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BY MATTHEW V. ROBERSON
SUN STAFF WRITER

LINCOLN, Neb. — Bigger was a known given. Faster was the unexpected difference.
Once a lumbering football team, Nebraska plays a different game of football these days.
No. 22-ranked Nebraska scored the first three times it had the football, displaying surprising speed, and the Cornhuskers blew past Arkansas State 38-9 in front of a crowd of 85,035 on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
Arkansas State (1-1) knew it was at a size disadvantage at almost every position. But the Red Wolves didn’t expect the Cornhuskers to run away from them.
Nebraska (2-0) rolled up 494 yards offense, including 358 passing, to ease to a convincing victory. ASU coach Steve Roberts said his team didn’t put forth its best effort.
“We didn’t play the way that we’re capable of playing,” Roberts said. “I have to give Nebraska a ton of credit. I thought they played very, very well. I thought they kept us off balance. Their quarterback had a tremendous night. He was on fire. We were unable to get pressure on the quarterback at times, unable to cover. I thought they played a whole lot faster than we did in the game. I think that was the big difference in the game, their speed advantage.”
Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee sliced up ASU for 340 yards and four touchdowns, completing 27-of-35 attempts. After missing his first pass, Lee completed his next eight to stake the Huskers to a 14-0 lead.
In all, 14 different receivers had a catch for Nebraska, led by a career high from junior Niles Paul with six for 69 yards and a TD. Niles also had a 30-yard touchdown run on a reverse.
“Niles was the open guy and that’s my job, to get the ball to the open receiver,” Lee said. “I think we had 14 guys that had a reception today. They were just open today and we got the ball to them.”
After piling up similar numbers in a 61-0 win over Mississippi Valley State last week, Arkansas State gave them up.
Nebraska drove 80 yards on each of its first two possessions to take a 14-0 lead, both of them on touchdown passes. Lee hit Tyler Legate for a 3-yard score followed by a 13-yard TD pass to Mike McNeil.
Paul’s 30-yard run on a reverse put the Huskers up 21-0 with just under 14 minutes to play in the half, and Arkansas State never recovered.
“They were doing stuff that we knew they were going to do but we would get lined up wrong,” ASU cornerback Daylan Walker said. “We didn’t line up and play smart. We just bit on things we shouldn’t have bit on and we were looking at things that we shouldn’t have been looking at.”
The Cornhuskers led 24-6 at halftime, scoring on four of five possessions. It might have been a perfect half for Nebraska had it not been for a penalty.
A holding call negated a 70-yard touchdown on a short pass from Lee to Paul that he turned into a huge gain. The penalty wiped out the score and Arkansas State forced the only Nebraska punt of the first half.
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini likes his team’s aggressiveness.
“I really liked the way we came out, we attacked,” Pelini said. “I thought we played really well offensively. To start the game, I loved the energy we came out with. Overall, it was OK. Defensively, I thought we were inconsistent, sloppy and we missed tackles at times. But I saw some good things, too, all the way across the board.”
Arkansas State moved the football but only scored twice.
The Red Wolves had 274 yards offense, including 143 on the ground. Senior running back Reggie Arnold finished with 83 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
ASU quarterback Corey Leonard was 11-of-20 passing for 131 yards but no touchdowns. He said the opportunities were there, but the Red Wolves didn’t capitalize.
“Really just not finishing,” is what Leonard called disappointing. “I was happy with the way we moved the ball throughout the game. I felt like the first two series, we got ahead of ourselves. We got a little bit too excited. ... When you play a team like this, you can’t make mistakes, and even the smallest mistakes will kill you.”
Arkansas State’s only touchdown came midway through the second quarter after a 14-yard punt return by Walker and a penalty gave the Red Wolves the ball at the Nebraska 32.
Leonard completed a 21-yard pass to Jahbari McLennan to the 2, and Arnold scored on a 1-yard run. Josh Arauco’s PAT was wide right, leaving the score 21-6.
The Cornhuskers pushed the lead to 24-6 on Alex Henery’s 26-yard field with nine seconds left in the first half.
Nebraska scored on its first possession of the second half to put the game away, driving 67 yards for a 31-6 lead.
Lee completed four straight passes, hitting Paul for a 24-yard gain and then finding McNeil down the sideline for a 32-yard touchdown.
Arauco’s 42-yard field goal with 14:44 to play was the final score of the day for ASU.
The Huskers added another TD in the middle of the fourth quarter on Lee’s 2-yard pass to Paul. The score was set up by his 27-yard toss to tight end Dreu Young on the play before.
ASU defensive end Alex Carrington said the Red Wolves started poorly.
“We came out really excited but we weren’t really focusing in on our assignments and we gave up some big plays that we shouldn’t have,” Carrington said.
The Cornhuskers controlled the line of scrimmage in the first half. Nebraska had nearly 300 yards offense compared to Arkansas State’s 118 going into the break.
But Roberts said the Cornhuskers’ receivers, not their line, dictated the outcome.
“Their skill people against our skill people, I thought there was a big difference there,” Roberts said. “They played much faster than we did.”

mroberson@jonesborosun.com