Arizona State Turns Game Over to Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. —  If there’s one thing Arizona State was good at Saturday against Nebraska, it was turning over the ball.

The Sun Devils did it five times and the result was a 45-24 loss to a Cornhusker team eager to rebound from last week’s 29-14 loss to No. 2 Washington.

“We were able to make some big plays, get some turnovers and field position, which we didn’t have last week,” Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said. “I guess that’s the difference.”

Nebraska used a pair of turnovers to build a 24-10 halftime lead.

Ed Stewart intercepted freshman quarterback Garrick McGee’s pass on the first play of the game and set up Nebraska at the Arizona State 38. Six plays later, quarterback Mike Grant ran the ball in from five yards out.

David Seizys recovered a bobbled punt by the Sun Devils’ Adam Brass late in the half and Derek Brown went nine yards to score on the next play.

Grant hit tight end Gerald Armstrong with a seven-yard pass for Nebraska’s third first-half score.

Calvin Jones, who rushed for 111 yards in 17 carries, ran 24 yards for a touchdown after Corey Dixon opened the second half with a 50-yard kickoff return. Bruce Moore’s 54-yard interception return 27 seconds later made it 38-10.

“We wanted to come out the second half and go down and score,” Jones said. “We did. But the momentum didn’t really shift as we expected it to.”

Mario Bates, the nation’s second-leading rusher with a 161-yard average, helped Arizona State challenge again, however, with a pair of touchdowns on runs of six and nine yards. Bates carried 23 times for 118 yards.

The Cornhuskers had 319 yards rushing and 50 passing against a team that held Louisville to 13 total yards in a 19-0 victory last week.