Burkhead’s career day leads Nebraska past Wyoming in 38-14 victory

By Matt Palu

Burkhead’s career day leads Nebraska past Wyoming in 38-14 victory

LARAMIE, Wyo. — War Memorial Stadium in Laramie sits at an elevation of 7,220 feet. Coincidentally, 7,220 is also the number of tackles Rex Burkhead seemed to have broken in Saturday’s 38-14 Nebraska win against Wyoming.

The junior I-back had a career day, rushing for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

“He is just a monster,” senior receiver Brandon Kinnie said of Burkhead. “He’s a workhorse. We know we’re going to get that from him every game.”

Like Kinnie, head coach Bo Pelini seemed far from surprised by Burkhead’s big day.

“Rex has been playing like that all year,” Pelini said. “It doesn’t surprise me. Rex is a heck of a player, and he ran his butt off again tonight.”

As quick as teammates and coaches are to praise Burkhead and his performance Saturday, the ever-humble Burkhead is even quicker to deflect it.

“Yeah it felt good,” Burkhead said of the game. “But you have to give all of the credit to the offensive line. They did a tremendous job.”

Burkhead went on to credit fullback Tyler Legate and receiver Quincy Enunwa, who were vital in Burkhead’s opening touchdown of the game.

Burkhead put up the first points of the game, scoring on a 45-yard touchdown run on a toss play down the far sideline in the first quarter.

Despite Burkhead’s big play, the Nebraska offense failed to play early with the cohesiveness they had in the Washington game. With that, the Cowboys dominated the time of possession in the first quarter.

It became evident after his first score, that the Plano, Texas native was to shoulder the load for the Husker offense.

Burkhead had 58 of Nebraska’s 75 total yards in the first quarter.

“He’s obviously a nice guy to have when we’re not playing our best,” offensive coordinator Tim Beck said.

The Huskers went up 14-0 on an 8-yard touchdown run on a zone read keeper by Taylor Martinez. The score capped an eight play, 80-yard drive that ran nearly three minutes off the clock.

Wyoming answered later in the quarter on a 48-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Brett Smith to senior receiver Mazi Ogbonna.

Going into the half with a 14-7 lead, the NU offense looked far from clicking on all cylinders.

Burkhead, dubbed the ‘white stallion’ by teammate Brandon Kinnie, had 97 of Nebraska’s 114 first-half rushing yards. Nebraska had only a 35-yard edge over Wyoming in total offense through two quarters.

The third quarter was a turning point.

“We had some mistakes in the first half but we also executed some plays,” Burkhead said. “We got into a rhythm running the ball (in the second half).”

Burkhead topped the 100-yard mark on his first carry of the second half and went on to rush for 73 yards on seven carries in the second half, much of which came from the wildcat formation.

The second half was the only instance this season in which the NU offense showed any of the wildcat, which was used at times last season.

“It stresses the defense,” offensive coordinator Tim Beck said. “Rex has been good before at doing it, and we just felt like it was time to bring it out.”

Beck wasn’t the only one who said he liked it. Burkhead said he enjoyed running plays out of the formation.

“It always feels good to act like the quarterback for a few plays,” Burkhead said. “I thought we executed it really well and coach Beck brought it out, and hopefully it stays in our game plan.”

After eclipsing his previous career high midway through the fourth quarter, with Nebraska up 38-14, Burkhead ceded late fourth-quarter carries to senior Austin Jones and true freshmen Ameer Abdullah, Braylon Heard and Aaron Green.

The No. 8 Huskers are now 4-0, and Burkhead, who has rushed for more than 100 yards in back-to-back games, says he and the rest of the team are ready for their national spotlight matchup with No. 7 Wisconsin.

“We’re excited,” he said. “It’s going to be fun. I’m ready for Big Ten play.”

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