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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