Sept. 7, 2002

Final Stats?|? Quotes?|? Notes

By DOUG ALDEN
AP Sports Writer

LINCOLN, Neb. - Jammal Lord threw two touchdown passes and ran for two scores as No. 9 Nebraska beat Utah State 44-13 on Saturday night.

DeJuan Groce intercepted two passes for the second straight week and Dahrran Diedrick ran for 93 yards for the Cornhuskers (3-0) in their best offensive game of the season.

Nebraska finished with 418 yards of offense on a night when the Huskers kept it simple, even by Nebraska standards.

It wasn't exactly an offensive outburst, but with a game at Penn State looming next weekend, the Huskers didn't need to do anything fancy to beat the Aggies (0-2).

Lord pitched the ball only once on the option and finished with 59 yards on nine carries. The first-year starter got a chance to work on his passing in three quarters of work.

He was 6-of-12 for 105 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown pass to Wilson Thomas and a 33-yard scoring strike to Matt Herian.

Kevin Curtis scored Utah State's only touchdown on a pass from Jose Fuentes. The play ended an 80-yard drive late in the first quarter that was the only time the Aggies moved the ball consistently until Nebraska started substituting midway through the second half.

Curtis had six catches for 102 yards, and Fuentes was 16-of-38 for 214 yards with three interceptions.

Dane Kidman kicked late field goals of 29 and 43 yards for the Aggies.

The Huskers scored on six of their first eight possessions in the 250th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium, which drew a record crowd of 78,186. Nebraska's previous high was 78,118 against Notre Dame last year.

Good defense by Nebraska and shoddy punting by the Aggies quickly gave Nebraska the early lead with two short touchdown drives.

The first started at Utah State's 22 when the Aggies were called for interference on a punt return. Nebraska would have opened the drive at its own 35 after a 49-yard punt by Steve Mullins, but a holding call forced him to punt a second time. Judd Davies scored later on a 1-yard run.

The second short drive started when Mullins had to kick from deep in his end zone and Groce returned it 17 yards to the 23. Lord hit Thomas for a touchdown on the next play.

Lord found a wide-open Herian over the middle for another TD on the first play of the second quarter, then Groce set up another touchdown with a leaping interception at the Utah State 38.

Lord ended that drive with a 1-yard run to make it 31-7 Nebraska. He added a 28-yard run near the end of the second quarter that gave Nebraska a 37-7 halftime lead.