LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska is off to the Big 12 championship game - and Bo Pelini won’t go kicking and screaming.
The Cornhuskers’ volatile coach was on his best behavior Friday while his 15thranked team beat Colorado 45-17 to lock up the Big 12 North without starting quarterback Taylor Martinez.
Pelini was the focus of the week after his foul-mouthed sideline rants during the loss at Texas A&M earned him a rebuke from the Nebraska chancellor.
If all the drama was any distraction, it didn’t show on the field.
“A lot of people tried to tear this team apart,” Pelini said. “We weren’t going to let it happen. Enough said on that.”
Running back Rex Burkhead passed for two touchdowns and ran for 101 yards and another score in Nebraska’s final meeting with Colorado before they head to different conferences.
Nebraska (10-2, 6-2) will go to Arlington, Texas, next Saturday hoping to win its third Big 12 title, and first since 1999, before going to the Big Ten next year.
Colorado (5-7, 2-6), which played its third game under interim coach Brian Cabral, failed to become bowl eligible in its last season before joining the Pacific-12. The Buffaloes were 2-1 since Dan Hawkins’ firing.
“Would I like to be the next head coach? Yes, but that’s not up to me,” Cabral said. “I just had a wonderful ride these last three weeks. I had the best seat in the house for three weeks. There isn’t aBuff alive that wouldn’t give anything for that. I just feel so privileged to have been in this position. Where this goes, only God knows.”
With Martinez out because of injuries to his right ankleand left foot, the Huskers relied heavily on Burkhead to take pressure off backup quarterback Cody Green.
Burkhead went to the bench early in the second half, when the Huskers converted three turnovers into touchdowns to break open the game.
Before that, Burkhead, who finished with 19 carries, took handoffs and pitches from Green and direct snaps in the wildcat formation. He also showed he could still throw a little bit.
“Nothing Rex Burkhead does surprises me,” Pelini said. “He’s what a football player is supposed to be. They ought to put his picture next to it in the dictionary. He just does so many things to help you.”
Burkhead, who played quarterback as a high schoolsophomore, gave Nebraska a 17-3 halftime lead after he took a pitch and started running to his right. He pulled up and lofted a perfect spiral over Colorado’s Jalil Brown and into the hands of Brandon Kinnie for a 26-yardtouchdown.
Burkhead’s other touchdown pass was worthy of the season highlight video. Lined up in the wildcat, he faked a handoff and ran right, pumping once before he reversed field and headed left. He pushed away defensive end Forrest West and, as he neared the sideline, flipped a short pass to Kyler Reed for a 4-yard touchdown.
“After those two touchdown passes, I looked at him and said, ‘Hey, slow down a little bit. I’m the one who’s supposed to be throwing them,”’ Green said, laughing.
Green completed 10 of 13 passes for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Roy Helu Jr. ran 15 times for 77 yards.
Colorado ...............0 3 14 0 - 17 Nebraska ...............3 14 21 7 - 45 First Quarter Neb-FG Henery 42, 5:13.
Second Quarter Neb-Burkhead 2 run (Henery kick), 13:47.
Col-FG Goodman 22, 10:22.
Neb-Kinnie 26 pass from Burkhead (Henery kick), :49.
Third Quarter Neb-Kinnie 16 pass from C.Green (Henery kick), 11:58.
Neb-Reed 4 pass from Burkhead (Henery kick), 10:53.
Col-Richardson 50 pass from C.Hawkins (Goodman kick), 8:19.
Neb-Reed 1 pass from C.Green (Henery kick), 3:38.
Col-Jefferson 29 pass from C.Hawkins (Goodman kick), :00.
Fourth Quarter Neb-C.Green 1 run (Henery kick), 12:55.
Attendance-85,646.
Col Neb First downs ..................................12 24 Rushes-yards ............................23-99 59-265 Passing........................................163 142 Comp-Att-Int ........................... 10-27-2 15-19-0 Return Yards ................................11 38 Punts-Avg. ................................5-41.0 4-38.0 Fumbles-Lost ..............................1-1 1-0 Penalties-Yards ..........................6-55 8-79 Time of Possession .................. 20:30 39:30 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Colorado, Stewart 20-88, Jefferson 3-11. Nebraska, Burkhead 19-101, Helu 15-77, Robinson 13-55, C.Green 7-23, A.Jones 4-8, Marlowe 1-1.
PASSING-Colorado, C.Hawkins 10-26-2-163, McKnight 0-1-0-0. Nebraska, C.Green 10-13-0-80, Lee 3-4-0-32, Burkhead 2-2-0-30.
RECEIVING-Colorado, McKnight 3-10, Richardson 2-62, Walters 2-43, Stewart 2-19, Jefferson 1-29. Nebraska, Kinnie 4-48, Reed 4-17, Broekemeier 3-34, McNeill 1-18, J.Long 1-17, Robinson 1-8, Burkhead 1-0.
CONFERENCE USA
Tulsa decks So. Miss.
TULSA - G.J. Kinne passed for 406 yards and four touchdowns and ran for two scores as Tulsa outlasted Southern Miss 56-50 Friday.
Willie Carter scored three touchdowns for Tulsa (9-3, 6-2).
The Hurricane tied SMU at 6-2 for the West Division title, but the Mustangs own the tiebreaker with its 21-18 victory over Tulsa earlier in the season. Southern Miss (8-4, 5-3) was eliminated from the conference East Division race with the loss.
Carter scored on passes of 67 and 12 yards from Kinne and on a 41-yard reverse as the Hurricane rolled up 634 yards of offense. Kinne completed 23 of 37 passes with two interceptions.
Austin Davis passed for 371 yards and two scores for the Golden Eagles. Kendrick Hardy had 91 yards rushing and Desmond Johnson added 86 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite giving up 357 yards and 28 points in the first half, USM trailed 28-24.
In another Conference USA game, Zach Line scored on a short touchdown run in overtime and Richard Crawford followed with the game-ending interception to help SMU (7-5, 6-2) beat East Carolina (6-6, 5-3) 45-38 in Greenville, N.C., clinching a spot in the Conference USA championship game.
Sports, Pages 24 on 11/27/2010