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LINCOLN, Nebraska (Ticker) -- Nebraska did not miss a beat. Eric Crouch threw three touchdown passes and ran for two scores as the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers rolled over Rice, 48-3, to improve to 4-0. Thursday's contest was the first of last week's games to be made up. All Division I-A contests were postponed in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. A moment of silence was held before the game and "God Bless America" was sung instead of the national anthem. A card section in the stands at Memorial Stadium spelled out "USA." Although both teams were scheduled to be off Saturday, Rice asked that the game be moved up two days to give the Owls more time to travel to next week's contest at Hawaii. "We knew we were going to get better coming into this game and we knew that we were going to play better than we did last week," Crouch said. "That's exactly what we did. We didn't want to have any turnovers and we didn't. We wanted to play smart football. We executed and had a great time." Nebraska completed its season-opening four-game homestand and has a good chance to be 8-0 heading into its showdown against Oklahoma in late October. The Cornhuskers open Big 12 Conference play at Missouri next week before taking on Iowa State, Baylor and Texas Tech. "I was real pleased with how the players responded to the game," Nebraska coach Frank Solich said. "Going in, I don't know if anyone was sure how it would all work out. I think as coaches, we want to congratulate our players for the way they played." Crouch had a quiet night in Nebraska's 27-10 victory over Notre Dame on September 8. But the Heisman Trophy candidate rebounded with a dominant performance and almost singlehandedly beat the overmatched Owls (2-1). Crouch tossed TD passes of 37 yards to Tracey Wistrom and 42 yards to Wilson Thomas in the first quarter, when the Cornhuskers opened a 21-0 lead. Crouch added a six-yard TD run in the second period to give Nebraska a 28-0 halftime lead. In the third quarter, he rambled in from 25 yards before connecting again with Wistrom for an 11-yard TD strike that made it 42-0. "I think it (passing game) was something we knew we were going to do today," Crouch said. "All week long in practice, our passing game was at an all-time best." The five TDs matched a career high for Crouch, who accounted for 262 yards in total offense in under 2 1/2 quarters. He completed 9-of-11 passes for 165 yards and ran for 97 yards on 12 carries. "I don't think you can get much more done than what he did tonight," Solich said. "I think he kind of wished he could have played a little bit more, but he's very unselfish and he understood." Judd Davies scored on a three-yard run in the the second period. The only thing Nebraska did wrong was miss an extra point after Thunder Collins' 17-yard TD run made it 48-0. Rice avoided a shutout on Brandon Skeen's 25-yard field goal with 7:49 remaining. Nebraska held a 497-356 edge in total yards. "I want to congratulate Nebraska for how well they came out and played after being off a while," Rice coach Ken Hatfield said. "Certainly, they justified their home record. They certainly didn't seem to make any mistakes. I thought they did a goob job, especially early in the game." Robbie Beck paced the Owls on the ground with 67 yards on just four carries. Kyle Herm completed just 3-of-12 passes for 61 yards before giving way to Greg Henderson, who was 5-of-13 for 108 yards and two interceptions. The Cornhuskers, who have won 53 of their last 54 home games, struck quickly, scoring on all three possessions in the first quarter on drives that consumed 74, 34 and 144 seconds respectively. "That's the best blocking and executing team I have ever faced," Rice defensive back Jason Hebert said. "They are extremely talented. Eric Crouch did a great job of passing tonight. Some of those routes we hand't even seen. They were hitting on all cylinders." Rice dropped to 0-6 against the Big 12 since the formation of the conference in 1996.
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