MINNEAPOLIS - When Philip Nelson picked Minnesota, he envisioned program-lifting victories like this.
With recovering Coach Jerry Kill providing extra motivation, the Gophers pushed around Nebraska all afternoon to beat the Cornhuskers for the first time since 1960.
Nelson rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another, guiding Minnesota to a 34-23 upset Saturday of 24th-ranked Nebraska.
“We just have this confidence we can compete with anyone,” said Nelson, who made all of his seven completions count, for 152 yards. He carried the ball eight times for 55 yards, including a spin across the goal line from the 1 with 48 seconds left to seal the victory.
The Gophers (6-2, 2-2) became bowl-game eligible and stopped a 16-game losing streak to the Huskers during which they were outscored by an average of 40-9.
“You dream about being able to switch this thing around. That’s just the path that our recruiting class took, because we kind of took a blind leap of faith in this program,” Nelson said, adding: “The way coach Kill runs his programs, we knew that we were going to have success and it was just a matter of time before we really started rolling.”
Taylor Martinez returned from a toe injury on his left foot that kept him out of the past three games for the Huskers (5-2, 2-1), but he had only 16 yards rushing on eight attempts and 139 yards on 16-for-30 passing, plus 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
David Cobb rushed for138 yards on 31 attempts for the Gophers, who outgained the Huskers 271-189 on the ground. Ameer Abdullah had 165 yards on 19 carries for Nebraska.
In other games involving Big Ten teams, C.J. Fiedorowicz caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Jake Rudock in overtime to give Iowa (5-3, 2-2) a 17-10 victory over Northwestern (4-4, 0-4) in Iowa City, Iowa. … Connor Cook threw for three touchdowns to lead Michigan State (7-1, 4-0) to a 42-3 victory over Illinois (3-4, 0-3) in Champaign, Ill. ... Braxton Miller passed for three touchdowns and ran for two and Carlos Hyde rushed for 147 yards and two more scores to lead No. 4 Ohio State (8-0, 4-0) to a 63-14 victory over Penn State in Columbus, Ohio. It was the most points surrendered by Penn State (4-3, 1-2) and its worst loss in 114 years.
MID-AMERICAN N. Illinois stays perfect
DE KALB, Ill. - Jordan Lynch threw four touchdown passes and caught another as No. 18 Northern Illinois reached its best start as a major program with a 59-20 victory over Eastern Michigan.
The Huskies (8-0, 4-0) never trailed on the way to a season-high in points and second-highest total offense (658 yards).
The Eagles (1-7, 0-4) lost their seventh in a row.
In other games involving Mid-American Conference teams, Keith Wenning threw five touchdown passes to lead Ball State (8-1, 5-0) to a 42-24 victory over host Akron (2-7, 1-4).… Joe Licata and Branden Oliver accounted for all six touchdowns to lead Buffalo (6-2, 4-0) to a 41-21 victory over host Kent State (2-7, 1-4). … Terrance Owens threw for three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 1:22 remaining, to lead Toledo (5-3, 3-1) over host Bowling Green (5-3, 3-1) 28-25. … Tyler Tettleton and Donte Foster proved a dynamic duo as Tettleton found Foster for three touchdowns and Ohio (6-2, 3-1) defeated Miami (Ohio) (0-8, 0-4) 41-16 in Athens, Ohio. … Zach Terrell completed a 54-yard touchdown pass to Corey Davis with five minutes remaining in the game to give Western Michigan (1-8, 1-4) a 31-30 victory over Massachusetts (1-7, 1-3) in Foxboro, Mass.
Sports, Pages 33 on 10/27/2013