Driving home Saturday night from Nebraska’s blowout 49-3 win over Florida Atlantic, I couldn’t help but think of another blowout win to kick off a season: NU’s 52-7 romp over Nevada in 2007.

In both, the opponents’ reputations far exceeded their actual gameplans and execution. And both teams wilted in the second half against bigger, stronger NU.

Nevada just stunk on offense, and admitted as much after the game. Florida Atlantic was more of a quandary.

The Owls were supposed to be athletic and exciting; instead, their quarterbacks, Rusty Smith and Jeff VanCamp, played hot potato with the football, firing wild darts before their receivers even had time to look for the ball. Nary a trick play, or even a trick formation, from FAU. Smith looked jittery, nervous and slow. His backup was mysteriously inserted in the second quarter and just as mysteriously removed. Apparently FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger likes Smith to see a drive from the sidelines.

At any rate, it was hard to get a read on Nebraska Saturday night. That’s part of the trouble with “directional” – or in the case of FAU, “oceanic” – opponents. Expect a better, stiffer test from FAU’s Sun Belt counterpart, Arkansas State.

On with the review:

Five Players We Loved

Junior running back Roy Helu: A big back who still knows how to pick his way through holes and burst out the other end pulling away from defenders. If he can stay healthy, Helu’s big ride in 2009 is just beginning.

Senior left guard Derek Meyer: The native Husker with a great story just moved to left guard a few weeks ago after working at right guard and right tackle for spring ball. Meyer wasn’t perfect, but he held up well, especially in pass protection. NU lacks great depth along the line, but Meyer was blue collar as advertised.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Will Compton: He played nearly every defensive snap in the first three quarters, and fit right in. Compton had a busy night around the ball. He’ll only get smarter and better.

Sophomore wide receiver Curenski Gilleylen: Two of his three catches were adventures, frankly – but he caught them. Gilleylen’s best play of the night, though, was a bone-crushing block to help spring Menelik Holt on his 28-yard touchdown catch-and-gallop.

Senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: Quick tackle for loss on the first drive, and he later saved a first down by peeling back on a screen pass and taking down FAU fullback Willie Rose one yard short.

Special Mention - true freshman linebacker Eric Martin: His energy and enthusiasm on the game’s opening kickoff is precisely what that unit needs.

Three Concerns We Still Have

Again With The Penalties: Nine more to open the season, for 86 yards. Two personal fouls, two holding calls, a couple false starts. Sloppy.

Not Enough Niles: Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore spent fall camp talking up the junior from Omaha. Well, fine: If he made plays in the practice, give him a chance to make them in the games. A reverse. A go route. Something. Gilleylen and Holt got most of the choice looks.

Blocked Punt: Not the best thing to see two weeks before Virginia Tech.

Reviewing the Five Keys

KIDS: Watson tried to go right at FAU, but Helu found the corners of the defense an easier go. And if Roy can make it work, so be it.

Truthfully, NU nicely blended some running staples of the West Coast Offense with some new counters, sweeps and even a veer play. The Huskers ran two options near the goal line. Neither worked very well, but Cody Green did score a 1-yard touchdown on his effort.

36 inches: FAU’s quarterbacks spent the entire night avoiding Suh and the rest of NU’s front four, and got nothing in return for their cowardice. You get out what you put in, and the Owls didn’t physically or strategically challenge Nebraska’s defense.

Attack Zac, Zac Attack: Once again, FAU was pretty tame in its blitzing of Lee. When the Owls did take a chance, Lee burned them with the touchdown pass to Gilleylen and a nice scramble for a first down. Lee wasn’t counted upon to win the game, but he held up nicely anyway.

Young Guns: The youngsters on offense and defense were terrific. Big thumbs up to Compton and Sean Fisher, plus redshirt freshman Cameron Meredith, who played a lot at defensive end, and recovered a fumble. On offense, Cody Green and Rex Burkhead both had their moments.

The Specials: Net wash here. Even with the blocked punt, NU’s net punting average was only one yard worse than FAU’s The Huskers did well on kickoff returns and kickoff coverage. Adi Kunalic booted two touchbacks, and a couple more bombs into the end zone were unwisely returned.

