Memorial Stadium, Lincoln — Self-inflicted wounds made the sting of a 55-0 whipping by Nebraska even more painful Saturday night for Louisiana-Lafayette's football team.

The Ragin' Cajuns had an interception returned for a touchdown and lost two fumbles in their worst loss since falling to Texas 60-3 in 2005. ULL also was shut out for the first time since a 27-0 loss to North Texas in 2002.

“That's a good football team,'' ULL coach Rickey Bustle said, “and when you come out there and hand them some plays on a silver platter, they're going to beat you to death.''

The Huskers did just that, converting two first-half Ragin' Cajuns turnovers into 14 points while building a 34-0 lead. Nebraska's Larry Asante returned an interception of a Chris Masson pass 74 yards for one score, and Roy Helu scored three plays after tight end Ladarius Green fumbled at the ULL 26-yard line early in the second quarter.

ULL's other turnover killed the Ragin' Cajuns' best scoring opportunity of the game in the third quarter. ULL had moved to a first down at the Nebraska 17-yard line before running back Draylon Booker fumbled at the end of a 4-yard run.

Nebraska linebacker Sean Fisher recovered and returned the bobble 21 yards.

“When we can't come in and put up points and we put our defense in bad positions, it's going to be a long night,'' ULL running back Undrea Sails said. “We thought we were going to come in here and play better than that.''

Playing a third straight game against a team from a BCS conference, ULL was already banged up entering the game. The Ragin' Cajuns left both starting safeties at home, and Bustle said several other key players did not play in the game.

The injury list grew as Saturday's game wore on. Masson did not play in the second half, and several other key contributors joined him on the sideline.

“We need a week off,'' said Bustle, referring to the break ULL will get before opening Sun Belt play Oct. 10 against North Texas.

Bustle said linebacker Daylon McCoy and his defensive mates were consistently put in tough spots because of the inconsistency demonstrated by the Ragin' Cajuns' offense and special teams. In addition to the turnovers, the offense failed to show much consistency in managing just 222 yards on 64 snaps.

“That happens,'' McCoy said. “As a defense, when our backs are to the wall, we have to respond. I'm not putting any blame on the offense. We just didn't respond when we needed to.''

Nebraska rolled up 433 yards and scored on its first five possessions of the game. Linebacker Antwyne Zanders said Nebraska quarterbacks Zac Lee and Cody Green did a good job of taking advantage of a patched-together Ragin' Cajun secondary. Lee finished 15 for 18 for 238 yards, while Green was 7 of 8 for another 62 yards.

“We were stopping their inside runs, so they started running outside and passing more,'' Zanders said. “We weren't prepared for that. We started to adjust but then some mental busts hurt us.''

ULL has played in its share of tough venues, but Saturday's experience left Zanders with an unreal feeling.

“It was like we were in a zombie movie,'' he said. “I felt like I was in a daze. We were trying to get out of it and trying to get out of it, but we just never were able to kick it into another gear.''