Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Purdue Boilermakers Match Player Stats On Oct 12, 2013

No. 24 Nebraska 44, Purdue 7: Ameer Abdullah ran for 126 yards and a touchdown while Imani Cross added a pair of short scores as the Cornhuskers cruised in their first road contest of the season.

Ron Kellogg III threw for 141 yards and connected with Quincy Enunwa for an 8-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass. King Frazier added a 3-yard score late for Nebraska (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten), which won its eighth consecutive regular-season conference game in the first meeting between the schools since 1954.

Freshman Danny Etling went 14-for-35 for 184 yards with a touchdown in his first career start for Purdue (1-5, 0-2), which matched its worst start since 2009. The Boilermakers mustered only 216 yards of offense against a Nebraska defense permitting an average of 445.4 yards through its first five contests.

Purdue went three-and-out on three of its first four drives, and Etling threw his only interception on the other as the Cornhuskers raced out to a 14-0 first-quarter advantage on the strength of 3-yard TD run from Tommy Armstrong Jr. and a 1-yard plunge by Cross. Abdullah stretched the lead to 21 with a 28-yard second-quarter scamper.

Cross scored from 2 yards out and Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory tackled Etling in the end zone after a wild scramble to expand the margin to 30-0 in the third quarter. Enunwa and Frazier added their fourth-quarter scores, but Etling broke up the Cornhuskers’ first shutout bid since 2009 on a 55-yard strike to DeAngelo Yancey with 39 seconds remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Abdullah became the 28th Nebraska player to rush for 2,000 yards in his career, but only the 12th to do so before the end of his junior season. … Purdue started each of its first 13 possessions inside its own 25-yard line. … Cornhuskers CB Stanley Jean-Baptiste was ejected from the game for targeting Boilermakers RB Dalyn Dawkins on a pass in the flat midway through the second quarter.