WACO, Texas - A special teams touchdown. A home crowd on the road. A day without rain, boos or clouds. Plenty of sacks and turnovers. And the starting debut of a Nebraska freshman quarterback who seems to have the skills and poise to go as far as his long, powerful running strides can take him.

His arm may be another question.

But after two stunning home losses in a row, Nebraska's football team captured a needed rebound victory, beating Baylor 20-10 Saturday afternoon.

Bo Pelini's bunch, now 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12 Conference, inserted themselves back into the Big 12 North race in front 31,702 at Floyd Casey Stadium that included a reporter-estimated 15,000 Cornhusker fans.

“It was real important,” Pelini said. “We needed a win. We got a win. We got a lot of work to do yet. A win's a win. It's No. 5.”

Many of those raucous fans – silenced for whole portions of the second half - were from Texas, and took the opportunity to watch true freshman Cody Green – a native of Dayton, Texas – make his first start at quarterback. The decision was made on Thursday, Pelini said, because “you gotta go with your gut.”

Initally, Green didn't disappoint. His first-half performance – 6-of-9 passing for 85 yards, 25 yards rushing – was a portrait of efficiency. With offensive coordinator Shawn Watson calling plays on the sidelines and simplifying the attack, Green operated mostly out of multiple tight end, power formations. He ran only four times, but two of them were scrambles of ten and six yards on a drive that led to Alex Henery's 45-yard field goal.

All but one of his completions were of the short, controlled variety, but he did hit wide receiver Niles Paul on a 45-yard fade route, Green placing the ball perfectly on Paul's outside shoulder. Two plays later, true freshman Traye Robinson skied into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown. That gave NU a 20-0 halftime lead.

“In the first half, things were rolling pretty good,” Green said.

But the freshman made a giant mistake midway through the third quarter, locking in on receiver Khiry Cooper, only to see Baylor safety Cliff Odom step in front of the pass at NU”s 45-yard line, pick it off and return it for an easy touchdown. Later, Green fumbled right after the Nebraska defense had forced BU to turn it over.

“It was just a late throw on my part,” Green said. “If I had thrown it a second earlier it would have been a completion, but I threw it a second later...one thing you have to do is go back on the next drive and just forget about it. You have to have a memory like a goldfish.”

For the game, Green completed 12 of 21 passes for 128 yards and rushed for 43 yards.

“He had some rough spots,” Watson said. “He did some things freshmen sometimes do first time out. He's got a lot to get better at, but, no doubt – he competed. He gave us some nice runs and did some good things. We didn't ask him to do much. We just asked him to kind of manage us. He had the one pick. Gotta get that fixed.”

Fortunately, Green had plenty of help.

NU got on the board quickly, as another true freshman – linebacker Eric Martin – bulled his way through Baylor's punt protection and partially blocked Derek Epperson's punt. The ball floated sideways and was caught by backup defensive back Justin Blatchford, who darted hard to his left, tip-toed down the sideline, and leaped into the end zone just before he fumbled.

“I just hit (the blocker),” Martin said. “I didn't even know it was blocked until I hear the crowd yelling and I look around, and Blatchford is taking the ball back.”

Just 90 seconds into the game, the Huskers had a bigger lead – 7-0 – than they had enjoyed since the waning moments of the Missouri game.

NU's Blackshirts – particularly defensive tackle Jared Crick, who had a record-breaking game – made sure the lead held up. Tested again and again, the Huskers' defense held up. Cornerbacks Dejon Gomes and Prince Amukamara both notched interceptions of Baylor quarterback Nick Florence in Husker territory. Nebraska chased Baylor's fast receivers and running backs sideline-to-sideline, throwing them down for short or no gain.

And then there was Crick, who benefited from the Bears choosing to double-team All-American Ndamukong Suh. Crick, just a sophomore out of Cozad, had a school-record five sacks.

“It could have been anyone today with all of those stats,” Crick said. “It is just a group effort.”

The final one of the first half, in which Crick bulled through two blockers and engulfed Florence in a massive bear hug, was as impressive as any play Suh's made this season. NU had seven sacks overall.

“Is that a monster game by him, or what?” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “He just plays his tail off. He's strong, he's fast. Offenses? I don't know – they've just got to deal with him, because they started the game putting the center toward Suh, and it just makes them look foolish.”

Said Bo Pelini: “Jared's too good of a player if they're gonna do that.”

For the game, Baylor amassed 270 total yards, but ran 11 more plays than the Huskers did. The Bears (3-5 overall, 0-4 in the Big 12) thrice invaded NU territory after cutting the lead to ten. Once, kicker Ben Parks missed a field goal. On the second foray, Baylor turned the ball over on downs. The game clock ran out on their final charge, which occurred after a bizarre punt return that included three laterals and a touchdown-saving tackle by punter Alex Henery.

“We had plays at the end and we didn't do it,” BU quarterback Nick Florence said. “We fought hard in the second half, it was valiant effort, but it does hurt when it is so close.”

NU was left concerned with its running game, which produced just 145 yards and failed to deliver on several third down situations in the second half.

“Absolutely,” Pelini said when asked if he was concerned. “It's a huge concern. We've got to be able to run the football better. We didn't run the ball to my liking today.”

Said Husker center Jacob Hickman: “It was just missed communications that caused that. The effort was there.”

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