Three Questions We Still Have

Can NU get its goal-line package honed for game two? The Huskers used a couple fourth-down plays for touchdowns, but it shouldn’t have taken that long. Was Watson holding off on his pass packages to pound the ball on the ground? Probably.

How much better is Nebraska’s defense against the spread? We’ll find out when Arky State rolls into Lincoln. FAU’s pro-style attack wasn’t much of a problem.

Does Keith Williams return soon? Nebraska’s most skilled offensive lineman helps especially in the running game.

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An official visit for Nebraska’s season-opening win over Florida Atlantic was enough to convince one Texas defensive back to verbally take a spot in NU’s 2010 recruiting class.

Harvey Jackson, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound safety from Missouri City, Texas, selected NU over a host of Big 12 schools, Arizona and Arizona State, two recruiting services confirmed Sunday. Jackson had offers from Missouri, Oklahoma State and Baylor, among other schools.

Jackson was recruited primarily by Mike Ekekler. He is the sixth verbal commitment to NU’s 2010 class, which figures to be small – possibly no bigger than 15 players.

What do we think of Harvey Jackson? Click here.

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Offensive Player of the Game: Roy Helu. A dazzling third quarter performance. Helu makes for a challenging interview – eccentric and mercurial are two words that come to mind – but he’s quicksilver on the field. He gained more than 100 of 152 yards pretty much on his own.

Defensive Player of the Game: Will Compton. No Husker had more stacked on his shoulders for Saturday’s game than Compton, who essentially played every snap for the first three quarters. He responded effectively and instinctively, and spent much of the night prowling around the ball.

GRADES:

Quarterback B+ Zac Lee managed the Huskers well after a shaky first-quarter start; he made several excellent throws downfield...and also one he’d like to take back. Let’s see what he does against a real pass rush. He didn’t look as composed or calm as Joe Ganz last night. But he did look more athletic. Cody Green's 49-yard run on a zone read was the best quarterback run we’ve seen around here since Jammal Lord.

Running back B+ Helu and Rex Burkhead got the bulk of the carries, and while they missed a hole here or there, you can’t argue with the overall body of work. Tyler Legate logged significant snaps at fullback, but didn’t blow us away with his blocking at the goal line.

Wide receiver B A couple drops by Meno Holt and Mike McNeill (who is essentially functioning as a wide receiver) but a nice breakout night Curenski Gilleylen. Where was Niles Paul? If he's making plays all over in practice, you have to actually throw him one or two deep balls in the game. That's how good wide receivers earn their bacon.

Offensive Line/Tight Ends C+ Not having Keith Williams available hurt, and Derek Meyer filled in with effort and toughness. But the Huskers, frankly, missed some blocks, had some false start penalties and loafed a little to the line of scrimmage. Their pilot light needs to go on at opening kickoff, and stay lit.

Defensive Line B+ Better than the numbers might indicate. FAU wanted no part of that front four, and its quarterbacks spent most of the night running away, or throwing off their back foot. Ndamukong Suh made a lot of little plays, including a downfield tackle on a screen play that saved a first down – and possibly a touchdown.

Linebackers A Given their inexperience, what an excellent night for Compton, Sean Fisher and Blake Lawrence. They covered well, pursued well and tackled well. A proper, effective debut.

Defensive backs B A pretty fair night on the back end, with two interceptions and a glut of tackles. The Huskers didn’t let much get behind them. It was the best the secondary has looked since the Iowa State game in 2008.

Special teams C A partially blocked punt was a disappointment, and Paul took a pretty big injury risk on a punt return, drawing a penalty for his courage. We still don’t think much of Paul as a kickoff returner. Nebraska needs to get a little more daring with its return choices.

Coaching/Game Management B Some sloppiness in getting to the line of scrimmage and getting set on defense is to be expected, we suppose. The offense got a little cute at times with the shifts and audibles. Bo Pelini wisely kept the defense vanilla and let a cautious, conservative Florida Atlantic play itself out of contention. Which it did in the third quarter.

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Howard Schnellenberger, never at a loss for words, had plenty of them to describe Nebraska’s 49-3 win over Florida Atlantic.

But his most pointed comment might have been aimed at NU.

