No. 19 Nebraska 38, Northwestern 17: Ameer Abdullah scored a career-high four touchdowns – all from a yard out – and became the first player in school history to run for more than 1,000 yards in three different seasons as the visiting Cornhuskers downed the Wildcats.

Abdullah rushed for 146 yards on 23 carries and moved past Ahman Green for second place on the school’s all-time rushing list (4,001 career rushing yards). Tommy Armstrong Jr. finished 18-of-29 for 221 yards, rushed for 55 more and caught a touchdown pass on an end-around pass from freshman De'Mornay Pierson-El for Nebraska (6-1, 2-1 Big Ten).

Freshman Justin Jackson ran for 99 of his 128 yards and both his touchdowns in the first half for Northwestern (3-4, 2-2), which was outgained 244-63 after taking a three-point advantage into the break. Trevor Siemian went 18-of-39 for 173 yards and threw an interception as the Wildcats were unable to score in the second half.

Jackson capped off Northwestern’s opening drive – a 15-play, 89-yard march – with a 2-yard run around left end, but Abdullah answered early in the second quarter by bulldozing his way into the end zone. The Wildcats jumped back ahead on a 5-yard TD by Jackson with 1:52 left before halftime and answered Pierson-El’s 16-yard scoring strike to Armstrong 38 seconds later with a short field goal by Jack Mitchell.

After forcing Northwestern into a pair of three-and-outs to begin the second half, Abdullah put the Cornhuskers in front for good with a plunge across the stripe at the 4:27 mark of the third quarter. Abdullah set up his third score one play after gashing the Wildcats on a 50-yard sprint and put the game away with 7:36 to go with his final touchdown.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Northwestern WR Miles Shuler (five catches for 33 yards) was attended to for nearly 10 minutes after sustaining an apparent neck injury in the third quarter and later taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution. … Abdullah finished with 174 all-purpose yards and has 6,263 for his career, allowing him to move past Purdue’s Dorien Bryant and Michigan’s Jamie Morris and into fourth place in Big Ten history. … Nebraska has won seven of its last nine conference road games.