Illinois Fighting Illini vs Nebraska Cornhuskers Match Player Stats On Nov 10, 2018

Freshman sensation Adrian Martinez threw for three touchdowns and ran for one as the resurgent Nebraska Cornhuskers defeated Illinois 54-35 on Saturday in front of the 367th straight sellout at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.

Devine Ozigbo ran for 162 yards and scored his 10th, 11th and 12th touchdowns of the season as Nebraska (3-7, 2-5 Big Ten) won for the third time in four games after starting the Scott Frost era with six straight losses.

Martinez threw for 290 yards and ran for another 55 as Nebraska rolled up 606 total yards for the game. Illinois totaled 509 yards.

The Cornhuskers turned three first-half Illinois turnovers into 17 points. The biggest mistake came near the end of the first-half when Isaac Armstrong's punt bounced off Jordan Holmes' facemask and was recovered by Jeramiah Stovall on the Illini 7-yard line with 20 seconds left in the half

Three plays later, Martinez found tight end Jack Stoll in the end zone and Nebraska had a 38-21 lead entering the intermission.

Both offenses were for the most part unstoppable in the first half and combined for nearly 600 yards.

The Cornhuskers scored touchdowns on their first three possessions.

Martinez took all of 1:02 to get the Huskers on the board. Two runs by Martinez for 38 yards set up his 37-yard strike to Stanley Morgan for a quick Nebraska lead.

On Nebraska's second drive, Martinez capped a seven-play, 89-yard drive with a 9-yard scamper. On the Cornhuskers' third drive, Martinez and Morgan hooked up again, this time on a 32-yard touchdown toss.

But the Fighting Illini were able to hang close for a while, thanks to quarterback A.J. Bush, Jr.

Bush accounted for all three first-half Illinois touchdowns. Bush, the one-time Cornhusker who backed up former Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong during the 2014-15 seasons, scored on runs of 11, 8 and 2 yards to keep the Illini close.

Nebraska tallied the only score in the third period when Martinez engineered a 17-play, 82-yard drive with Ozigbo cracking the end zone with a 4-yard run to put the Huskers up 45-21.

Nebraska tacked on a safety before a fumble by backup quarterback Andrew Bunch set up Ra'Von Bonner's two-yard plunge for the Illini, cutting the deficit to 47-28.

But once again, the Cornhuskers struck quickly with Ozigbo recording his third rushing touchdown of the day, this one coming on a 60-yard run.

Illinois closed out the scoring with Dre Brown's 15-yard run.

Bush finished with 187 yards rushing for Illinois.

--Field Level Media