Nebraska Cornhuskers Handle Gophers; Add Commit to Their Ranks

It was a grand day in Lincoln, NE. Tom Osborne was celebrated for his 41 years of service in an official capacity. Seniors were applauded, Taylor Martinez blew a kiss to the audience via the HuskerVision screens after clinching the school’s all-time passing record, oh and the home team won.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers steamrolled the Minnesota Golden Gophers 38-14, causing the Michigan Wolverines’ lead in the Legends division plucked earlier in the day to be brief yet again. Don’t let the back end of that score fool you, Jerry Kill’s charges were outclassed across the board by a team that came out, slugged their opponent in the jaw and never let up.

Martinez brought “T-Magic” to the field throwing for 308 yards and two touchdowns. Some said tradition is dying at Nebraska when the Huskers donned black, but it’s hard to make that argument with another running back over 1,000 yards for his career. While it’s been difficult watching Rex Burkhead stand on the sideline, Ameer Abdullah has settled down uneasiness about next year’s running back stable thanks to his efforts this year.

The mantra of “If you don’t know, throw to The ‘Fro!” solidifies more by the week as Kenny Bell turned in his best performance of the season, hauling in nine of Martinez’s passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

Nebraska flat out bullied the Gophers around winning the overall yardage battle 444-177 and holding Kill’s crew to one third down conversion on thirteen tries.

As if the Huskers’ victory wasn’t enough, word was received prior to kickoff that Nebraska had received a verbal commitment from running back Adam Taylor of Katy, TX. Rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports, Taylor also had offers from the Arkansas Razorbacks, LSU Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys and Stanford Cardinal among others.

With Nebraska on a five game tear, it’ll wrap the regular season up next Friday in the completely natural, and in no way forced Heroes Game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. If the Huskers win, they’re headed to Indianapolis with a conference title and BCS bowl appearance in their sights.

Brandon Cavanaugh is a college football columnist for Rant Sports and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter and join in on the conversation.