College Station, Texas - Freshman I-back David Horne rushed for 128 yards and four touchdowns, as Nebraska scored 24 unanswered second-half points in a 38-31 victory at Texas A&M Saturday evening.
The Huskers, who improved to 6-3 on the season and 2-2 in the Big 12, snapped a five-game road-losing streak dating back to last November, rallying from a 31-14 deficit and snuffing out a pair of Aggie drives with fourth-quarter interceptions.
Horne triggered NU?s late-game heroics, scoring on runs of 21, 11 and six yards in the game?s final 22 minutes, as he eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the second straight week. His four TDs marked the most ever allowed by Texas A&M in a game and his 128 yards, along with teammate Jammal Lord?s 159 yards rushing, marked the first time the Aggies, who fell to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the league, allowed a 100-yard rusher since the 2000 season.
Lord accounted to nearly 300 yards of total offense, toting 30 times for 159 yards, while completing 7-of-12 passes for 116 yards.
Trailing 31-14 after Bryon Jones? 66-yard fumble return for a touchdown, the Huskers quickly trimmed the deficit to 10 points, driving 81 yards on three plays. Senior I-back Dahrran Diedrick broke runs of 18 and 29 yards to the Aggie 21, before Horne?s second score of the evening, a 21-yard jaunt.
Diedrick rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, as the Huskers torched an Aggie defense for 381 yards, the second-most ever allowed by Texas A&M and the most since Texas rushed for 386 rushing yards in 1970. Texas A&M entered the contest leading the Big 12 in rush defense, allowing just 76.9 yards per game.
After forcing a punt, the Huskers went 81 yards on 13 plays to cut the Aggie lead to 31-28 with 13.20 remaining. On fourth-and-one at the NU 28, Judd Davies kept the drive alive with a one-yard run for the first down, and the visitors would eventually cash in, as Lord found Ross Pilkington for a 30-yard gain to the A&M 11 before Horne scored one play later.
NU?s defense and special teams would set up the Huskers? go-ahead touchdown. On A&M?s next possession, Demorrio Williams sacked Aggie quarterback Dustin Long for an 15-yard loss, as the Blackshirts forced a punt. On the punt, Cody Scates kicked it out of bounds at the TAMU 35, giving the Huskers the ball in Aggie territory. The Huskers took advantage six plays later, as Horne took a pitch from Lord and went untouched into the endzone to give the Huskers a 35-31 lead with 11:01 remaining.
The Blackshirts, who allowed just 53 yards on the ground, made the lead stand up, snuffing pair of Texas A&M drives with interceptions. Pat Ricketts, who led NU with 11 tackles, intercepted a Long pass at the Aggie 42, setting up Josh Brown?s 42-yard field goal with 5:59 remaining.
Long, who completed 20 of 37 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns, led the Aggies deep into NU territory in hopes of sending the game into overtime. Texas A&M drove 59 yards and had first-and-goal at the NU 9-yard line, but Philip Bland ended the Aggies? comeback hopes with a diving interception in the back of the endzone with 2:23 remaining.
NU ran the clock out, grinding out a pair of first downs on runs by Davies and Lord to clinch the road triumph. The win was the Huskers? first ever in College Station.
The Huskers will play host to No. 7 Texas next Saturday evening at 6 p.m., as the game will be telecast nationally on Fox Sports Net. The Longhorns improved to 7-1 on the season with a 21-10 win over No. 17 Iowa State in Austin, Texas.
