• Box Score: Nebraska 24, Michigan State 3
• Photo Showcase: NU vs. MSU (action)
• Photo Showcase: NU vs. MSU (fans)
• Video: Postgame press conference
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LINCOLN — Carl Pelini chewed it over this week, handing out blackshirts to Nebraska's first-team defense before the Michigan State game. Maybe just to show his guys, in the midst of pregame hype for an opponent, that he still believed they were the better bunch.
But NU's defensive coordinator held off. He wanted to see the Huskers play, linebacker Will Compton said, “with an effort we hadn't played with before” vs. the No. 9 Spartans, who boasted the Big Ten's best statistical defense. He said so in his final meeting with the team before kickoff. Remind them who we are — and how we play defense.
He got his answer in Nebraska's 24-3 decisive dismantling of the Spartans.
Five punts. Four sacks. Two fourth-down stops. One tone-setting interception. One rattled quarterback in Kirk Cousins. One shut-down MSU wide receiver in B.J. Cunningham — zero catches — who was swallowed whole by cornerback Alfonzo Dennard.
Just one Michigan State play longer than 20 yards, and 187 measly yards overall, against a Husker defense that was diving, tackling, sacking, scraping, crawling, groping, pulling, pounding — and believing.
“We found ourselves,” defensive end Eric Martin said.
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