1 N CLUB Letterwinners’ Association Newsletter | September 2009 A Message from the N Club President Greetings from your Letterwinners N Club! The fall NU sports season has kicked off and our Husker teams have had great starts to their seasons. I am pleased to report that the N Club has experienced renewed growth and added excitement this year. To follow the success of our spring events, the Letterwinners N Club will be hosting tailgate gatherings at every home football game this fall. We have secured a limited number of parking spots at a prime location at Lot 11 on 10th and Y Street which is just north of the stadium. Each spot is available for every game at $20 per game but no game ticket will be provided with this parking fee. The tailgates have been great fun so far. Special tailgate events with food and music are planned for the home football games on Sept. 26 (Lousiana-Lafayette), Oct. 17 (Texas Tech) and Nov. 7 (Oklahoma). We have invited the Oklahoma Letterwinners Club to join us at our pregame tailgate for that game, so don’t miss out as this should be a great event. Please RSVP to [email protected] as early as possible so that we can include you in the food count! I would also like to make special mention to our first “Honorary N Club Member” recipient for 2009 – George Sullivan. During a pregame on-the-field ceremony, George received his “N” letter jacket and lifetime membership to the N Club. As many of you know, George has given more than 50 of years of service to Husker athletes competing in all sports. His dedication to Husker athletics is truly unmatched. I was honored to be a part of the ceremony along with our Vice President Larry Frost and Secretary Tim Wurth. Congratulations, George. Lastly, 2009-10 dues notices and membership information have been mailed out. We truly hope that you will join your N Club so that we can keep the group’s momentum going strong and build our membership. If you have not received your dues notice, please notify Doak Ostergard via email at [email protected] or call him at 402-472-0771 to get on our contact list. Go Big Red! Clete Blakeman, President A PUBLICATION OF THE NEBRASKA N CLUB LETTERWINNERS’ ASSOCIATION | SEPTEMBER 2009 2 N CLUB Letterwinners’ Association Newsletter | September 2009 Husker Football Opens Season with Big Wins, Tough Loss The Husker football team opened the season with a show of offensive firepower, with lopsided home wins over Florida Atlantic and Arkansas 2009 NEBRASKA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE State, before going on the road to Blacksburg, Va., for a heartbreaking Sept. 5 Florida Atlantic Memorial Stadium W, 49-3 loss to No. 13 Virginia Tech. Sept. 12 Arkansas State Memorial Stadium W, 38-9 In the season opener, Roy Helu Jr. rushed for 152 yards in just over Sept. 19 Virginia Tech at Blacksburg, Va. L, 15-16 one half of football, and Nebraska’s Blackshirts grounded Florida Sept. 26 Louisiana-Lafayette (HC) Memorial Stadium -- Atlantic’s high-powered passing game. The Cornhuskers rolled to Oct. 8 Missouri at Columbia, Mo. -- Oct. 17 Texas Tech Memorial Stadium -- a 49-3 victory over the Owls in front of the NCAA record 298th Oct. 24 Iowa State Memorial Stadium -- consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 5. Oct. 31 Baylor at Waco, Texas -- Playing in front a season-opening crowd of 85,719 - the third- Nov. 7 Oklahoma Memorial Stadium -- largest crowd in Memorial Stadium history - and an FSN pay-per-view Nov. 14 Kansas at Lawrence, Kan. -- audience, Nebraska notched its NCAA-leading 24th consecutive season- Nov. 21 Kansas State Memorial Stadium -- opening victory. It was the Huskers’ most-lopsided season-opening Nov. 27 Colorado at Boulder, Colo. -- win since 1993, despite playing a 2008 bowl Dec. 5 Big 12 Championship Game at Arlington, Texas -- eligible team that was loaded with returning offensive starters. Sophomore wide receiver Curenski Gilleylen and junior tight end After rushing 11 times for 57 yards and a Mike McNeill were Lee’s favorite targets, as each hauled in four catches score in the first half, Helu showed another on the night. Gilleylen, who entered the game with only two career gear in third quarter by carrying five times for catches for 11 yards, finished with 92 yards receiving, including his first 95 yards and two touchdowns in the first eight career touchdown grab. McNeill, who has caught at least three passes minutes of the second half. Helu finished his in five straight games, finished with 51 yards receiving. night with 16 carries for 152 yards for the third-highest rushing total A week later, in the Huskers’ second game, quarterback Zac Lee of his career, while his three touchdowns were a career-best. engineered an efficient and balanced Nebraska offense, while the While Helu led NU’s ground assault, Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee Nebraska defense continued to flex its muscles, as No. 22 Nebraska was solid through the air in his starting debut, completing 15-of-22 rolled to a 38-9 victory over visiting Arkansas State on Sept. 12 at passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns. He added two carries for Memorial Stadium. 