MANHATTAN, Kan. – No one even touched him.
When Taylor Martinez gored the Kansas State defense with an 80-yard quarterback draw that put the Huskers up three touchdowns, he did so without one Wildcat hand grazing his jersey.
And by the time the redshirt freshman glanced over his right shoulder, he was just deciding whether the final yards of his third-quarter score required an all-out sprint.
“I looked back to just gauge how fast I needed to run,” Martinez said.
Thursday’s 48-13 Husker win at Bill Snyder Family Stadium marked a high point in Martinez’s already impressive debut season. With five total touchdowns – including four on the ground – Martinez helped the No. 7 Huskers improve to 5-0 on the season by tearing through a previously undefeated Kansas State team that was considered a contender in the Big 12 North.
After South Dakota State held Martinez to the lowest rushing total of his young career last month with 75 yards, Martinez went from Heisman contender to solved riddle in some circles. On Thursday, the soft-spoken 20-year-old’s 241 rushing yards made him the conference’s leading rusher in yards per game and recaptured the “T-Magic” that had defined his first three outings.
Martinez, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said, was embarrassed by his performance against SDSU. After rushing for 75 yards in a closer-than-expected win over the Jackrabbits, some wondered whether SDSU had found the key to slowing Martinez by simply assigning two defenders to spy him.
Watson said his response against K-State showed the struggles against SDSU were just a matter of his young quarterback maturing. An example of that, he said, was the fact that his 80-yard touchdown draw came after that same play went nowhere earlier in the game.
“The first time, he chose to go the wrong direction instead of following his lead back,” Watson said. “The beautiful thing is, you can correct him and you can load him up and make you pay.”
But there was more to Martinez’s performance than his 80-yard run. A 79-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyler Reed later in the third quarter showcased Martinez’s throwing arm – although nitpickers might point out that Reed had to turn around and slow down to make the catch.
NU coach Bo Pelini said his young quarterback will avoid letdowns like the South Dakota State game and replicate his performance against the Wildcats if he continues to focus on the game at hand.
“If he keeps developing and stays humble and learns from his mistakes,” Pelini said, “he’ll keep from happening what happened two weeks ago when he didn’t play very well. He’s just got to stay with it.”
Martinez wasn’t the only Husker runner starring on offense, as running backs Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead also took advantage of a K-State team that entered Thursday ranked 102nd nationally in run defense. Nebraska’s 451 rushing yards were their most this season, with Helu dissecting the Wildcat defense on a career-long 68-yard touchdown run and Rex Burkhead chipping in 57 yards on the night.
Offensive line coach Barney Cotton said the triple threat in the running game has made it easy for his players.
“We’re fortunate,” Cotton said. “It’s not just Taylor, it’s Roy and Rex and anyone else who carries the ball for us. They all can put their foot in the ground and go.”
Thursday’s game marked the second straight season the Huskers opened Big 12 Conference play with a road win on a Thursday after they beat Missouri in 2009. It was also Nebraska’s last matchup with Kansas State before it joins the Big Ten Conference next year, with the Huskers taking a 78-15-2 lead in a series that stretches back nearly a century.
With an unblemished record heading into an Oct. 16 home game against Texas, Pelini said he’s pleased by the position his Huskers are in entering the rematch of last year’s Big 12 title game.
But for Martinez, his conference debut Thursday was just another chance to play football. And, as Watson said about the third of his four runs to the end zone, the only question was when he would get to the end zone.
“I knew once he got into the second level, into the third level, he was gone,” Watson said. “It was perfect.”