BIG 12: Helu’s school-record 307 yards trump Tigers

— Nebraska fans butchered the pronunciation of Roy Helu Jr.’s last name.

No matter. They’ll be talking about him for a long time to come.

Chants of “Hay-loo, Hayloo” poured from the Memorial Stadium stands after the senior running back set a Nebraska record with 307 yards rushing Saturday to lead the 14th-ranked Cornhuskers to a 31-17 victory that knocked No. 6 Missouri from the ranks of the unbeatens.

“They called me ‘Hay-loo?’ ” he said. “It’s Roy ‘Hel-lou’ Jr.”

The low-key Helu had water dumped on him by teammates on the sideline after the public-address announcer said he’d broken the record of 294 yards by Calvin Jones against Kansas in 1991.

However you say it, Helu’s name now ranks among a long line of running backgreats at Nebraska, guys like Mike Rozier, Ahman Green and Keith Jones.

The Huskers (7-1, 3-1 Big 12) held off Missouri after building a 24-0 lead and moved into a first-place tie with the Tigers in the Big 12 North. Nebraska, which ended a 13-game losing streak against Associated Press top 10 teams, earned the inside track to the division title by winning the head-to-head meeting.

Missouri (7-1, 3-1) was off to its best start since 1960. The Tigers have lost 17 consecutive road games against AP top 25 opponents since 1997.

“No one likes to lose,” Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said. “We’ve got to coach better. We lost all of our timeouts in the third quarter. Shoot, are you kidding me? That starts with me.”

Helu ran for touchdowns of 66, 73 and 53 yards and had 228 yards on his first 10 carries.

“I can’t explain how much I feel for my linemen and fullback,” Helu said. “Theydeserve as much credit as I do. I know the focus is on the record and the individual, but it’s a team sport.”

The Huskers played without quarterback Taylor Martinez in the second half after he came up hobbling following a hit from Kenji Jackson on a run late in the second quarter. Zac Lee took over to start the third quarter.

Coach Bo Pelini said Martinez had a bruised right leg and should be able to play next week at Iowa State.

In other games involving Big 12 teams, Brandon Weeden threw two touchdown passes and No. 17 Oklahoma State’s (7-1, 3-1) high-powered offense overcame the absence of star wide receiver Justin Blackmon to beat Kansas State (5-3, 2-3) 24-14 in Manhattan, Kansas.

...Ryan Tannehill had a school-record 449 yards passing and four touchdowns in his first career start and Cyrus Gray ran for two more scores as Texas A&M (5-3, 2-2) beat mistake-prone Texas Tech (4-4, 2-4) 45-27 in College Station, Texas. ... Austen Arnaud ignited a sluggish offense with a 37-yard pass completion and Josh Lenz returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown, lifting Iowa State (5-4, 3-2) past Kansas 28-16 (2-6, 0-4) in Ames, Iowa.

Sports, Pages 38 on 10/31/2010

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