The Nebraska Cornhuskers rolled up 21 points in the second quarter to put away the pesky Missouri Tigers 42-24 in the conference opener for both teams.

The game's biggest play was provided by Bobby Newcombe, who set a Husker record and tied a Big XII mark with a second quarter 94-yard punt return for a touchdown. But the turning point may have been in the third quarter when the Tigers lost their starting quarterback.

The Tigers gave the Huskers everything they could, accumulating 492 yards of total offense. Missouri quarterback Kirk Farmer kept his team in the game by passing for 214 yards and running for 83 before suffering a broken collarbone late in the third quarter. Farmer gave Missouri an early lead when he capped a 6 play, 40 yard scoring drive with a 1-yard dive.

"I am very proud of this team. I think we learned to fight tonight." said Missouri head coach Larry Smith. ""I told them after the game, if we take that into every game that we have this year and play that way, we are going to win a heck of a lot of football games."

Husker quarterback Eric Crouch proved to be up to the challenge by passing for 173 yards of his own and leading all rushers with 110 yards on 24 carries. Nebraska finished with 484 yards of offense, including 311 yards rushing.

Nebraska got on the board with 2:06 left in the first on a 2-yard Dan Alexander run. Alexander finsihed the day with 34 yards rushing on 13 carries. I-Back Dan Alexander was held to less than 100-yards rushing for the first time this season. He accounted for 94 yards on 7 carries.

The Huskers opened things up in the second period with three scores, including Newcombe's dazzling return.

After taking a 14-7 lead on a 34-yard swing pass to Correll Buckhalter, the Huskers dug in to try and slow down the Missouri attack. Each team saw drives stall. With Just under 4 minutes left in the half Tiger punter Jared Gilpin booted a punt to the Husker 4. Bobby Newcombe drifted back to take the punt, then broke up field, high stepping past several tackle attempts on his way to the end zone. The return broke the old Husker record of 92 yards set by Johnny Rodgers against Oklahoma State in 1971.

"At first I thought there might be a flag (on the play)." Newcombe said of his return. "But when I saw my teammates running toward me, I knew there wasn't. Then I just starting jumping for joy."

The Huskers turned in a much better performance on special teams than they had in previous games. The Huskers found themselves vulnerable to giving up big plays on punt and kickoff returns in their first three games of the season. The Huskers held Missouri to 12 yards of punt returns and 37 yards in kick returns.

After falling behind 21-7, Missouri bounced back. They took just four plays on their next drive to score when Justin Gage out-raced Husker defenders in the end zone to move back within 7 points. Nebraska did the same thing on their next drive, taking 4 plays to score. Aided by a 57-yard option run by Correll Buckhalter, Nebraska drove 86 yards to score on a 13 yard pass from Crouch to Jon Bowling with 1:05 left in the half. Nebraska went into the break with a 28-14 lead. It was Bowling's first career touchdown reception.

Promising to dip into their bag of tricks, Missouri made good on the promise on their first drive of the second half. On first-and-10 at their own 39, Justin Gage took a double reverse and tossed a floater over the Husker defenders and into the hands of Kirk Farmer who had drifted into the Husker backfield. A late hit penalty on the Huskers set Missouri up at the NU 13. Zack Abron took the ball in on the next play to pull back within 7 points.

Nebraska's defense provided the sparks in later in the third period. Linebacker Jamie Burrow scooped up at Tiger fumble at the 28 yard line, shook off tackles, and rumbled in for a touchdown.

Missouri's fortunes may have changed for good on their next drive. Quarterback Farmer broke loose on a draw play for 34 yards before being taken down by rover Joe Walker. As he landed Farmer fractured his collarbone and was taken out of the game. Missouri settled for a field goal on the drive.

Nebraska added a fourth quarter score on an 8-yard Crouch run to finish the scoring.