The first game of the season always brings excitement. Fans are excited to tailgate and see their team and how they will look for the upcoming season. The 125th season of Huskers football has fans feeling optimistic but cautious because of the four losses six years in a row. There are questions heading into the season like can Tommy Armstrong become an All-B1G caliber QB, is this new and cuddly Bo Pelini going to translate to more wins, and can the defense live up to the hype it is garnering? I was there covering the game will be there all season long giving you the inside scoop. There is no word yet on Randy Gregory’s injury status after he came out of the game early with a knee injury and did not return. Bo says he is day to day. Let’s talk about Week 1.
Check out this game week motivational video:
Before the game could kick off though, the 91,441 fans had to pile into the stadium to keep the 334 game sellout streak alive:
The players were ready to go, along with their big crate of bananas:
#Bananas RT @HuskerFBNation: We're ready. pic.twitter.com/6f5Dhnax09
— Grant Muessel (@Muessel) August 30, 2014
There was a lot of talk about changes to the famous tunnel walk that Nebraska does before running out onto the field. The rumors were true about the fireworks being part of the festivities and there was smoke but I didn’t quite go as planned. There was no change to the song ‘Sirius’ even though in my opinion, it needs to be changed badly.
Sirius is alive and well in Memorial Stadium. Added fireworks and could there be smoke when the team enters the field? #Huskers
— Nate Clouse (@NateClouse) August 30, 2014
Same song. Nice new video. Little late on the smoke.
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) August 30, 2014
Once the game got going, the offense took the field and overcame multiple penalties on the first drive and eventually Tommy Armstrong took a 5 yard run in for the TD. Here’s the radio call of the first touchdown of the season:
Then it was time for the ‘Blackshirts’ defense to take the field. Things didn’t quite go as planned as the Owls drove right down the field on them and capped the drive with a 20 yard TD pass from Johnson to Whitehead. After that drive there was a lot of early hand wringing from Husker fans thinking “oh no not this type of defense again.” Well, that turned out to be very premature as the Huskers never allowed another point and got the rout started with this Armstrong to Westerkamp TD:
True freshman kicker Drew Brown made his debut after a very talked about kicking battle in fall camp. He booted through his first attempt from 44 yards out:
True Freshman Drew Brown connects on his first career FG attempt from 44 yards. #Huskers push lead to 10 point. #GBR pic.twitter.com/U7rJGu147F
— Nebraska Huskers (@Huskers) August 30, 2014
Dark horse Heisman candidate Ameer Abdullah took one to the house and Imani Cross bullied his way in for another touchdown which gave the Huskers a 31-7 lead going into halftime. Ameer was well on his way to a huge day with 16 carries for 178 yards and a TD in the first half.
The thing everyone is talking about is the catch of the year already from Jordan Westerkamp. How do you make this catch:
The second half was more of the same domination for the Huskers though there was a funny moment where the fireworks got shot off on a play that wasn’t actually a touchdown. However, the Huskers did score on the very next play so the poor fireworks operator could redeem himself.
One of the young players I had my eye on all fall camp was De’Mornay Pierson-El. The freshman WR came to Nebraska with added muscle and had gotten a lot of work with the second unit. He got his first TD catch of his career:
De'Mornay Pierson-El @ThtPiersonElKid scores his first touchdown of his Nebraska career.
— Mike Schaefer (@mikejschaefer) August 30, 2014
Terrell Newby added his second rushing TD of the game and that was it for the scoring in this beatdown. The final score was 55-7. Ameer Abdullah was the player of the game as he went for a career high 232 yards on 21 carries.
During the post game interviews, every coach and player essentially echoed the same sentiment of they did what they were supposed to do by beating this team and they know their goals are much larger than just winning this game.
Check out the post-game report featuring Ameer Abdullah's 21 carries for 232 yards and a touchdown. #FearAmeer #GBR pic.twitter.com/FYupoh8mGD
— Nebraska Huskers (@Huskers) August 30, 2014