Aaron Babcock

A Visual Notepad

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Photos from Husker Football Season Openers, 2009-2019

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Sam Hahn #73 points to the sky in honor of deceased teammate Sam Foltz as Nebraska takes an intentional delay of game during Nebraska’s 43-10 win over Fresno State at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb. on Sept. 3, 2016. Photo by Aaron Babcock, Hail Varsity

While watching Nebraska’s 2020 season opener against Ohio State, I realized this was the first opening game I had missed in over a decade. Next thing I knew, I was rummaging through the archives. So I picked a few images from each of those games to share. So here are a few photographs to jog your memory of Nebraska’s recent season debuts.

Tip: hover over the gallery and you can scroll through the images for each gallery.

2009 vs. Florida Atlantic

Nebraska opened the 2009 season with a 49-3 win over Florida Atlantic. Roy Helu Jr. paced the offense with 152 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. Menelik Holt also grabbed a 28-yard touchdown pass from Zac Lee.

2010 vs. Western Kentucky

The Taylor Martinez era opened with a convincing 49-10 win over Western Kentucky, thanks to the QB’s 3 rushing touchdowns and 127 rushing yards. He also completed 9-of-15 for 136 yards with no interceptions. Niles Paul caught 5 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown.

2011 vs. Tennessee-Chattanooga

In Nebraska’s first game as a member of the Big Ten Conference, Taylor Martinez rushed for 135 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-7 victory. Brett Maher added four field goals in his debut for the Huskers.

2012 vs. Southern Miss

Junior Taylor Martinez became the first Husker to start three consecutive season openers and did so in record fashion. He threw for a career-high 354 yards while tying his best with 5 touchdown passes to five different receivers as Nebraska defeated Southern Miss 49-20.

2013 vs. Wyoming

Nebraska’s offense piled up 530 yards, including 375 yards on the ground, but Wyoming took advantage of a couple of late turnovers to put a scare into Husker Nation before Nebraska held on to a 37-34 win. Ameer Abdullah rushed for 114 yards and Imani Cross added two touchdowns and 105 yards in the win.

2014 vs. Florida Atlantic

Nebraska had everything working in a 55-7 win over Florida Atlantic, paced by a 232-yard performance from Ameer Abdullah. Jordan Westerkamp’s seven catches for 125 yards day provided the highlight of the day, thanks to his dazzling behind-the-back catch along the sideline.

2015 vs. BYU

BYU’s Tanner Mangum completed a 42-yard Hail Mary as time expired to hand the Huskers a 33-28 loss in Mike Riley’s debut as head coach. Tommy Armstrong Jr. completed 24-of-41 passes for 319 yards and 3 TDs to lead the Husker offense.

2016 vs. Fresno State

Devine Ozigbo turned in a pair of touchdowns and his first career 100-yard rushing game to lead Nebraska to a 43-10 win over Fresno State. Tommy Armstrong became the second player in school history to surpass 8,000 yards in total offense. The evening was punctuated by a tribute to Sam Foltz, who was killed in a car accident before the start of fall camp.

2017 vs. Arkansas State

Nebraska escaped with a 43-36 win over Arkansas State, thanks to 192 rushing yards from sophomore Trey Bryant and a 99-yard kickoff return from J.D. Spielman. Quarterback Tanner Lee earned the win in his first Husker start after completing 19-of-32 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns.

2018 vs. Akron

In one of the biggest letdowns in school history, weather spoiled Head Coach Scott Frost’s debut as the game was rained out.

2019 vs. South Alabama

The Blackshirts capitalized on five South Alabama turnovers en route to a 35-21 victory. Along with two scores by the defense, J.D. Spielman added a 76-yard punt return.

Ndamukong Suh’s Nebraska Senior Season in Photos

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Ndamukong Suh makes a move toward Texas Tech quarterback Steven Sheffield during a 31-10 loss at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 17, 2009.

I wish I hadn’t been a novice photographer back in 2009. It feels like a missed opportunity.

It wasn’t my first year as a photographer. I actually picked up my first camera 23 years earlier. I discovered photography as a 12-year-old back in 1986. That’s another story for another time. The bottom line is I focused on my career after college and set aside photography. Fast forward to 2007, I bought my first digital camera and quickly realized how much I had missed shooting.

I started covering Nebraska football in 2008. After spending the first season in the press box, I moved to the sidelines and immediately felt at home.

I had no idea what I was doing but I worked hard and was able to shoot 13 of Nebraska’s 14 games that season. By simply showing up and trying to get better, I began to see minimal progress in my work. Over the course of 2009, I even managed to make a couple of keeper images of Ndamukong Suh during his senior season.

Suh would finish fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting that year. He is now preparing to enter his 11th season in the NFL, his second with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but his senior season at Nebraska still stands out as one of the most dominant performances by a defensive lineman in recent college football history.