14 yards on the ground, while throwing one interception. The 6-2, Playing in front of the NCAA-record 299th consecutive sellout 215-pound junior from San Francisco, Calif., helped the Huskers cruise with 85,035 fans at Memorial Stadium and a Fox Sports pay-per-view to a 21-3 halftime lead before leading to three impressive third-quarter audience, Lee helped the Huskers improve to 2-0 by completing 27-of- scoring drives. 35 passes for 340 yards and four touchdowns in his second career start. 3 N CLUB Letterwinners’ Association Newsletter | September 2009 Henery, a junior from Omaha, went 5-for-5 on field goal attempts on the day, covering 40, 27, 19, 38 and 38 yards, extending his streak of consecutive field goals made under 50 yards to 19. The Lou Groza Award candidate also unleashed the fourth- longest punt in Nebraska history with Lee connected with 11 Husker receivers, while powering Nebraska a 76-yard bomb in the first quarter. For to more than 490 yards of total offense for the second straight game. the game, Henery punted six times for a Wide receiver Niles Paul was Lee’s favorite target on the day, hauling 41.5-yard average, including two punts in a career-high six catches for 69 yards with his first career touchdown inside the 20 and two touchbacks. reception. The junior from Omaha added “He did a great job. He has been the first touchdown run of his career on automatic and he stepped up today,” a 30-yard reverse. Paul added 53 kickoff Pelini said of Henery after the game. return yards and 17 punt return yards “We shouldn’t have to send him out to close with 169 all-purpose yards there that many times.” on the afternoon. Overall, 14 different While Henery’s leg did all the scoring for the Huskers, the legs Husker receivers caught passes on the of Roy Helu Jr. and Niles Paul covered most of the ground to set up afternoon, as NU finished with 358 Nebraska’s scores. Helu Jr., a Doak Walker Award candidate, rushed passing yards and 136 rushing yards. for a career-high 169 yards on 28 carries and added a team-high four McNeill added a pair of touchdown receptions for 33 yards to account for 202 all-purpose yards. catches on the day, while bringing down Helu’s rushing effort marked his fifth career 100-yard rushing game, four receptions for 57 yards. Menelik all coming in the past eight games. He had four rushes of more than 20 Holt added a career-best five catches for yards in the game, bringing his total to 14 runs of 20 yards or longer 40 yards, while Helu pulled down four receptions for 44 yards. Helu in the past eight games. added 60 yards on 14 carries on the ground, as Nebraska managed 121 But Taylor, who had rushing yards on the afternoon. been stymied by a relentless Nebraska’s Blackshirt defense slowed a potent Arkansas State Blackshirt defense throughout offense, holding the Red Wolves to 272 total yards, including 141 on the game, connected with the ground and 131 through the Danny Coale on an 81-yard air. Senior safety Larry Asante pass with 1:11 left to take the led the Blackshirts with eight Hokies to the NU 3. Matt tackles, including seven solos, O’Hanlon made a touchdown- while forcing the game’s only saving tackle on the play, then registered an eight-yard sack of Taylor turnover with a fumble-causing on Virginia Tech’s next snap to take the Hokies back to 2nd-and-goal hit to stop an ASU drive inside from the NU 11. The Blackshirts blitzed again and forced Taylor to the NU 20. Prince Amukamara throw the ball away to set up 3rd-and-goal. With the clock running and added seven tackles, including a pressure coming, Taylor scrambled for several seconds before finding tackle-for-loss, while senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh notched Roberts in the end zone for the winning score with 21 seconds left. five tackles, including three tackles for loss with 1.5 sacks (17 yards). Virginia Tech improved to 2-1 with the victory, while Nebraska Week three featured a game with two of the best special teams units slipped to 2-1 on the young season.