I am not trying to take anything away from them, they probably have a shot to make it a long way in their conference. But I was disappointed. A lot of young guys on our defense showed their youth rather than their talent at times.”

Despite such a lackluster defensive performance, there were several bright spots on offense that left Johnson feeling positive after the game.

“A lot of guys did a good job on the offensive side of the ball, although we did have some mistakes,” Johnson said. “We put the ball on the ground once, and a few balls should have been picks. But there are plenty of things to build on, and we can become a pretty good team.”