Nebraska rolled Akron on Saturday, running away from the Zips in a 68-0 shutout, the first for the Cornhuskers since the 2009 Holiday Bowl. The Husker offense, nine days after a solid, if unexplosive, debut against Cincinnati, was particularly great. Removing the drive that finished the first half – one play, a kneel down – as well as the final drive of the game – five plays, 23 yards, game over – the offense gained 691 of a possible 710 available yards.
That’s 97.3%.
I’ve been watching Nebraska football since 1996, and if they’ve done something like that in close to three decades of football, I don’t recall seeing it. Even in the 77-14 win over Iowa State in 1997 or the 73-7 domination of Idaho State in 2012, the offense stalled and had to punt. Twice in each game, in fact…