Nebraska Football: TBT – Helu’s Record-Setting Day vs. Missouri
By Sean Martin
October 30, 2010 – The Nebraska football team prepared for a Missouri Tigers squad ranked sixth in the nation and sporting an unbeaten record at 7-0 coming to Memorial Stadium for a Saturday afternoon clash.
You’ll have to excuse the Mizzou defense if the unit left Lincoln a bit shellshocked, a result of seeing the back of Husker running back Roy Helu, Jr.’s jersey all day.
The senior from Danville, Calif. repeatedly gashed the Tiger defense to the tune of a Nebraska school-record 307 yards rushing on 28 carries as Nebraska pounded Missouri 31-17.
Former Husker Calvin Jones held the previous school-record with 294 yards against Kansas in 1991.
The Huskers came into the game with a 6-1 record themselves before finishing the year 10-4 and won the Big 12 North division by virtue of the win over Missouri as the two teams tied for first place with 6-2 records in the conference.
Helu set the tone early and often, taking a handoff from quarterback Taylor Martinez on Nebraska’s first offensive play of the game, darted left and found a hole before going untouched for a 66-yard touchdown to give the Huskers a 7-0 lead.
Later in the first quarter with Nebraska up 17-0, Helu ran through a gaping hole on the right side of the line of scrimmage and rambled 77 yards — again untouched — for his second score of the game as Big Red rolled to a quick 24-0 lead.
Missouri mounted a bit of a comeback, cutting the Nebraska lead to 24-14 in the third quarter but Helu got loose again for another long touchdown run.
Following a four-yard run on the first play of a series, Helu took a handoff and initially went to his right before cutting straight up the middle, going 53 yards (stop me if you’ve heard this before), untouched by a Tiger defender. This gave the Huskers a 31-14 lead.
Helu, who finished with a school-record 321 all-purpose yards, had 228 yards on his first 10 carries of the game and earned national player-of-the-week honors for his effort.
He was later drafted by the Washington Redskins and played for the team for four seasons before signing with the Oakland Raiders for the 2015 season before being released prior to the 2016 season.