“I think it's a team that has about the best coach that I've been around lately,” Schnellenberger said of Bo Pelini. “I think they have some very good players, but I don't think they're overly talented.”

The FAU coach, who spent much of last week hyping up the Cornhuskers, found them in person to be a “sum of the parts that is a lot greater than the individual talent they have.”

“And that’s a compliment,” Schnellenberger said. “It's not to take anything away from them. They play hard, they run hard, they block hard, they tackle hard, and they're a very physical football team.”

The 0-1 Owls, meanwhile, did not and were not. They withered toward the end of the first half, and came out dead flat in the third quarter.

“It's a very bitter loss for us,” Schnellenberger said. “It's the first one that I've had with this program that is tougher to handle than others, because I expected more out of this football team at this juncture.”

FAU’s secondary couldn’t tackle. There was virtually no quarterback pressure on NU’s Zac Lee. The Owls’ experienced receiving corps didn’t sufficiently challenge Nebraska’s secondary, resulting in drops and rounded-off routes.

“The ball hits you in the hands, you’re on scholarship to catch the ball, catch it,” said quarterback Rusty Smith.

Smith wasn’t any easier on his performance. He finished 15-of-31 for 164 yards and two interceptions.

“I’d give myself an F,” Smith said. “Two interceptions, completely unacceptable. One of them was a bad decision. The first one I threw was a jump ball. I should never have even thought about throwing that football. To be honest with you, I don’t know why I threw it. I just know that I’m better than I played tonight.”

To negate the Huskers’ pass rush, FAU turned to quick passing plays and designed rollouts. But rarely were Owl receivers open two plays in a row, and Smith often fired wide or high of his target. His second interception, caught by NU’s Prince Amukamara, was thrown five yards inside of his intended receiver.

And while Florida Atlantic occasionally had success running the ball – Alfred Morris banged out 85 yards – NU shut it down inside the red zone.

The defensive players were slightly more optimistic – defense at FAU is more of a pastime than a passion anyway – but Schnellenberger estimated that 300 of NU’s 490 yards came after contact, a sign, to him, of toughness. Smith blamed the offense for leaving the defense out there too much.

In the fourth quarter, NU nearly added injury to insult when Schnellenberger was knocked down on the sidelines. Schenellenberger said he became a “rag doll” and played “possum,” and thus wasn’t too badly hurt.

In fact, he was in strong enough spirits to ensure reporters there’d be some element of hell for FAU’s players and coaches to pay for such an ugly performance.

“So we go back to Boca, get in there about five or six in the morning,” he said. “I've instructed them to go home and get sleep, that's going to be their day off. My staff and I will go back and get enough sleep to carry us through the next two days, because the next two days are going to be very difficult for our football program.”

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Zac Lee’s first pass attempt as Nebraska’s starting quarterback never got out of the blocks. On NU’s second offensive play Saturday night vs. Florida Atlantic, center Jacob Hickman shot Lee an early, low snap that the junior could only bobble and cover.

But that shaky start turned into a final line – 213 yards passing for two touchdowns and interception – that was satisfactory for NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, and Lee himself, who called his performance “efficient.”

“Hopefully I learned from my mistakes I made and keep getting better,” Lee said.

Lee did a little of everything Saturday night.

He threw an interception. He tossed a few passes behind his intended receivers. He turned down a ten-yard scramble to instead throw into traffic. But he also lofted 51-yard touchdown strike to sophomore receiver Curenski Gilleylen after executing a play action fake to junior running back Roy Helu.

“He loves to throw the deep balls and he’s always looking for the opportunity to chuck it long,” Gilleylen said. “Me and Zac have a pretty good relationship on that."

Lee also dropped in a gorgeous 29-yard corner route to tight end mike McNeill. In the third quarter, Lee did make that scramble, and ran for 12 yards and a first down.

Most importantly for Lee, NU scored on three of its five first-half drives - including a 15-play, 82-yard, seven-minute march late in the second quarter – and the first two drives of the second half.

By then, Lee had completed passes to six different receivers on a variety of plays – deep posts, post corners, shovel passes, deep slants and those long outs that many quarterbacks without Lee’s arm can’t throw.

