Cornhuskers' Lord takes win

By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
Sept. 26, 2003
HATTIESBURG Nebraska quarterback Jammal Lord more than doubled his passing total in the first half with two throws in the third quarter, and he simultaneously took the fight out the University of Southern Mississippi.
Lord, who threw for 34 yards in the opening half, connected on touchdown tosses of 44 and 43 yards in the third quarter, as the No. 15-ranked Cornhuskers (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) picked up a 38-14 win over the Golden Eagles (2-2, 2-0 Conference USA).
Lord produced the shortest drive of the game, hooking up with Ross Pilkington on a 44-yard touchdown throw, five minutes into the third quarter. The long touchdown took three seconds off the clock and gave Nebraska a 24-7 lead.
The Cornhuskers quarterback, who finished the game with 6 rushing yards and 124 passing yards, struck again, following an Eagles fumble that linebacker Demorrio Williams recovered, completing a 43-yard pass to Isaiah Fluellen to go up 24 points, with 7:59 left in the third quarter.
USM struggled to get going on offense, as the famed Nebraska blackshirt defense lived up to its billing in front of the M.M. Roberts Stadium record crowd of 36,152.
The Cornhuskers blacked out Eagles offense, forcing five turnovers (three fumbles and two interceptions) and holding USM to 144 offensive yards over the first three quarters.
USM was held to 28 yards and one first down in the opening quarter, and the vaunted blackshirt defense forced a fumble and intercepted a pass in two of the Eagles' first three possessions.
USM sophomore quarterback Dustin Almond, making his first start of the season for the injured Micky D'Angelo, turned the ball over for the first time two minutes into the game.
The 6-foot-2, 212-pound quarterback, who went 4-for-24 passing for 68 yards, with two interceptions, and rushed 12 times for 23, fumbled a snap on his own 29-yard line, and Nebraska nose tackle Ryon Bingham scooped it up.
The Cornhuskers used four plays to cover the short distance to the goal line, capped by a 6-yard scamper from Lord for the early 7-0 lead.
USM gave Nebraska a prime starting spot after it was stalled on its own 34-yard line and was forced to punt.
Eagles punter Luke Johnson shanked the kick, and the ball sputtered to the USM 47.
The Cornhuskers settled for a 40-yard field goal by David Dyches on the drive, but they quickly got the ball back when linebacker Fabian Washington tipped an Almond pass to free safety Josh Bullocks.
Bullocks returned the ball 41 yards to the USM 4-yard line to set up a 3-yard touchdown run by David Horne for a 17-0 lead with 7:20 left in the first quarter.
Despite the grizzly start, the Eagles defense was able to delay the Huskers offense from continually finding the end zone.
After succeeding the first three scores of the game, USM held Nebraska to just 118 yards of offense and six first downs in the opening half.
The Eagles found their way into the end zone in the closing minutes of the first half.
Sparked by a 37-yard punt return by Marvin Young to Nebraska's 22-yard line, running back Tim Blackwell had carries of 12 and 7 yards before he punched the ball into the end zone from a yard out.
The score, which was delayed by two straight Nebraska penalties with the ball on the 1-yard line, cut the Cornhuskers' lead to 17-7, with 1:57 left in the first half.
The other bright spot for USM was the play of freshman quarterback Damion Carter.
The New Orleans native entered the game with 10:29 left to play and he connected on six of his first seven passes.
Carter ended the game throwing for 143 yards on 14-of-17 passing, with one touchdown. The score came with 2:43 left in the game, Carter connected with Caleb Hendrix on a 6-yard touchdown pass.