Nebraska receiver Niles Paul had a pretty simple philosophy Saturday night on the Huskers' pivotal third-and-1 call in the third quarter: Go get the football.

NU started the second half at its own 30-yard line and followed with Roy Helu runs of 6 and 3 yards. On third-and-1, Zac Lee carried out a play fake and threw a 47-yard pass to Paul — the junior's 10th catch of 20 yards or longer this season.

“I was just thinking I got to make a play on it,'' Paul said. “Wherever Zac put it, I was going to have to catch it.''

NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said Kansas State figured to load the box for the short-yardage play.

“We knew it was there,'' Watson said. “We took a shot at them. It was something we wanted to do in our game plan and it was the perfect situation to do it.''

Helu scored on a 14-yard run on the next play and Nebraska owned its 17-3 lead.

Dennard sidelined by foot injury

NU assistant coach Marvin Sanders said it was a game-time decision to sit cornerback Alfonzo Dennard, who was fighting a foot injury.

“I was kind of waiting to see during individual period and during pregame how he was going to be,'' Sanders said. “I just didn't feel comfortable the way he was still kind of hobbling around.''

Anthony West returned to the starting job he held for the first four games of the season. The junior was credited with three unassisted tackles.

NU treated to some K-State tricks

Nebraska's defenders were told to be mindful of trick plays against Kansas State, but cornerback Prince Amukamara said they weren't really exposed to a lot of unconventional looks as they prepared for Saturday's matchup.

But the Huskers seemed to handle K-State's oddities rather well, rarely getting caught out of position when the KSU offense tried some trickery.

“Even though we didn't practice for it, our coaches just said to be prepared for anything,” Amukamara said. “They had nothing to lose.”

Running back Daniel Thomas took a few snaps out of the “Wildcat” formation.

Brandon Banks ran a reverse for 9 yards. He also lined up shoulder-to-shoulder with quarterback Grant Gregory directly behind the linemen once in the fourth quarter, taking the football one way, while the play appeared to move another.

Receiver Collin Klein took a pitch from Gregory in the third quarter and completed a 27-yard pass to Thomas down the sideline, though junior Eric Hagg was inches away from knocking that pass down.

“I guess I can't jump any more,” Hagg said. “I thought I got it, but it went right over my head. I'm going to hate watching that on film.”

Hickman battling through injuries

Offensive line coach Barney Cotton had some good things to say about his gutsy senior center, who's set an ideal example while battling through countless injuries.

First it was an ankle for Jacob Hickman. Then a bruise. Cotton's sure that his starting center probably has more ailments that he's not sharing.

But Hickman, who played his final home game Saturday, has been a gamer, Cotton said.

“He's still battling through some stuff,” Cotton said. “The guy doesn't miss a beat. He's one of our most intelligent players. (I've) been really proud of his efforts.”

Joneses keep plugging the Husker line

Cotton usually tries to get offensive tackle D.J. Jones some playing time as a reserve in every game. He didn't anticipate using the junior so much Saturday, though.

But starting right tackle Marcel Jones left Saturday's game with an ankle injury suffered on the third offensive play from scrimmage. So D.J. Jones replaced him and played the rest of the way.

There was no dropoff, Cotton said.

“I told him I was so proud of him — for him to just go in there, never miss a beat, never change any of the calls,” Cotton said. “(He) did a good job in pass protection as well. He's really battled all year.”

The extent of Marcel Jones' injury is still unknown.

Henery has target, challenge for Dec. 5

Alex Henery's not trying to look ahead or anything, but the junior kicker admitted after Saturday's game that he now has a new challenge for Dec. 5.

Nebraska will play Texas in the Big 12 championship game in the new Cowboy Stadium, the billion-dollar facility that features a gigantic TV screen hanging over the field.

Whether it's in warmups or the game, Henery's already been challenged by teammates to hit that suspended video board with one of his punts.

“I'll give it a try. Might as well,” he said.

— Rich Kaipust and Jon Nyatawa