So maybe it was a missed opportunity. But I’m glad I was at least able to witness that season and capture a few images. My best images are in the gallery below. If that’s not enough, or you’re interested in a print, you can find more here.

Ameer Abdullah’s Nebraska Career in Photos

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football player shruggingAs part of my Nebraska football photo book project, it has required some digital housekeeping in my photo library. After shooting nearly every Nebraska football game (home and road) for the past 11 years, that library has grown to several terabytes worth of data. And because I didn’t know what I was doing when I started, things are not as tidy as I would like.

But there are some pretty special memories stored there, so it’s worth the effort. Especially if I need to revisit these images again in the future. Most have never been seen by anyone. So when I get the chance, I’m trying to breathe new life into old images. And one way I’ve wanted to do that was to create some collections of images by personalities within the program.

The options are pretty limitless. For whatever reason, I decided to start with former Husker running back and current Minnesota Viking Ameer Abdullah. I’m not sure why. I always enjoyed watching him run. He’s a smart guy and an entertaining follow on social media. I was able to make a couple of photos of him during his career I liked. When I went through the archive, there were about 500 total images and a much smaller number of ones worth sharing. I’ll include a larger collection on my portfolio site, but here are a few I like and provide a bit of a timeline of his career.

If you’re interested in a print or want to see more photos of Ameer Abdullah, visit his complete gallery of 72 images here.

  • Ameer Abdullah makes a recruiting visit to Memorial Stadium for Nebraska’s annual spring game on April 16, 2011. © Aaron Babcock
  • nebraska football player tackled
    Ameer Abdullah #8 rushes the ball against Arkansas State during Nebraska’s 42-13 win on Sept. 15, 2012 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.
  • football player in traffic
    Ameer Abdullah #8 hurdles through traffic against Minnesota at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Oct. 26, 2013. Abdullah rushed for 165 yards on 19 carries in the 34-23 loss. © Aaron Babcock
  • football player scores at Michigan's big house
    Ameer Abdullah #8 scores a 5-yard touchdown with 2:03 remaining to secure Nebraska’s 17-13 win at Michigan on Nov. 9, 2013. Abdullah finished with 105 yards on 27 carries. © Aaron Babcock
  • football player and american flag
    Ameer Abdullah breaks away for a 50-yard run. The run was originally a 62-yard TD run but was called back due to a personal foul. Nebraska defeated Penn State 23-20 in overtime. © Aaron Babcock
  • football player kisses hand to the sky
    I-back Ameer Abdullah led with Huskers with a season-low 85 yards on 23 carries with one touchdown, despite playing little more than three quarters in a 38-17 loss to Iowa on Nov. 29, 2013. © Aaron Babcock
  • injured player walks off field
    Ameer Abdullah leaves the game with an injury in a 38-17 loss to Iowa on Nov. 29, 2013. © Aaron Babcock
  • football player covered in mud
    Ameer Abdullah led the Huskers to a 24-19 victory over No. 22 Georgia in the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl at EverBank Field on Jan. 1, 2014. Abdullah had 122 hard-earned yards on 27 carries with one touchdown. It was Abdullah’s 11th 100-yard rushing game of the year, tying a school record for the most 100-yard games in a season held by Mike Rozier (1983), Lawrence Phillips (1994) and Ahman Green (1997). © Aaron Babcock
  • touchdown run
    Ameer Adbullah turned a short pass from Tommy Armstrong Jr. into a 58-yard touchdown with 20 seconds left to give No. 19 Nebraska a 31-24 win over McNeese State at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 6, 2014.
  • player points to sky with balloons released
    Ameer Abdullah reacts after scoring during Nebraska’s 45-14 win over Illinois on Sept. 27, 2014. © Aaron Babcock
  • Ameer Abdullah scored a career-high four touchdowns to lead Nebraska 38-17 win at Ryan Field on Oct. 18, 2014. © Aaron Babcock
  • football player leaving field in snow
    Ameer Abdullah walks off the field with assistant coach Ron Brown following a 59-24 loss at Wisconsin on Nov. 15, 2014. © Aaron Babcock
  • football player kneeling in prayer
    Ameer Abdullah takes a knee during the final regular season game of his career – a 37-34 overtime win against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium on Nov. 11, 2014. © Aaron Babcock
  • football players leaving field
    Ameer shakes hands with assistant coach Ron Brown after a 45-42 loss to USC at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 27, 2014, the final game of Abdullah’s career. He rushed 27 times for 88 yards and a touchdown. He finished his career as Nebraska’s all-time all-purpose yardage leader on 11th on the NCAA charts with 7,168. © Aaron Babcock
  • football players walking down tunnel
    Ameer walks off the field following Nebraska’s 45-42 loss to USC at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 27, 2014, the final game of Abdullah’s career. © Aaron Babcock