Kaaya Passes For 359 Yards In 41-31 Loss

LINCOLN, NE (AP) – Brad Kaaya’s 359 passing yards were not enough for the Canes Saturday night, who fell on the road to Nebraska 41-31. Duke Johnson added 93 rushing yards and 84 receiving yards, a new career high.

Ameer Abdullah ran 35 times for Nebraska, accumulating 229 yards.

The Cornhuskers (4-0) will start Big Ten play next week off a performance that drew a Memorial Stadium record crowd of 91,585 that came to see a meeting of programs that combined for eight national titles from 1983 to 2001.

GAME LINKS Box Score Highlights Quotes Condensed Replay Notes Full Replay   SCORING SUMMARY 1st Quarter TD Duke Johnson 2 yd run TD Kenny Bell 2 yd pass 2nd Quarter TD Clive Walford 6 yd pass FG Ameer Abdullah 3 yd pass TD Drew Brown 16 yd field goal 3rd Quarter FG Ameer Abdullah 6 yd run TD Malcolm Lewis 9 yd pass TD Trevor Roach 57 yd return 4th Quarter TD Michael Badgley 34 yd fg TD Drew Brown 39 yd fg TD Ameer Abdullah 10 yd run TD Braxton Berrios 4 yd pass   TEAM STATS   27 1st Downs 24 456 Total Yards 435 113 Passing 359 343 Rushing 76 7-69 Penalties 9-82 2 Turnovers 3 33:20 Possession 26:40   INDIVIDUAL STATS Passing   PLAYER C/ATT YDS TD INT Kaaya 28/42 359 3 2 Armstrong 9/13 113 2 1 Rushing   PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD Johnson 18 93 5.2 1 Abdullah 35 229 6.5 2 Receiving   PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD Johnson 5 84 16.8 0 Bell 4 70 17.5 1

Tommy Armstrong Jr. passed for 113 yards and two touchdowns and ran 13 times for 96 for Nebraska.

After Armstrong was intercepted in the third quarter, giving Miami a chance to tie or take the lead, cornerback Josh Mitchell ran back Johnson’s fumble 57 yards for a touchdown to put Nebraska up 31-21.

The Hurricanes came in allowing 2 yards per rushing attempt, but they hadn’t faced a back nearly the caliber of Abdullah. He worked in harmony with Armstrong on tough-to-stop zone-read runs and even took snaps out of the wildcat formation a couple times while strengthening his Heisman Trophy candidacy.

Abdullah ran 35 times and also broke 1972 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers’ school record for all-purpose yardage. His 313 all-purpose yards were the second-most in a game for Nebraska, and it raised his career total to 5,762. Rodgers had 5,586.

Miami and Nebraska played for the first time since the Hurricanes’ clinched their fifth, and most recent, national title in the 2002 Rose Bowl.