Bowling Green Falcons at Nebraska Cornhuskers

Anthony Colandrea throws for 4 TDs in Nebraska's 56-7 rout of Bowling Green

The Cornhuskers (2-0) beat an opponent from the Mid-American Conference for the second week in a row. They opened the season with a 49-21 win over Ohio.

“Happy with the win,” coach Matt Rhule said. “That's the way we thought we should play and would play in many facets. There are still some things glaring that we have to improve. There were a lot of close games in the Big Ten today, so we were lucky we were able to address them in a game that wasn't as close.”

Jacory Barney and Kwazi Gilmer caught two touchdown passes apiece as the Huskers got out to a 35-0 lead at halftime.

Barney was targeted 10 times by Colandrea, and he caught eight for 115 yards. Barney had five steps on safety Preston EstoEsta when he hauled in a 35-yard pass in the end zone to open the scoring, and his 32-yard catch put the Huskers up five touchdowns.

Gilmer’s first TD catch, from 12 yards, came after Donovan Jones intercepted Jay Kastantin’s tipped pass, and he later dived and kept his feet inbounds to snag a 4-yard scoring pass.

Freshman Jamal Rule ran for 88 yards, including a 59-yard touchdown, as Nebraska piled up 264 yards on the ground.

Colandrea completed 20 of 24 passes for 222 yards before TJ Lateef relieved him in the middle of the fourth quarter.

The Huskers finished with 546 total yards after amassing 523 against Ohio.

The Falcons (0-2) managed just 169 total yards for their lowest output in three years.

“When you hold a team to nine first downs and under 100 yards rushing, it's going to be a pretty good day,” Rhule said. “We’re not operating against the scoreboard; we're operating against our own standard.”

Bowling Green was a replacement opponent for Nebraska, which originally was scheduled to play Tennessee on Saturday. Nebraska canceled a home-and-home series with the Volunteers that would have had the Huskers playing in Knoxville, Tennessee, next season.

Athletic director Troy Dannen backed out of the series so he could pursue an eighth home game in 2027. Dannen's rationale was that the extra home game would generate enough revenue to offset the loss associated with reduced seating capacity due to stadium renovation.

Nebraska paid a $1 million cancellation fee to Tennessee and a $1.55 million guarantee to Bowling Green.

“This is not my first rodeo in terms of hey, I’ve got my ass kicked before like this as a player, as a coach, and we've got to respond from it, and we will,” Bowling Green coach Eddie George said. “We’ll bounce back. You know, we will persist without exception, and the rest of the season is still ahead of us. We still got a long lot of games to play, and we don’t have time to feel pity for ourselves.”

The takeaway Bowling Green: This was not an unexpected result for the Falcons, who were picked ninth in the 13-team MAC and lost to Tarleton State of the Football Championship Subdivision last week. After recording 46 total yards and two first downs in the first half, they started moving the ball better against a mix of defensive starters and reserves, with Kastantin leading a 63-yard touchdown drive that ended Nebraska's shutout bid in the fourth quarter.

Nebraska: Colandrea has done what he was supposed to do through the first two games, maybe a bit more, but it was against two opponents from the MAC and the Huskers probably will be favored in their next three games. As it is, he's the first Nebraska quarterback to throw for at least three touchdowns in back-to-back games since Tommy Armstrong Jr. did it in 2016.

Up next Bowling Green visits Iowa State next Saturday.

Nebraska hosts North Dakota next Saturday.

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here.