UCLA 41, Nebraska 21
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Brett Hundley passed for 294 yards and three touchdowns and No. 16 UCLA overwhelmed No. 23 Nebraska in the third quarter for a 41-21 victory on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
UCLA (2-0) trailed, 21-3, in the second quarter, but scored touchdowns on five of six possessions to gain momentum after Nebraska capitalized on two turnovers to take an early lead.
The Bruins, who scored 41 of their 58 points in the second half of a season-opening victory over Nevada, had four touchdowns and 236 yards of offense in the third quarter.
The UCLA defense forced two three-and-outs and sniffed out a Nebraska fake punt in the quarter.
Taylor Martinez passed for 203 yards for Nebraska (2-1), but was sacked twice and finished with minus-13 yards rushing. The senior quarterback threw three touchdowns passes, including two after UCLA turnovers.
The game turned late in the second quarter when Hundley, on third-and-12 from the UCLA 39, twice avoided near sacks, once eluding the grasp of freshman defensive end Avery Moss, and ran 13 yards to keep the drive alive.
That series ended with Paul Perkins scoring on a 10-yard run up the middle with 57 seconds remaining in the half, pulling the Bruins to within 21-10 at halftime.
UCLA, with a stiff wind at its back in the second and third quarters, didn't stop there.
James Jordon scored on a three-yard run to cap a 10-play, 89-yard drive. The Bruins' next three touchdown drives lasted 1:01, 1:49 and 45 seconds, and UCLA, a year after compiling 653 yards in a victory over Nebraska, was on its way to 504 totals yards.
Nebraska had an early surge of momentum.
Stanley Jean-Baptiste set the tone with his third first-quarter interception of the season. The senior cornerback sat on a route and returned Hundley's pass 34 yards to the UCLA 28-yard line on the Bruins' second series of the game.
Four plays later, Martinez threw a fade pass to Quincy Enunwa in the end zone for a 7-0 Nebraska lead with 9:45 to play in the first quarter.
Nebraska put together its only sustained drive of the game, a 17-play, 92-yard series that lasted 6:34 and ended with Martinez's 14-yard touchdown pass to Enunwa.
Nebraska went ahead, 21-3, when Martinez hit Kenny Bell on a 22-yard touchdown pass, a short series set up after the Huskers recovered a fumbled punt snap at the UCLA 26-yard line.
NOTES: With 114 yards of total offense in the first half, Taylor Martinez moved past 10,000 career yards of total offense. He is the ninth player in Big Ten history with 10,000 yards of total offense. ... Nebraska players wore a "36" decal on the back of their helmets, and UCLA players and coaches wore a "36" patch on their uniforms and shirts in remembrance of UCLA walk-on wide receiver Nick Pasquale, who died after he was struck by a car last weekend. Nebraska students released 200 blue and gold balloons during a moment of silence before the game to remember Pasquale. ... The collapse was Nebraska's biggest at home since losing a 12-point first-half lead to Washington in 1991.