“We went down the field quite a bit, which is what he does best,” Watson said. “We opened it up after awhile once he got his feet underneath him, and we opened it up and went downfield deep. And he did a real nice job with his deep reads.”

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For one game, at least, the kids are all right. And Roy Helu, Jr. is nothing short of electrifying.

Nebraska’s young, relatively untested football team took its occasional lumps in the first half of its season-opener vs. Florida Atlantic. But the 1-0 Cornhuskers delivered twice as many early blows in forging a 21-3 halftime lead over the Owls.

And then they turned it over to Helu, the junior running back who thrilled the 85,719 fans at Memorial Stadium Saturday night with a five-carry, 95-yard, two-touchdown flurry early in the third quarter.

The result was a 49-3 win that left the Nebraska fans fat and happy, the youngest pups flush with a full quarter of experience and head coach Bo Pelini with a list of improvements before playing Arkansas State next Saturday.

“We got to play a lot of guys, but I also found that out we have a lot of work to do,” Pelini said. “We were sloppy at times and not real crisp, but that’s to be expected in the opener.”

FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger called the game “a trip to the woodshed.” He intimated that his team would be taking its day off on the plane ride home.

“(Nebraska) put it into overdrive, and I asked our guys to put it into overdrive, and we didn't have enough juice in the tank,” he said. “So it's a very bitter loss for us. It's the first one that I've had with this program that is tougher to handle than others, because I expected more out of this football team at this juncture.”

Junior quarterback Zac Lee held up nicely in his first start, throwing for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Helu finished with 152 yards and three touchdowns on just 16 carries. Both of them warmed up in the second quarter, as the Huskers’ offensive line – missing starting left guard Keith Williams - found more rhythm. Nebraska also struggled, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said, with “breaking huddle,” a problem that was resolved at halftime.

Although NU only outgained FAU by 41 yards in the first half, it capitalized on good field position, hit one big play – a 51-yard touchdown pass from Lee to sophomore Curenski Gilleylen - and executed one old-school, back-breaking drive late in the second quarter to ice the game. Lee engineered the 15-play, 82-yard, seven-minute touchdown match, which Helu finished off with a one-yard dive on fourth-and-goal.

“Roy was saying ‘We got them, we got them,’” Lee said of the touchdown. “It was good to pound the ball in. “Our line did a great job there blowing them out.”

Helu was the star of the second half diving for one seven-yard score, then cracking off runs of 14, 28 and 44 yards, almost out of thin air, the last of which was a dazzling touchdown to put the Huskers up 35-3. Helu started on a counter to his left, jab-stepped back to his right, ran back around Lee, darted upfield and outran every FAU defender the goal line.

“I misread the block,” joked Helu, decked in a post-game Panama hat and three giant candy leis of taffy and Tootsie Rolls. “…then Zac Lee was in the way, so I ran past him. And just ran, I guess.”

NU tacked on two more touchdowns, an eight-yard run from Rex Burkhead and one-yard run from Cody Green. In total, the Huskers amassed 490 yards and went 4-for-4 inside the red zone. The offense also converted two fourth-and-goal situations. Lee threw an interception midway through the third quarter.

“The type of offense we’re trying to become, you saw in the third quarter,” Helu said.

Nebraska’s defense got a spirited, if uneven, performance from its linebackers and secondary, which caused three turnovers and allowed only a field goal despite giving up 358 yards and 22 first downs.

The linebackers, led by junior Blake Lawrence and redshirt freshmen Will Compton and Sean Fisher, spent much of the warm evening around FAU ball carriers.

“That linebacking corps, it’s like they were veterans,” said defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who finished with seven tackles.

The preseason All-American didn’t sniff a sack, and the secondary got plenty of work, as Florida Atlantic quarterbacks Rusty Smith and Jeff VanCamp threw the ball so quickly – and often errantly – that NU’s front four had little chance to get pressure. But senior Matt O’Hanlon and junior Prince Amukamara both scored picks off of Smith, who completed just 15 of 31 passes for 164 yards. O’Hanlon had another nullified by a roughing-the-passer penalty, and the Huskers dropped at least two more.

“I’d give myself an F,” Smith said.

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