The Zac Lee-to-Curenski Gilleylen passing combination for Nebraska continues to produce regular highlights.

Lee completed throws of 42 and 43 yards to Gilleylen on Saturday night, giving the sophomore at least one catch of 35 yards or more in every game this season. The latter against Louisiana-Lafayette came on a third-and-24 play when Lee rolled out of the pocket and found Gilleylen down the middle of the field.

All told, Gilleylen has the Huskers' five longest receptions this season at 51, 43, 43, 42 and 35 yards. Tight end Dreu Young has the next longest at 34 yards.

“I definitely want to be a big-play guy if they want to go deep,'' Gilleylen said. “And I definitely want to be a guy who's in there to take advantage of the speed I have.''

Gilleylen has eight receptions this season for 255 yards, a 31.9-yard average per catch.

Win doesn't do much for Huskers' rating

Nebraska didn't manage to go very far in the two major polls Sunday.

The Huskers advanced two spots from No. 25 to No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25. However, they remained at No. 24 in the USA Today coaches poll.

Hokie romp gives Huskers mixed feelings

One of the teams making a significant jump in the ratings was Virginia Tech, which is No. 6 in both polls after being 11th and 12th last week.

Seeing the Hokies handle Miami 31-7 on Saturday was both encouraging and frustrating, NU center Jacob Hickman said. The week before, the Huskers had Virginia Tech beaten before a last-minute touchdown resulted in a 16-15 loss.

“It's one of those things where you kind of kick yourself a little bit,'' Hickman said. “I honestly kind of thought Miami was going to get after them. And when I saw that, it was a little bit where it was like, ‘Yes.' But at the same time it's like, ‘Dang, where would we have been had we just finished that game?'”

While NU isn't 4-0 and in the Top 10 or 15 range, Hickman said it learned a valuable lesson as it heads into Big 12 games against Missouri and Texas Tech.

“You've got to win football games,'' he said. “If we go out and have another performance where we don't close it out against people in our conference, we won't win. But it just tells us if we play our game, we finish drives, we score those points .... we can beat anybody.''

Young's mark is tough for McNeill to beat

Mike McNeill caught two more passes against Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday, but he didn't gain any ground in a friendly competition with a fellow junior tight end.

McNeill and Young have been comparing yards-per-catch statistics lately. And it's clear to McNeill that he has a little work to do.

Young caught just one short pass early in Saturday's game, but he was able to turn and run for a gain of 34 yards. His only other reception this season went for 27 yards. That's 30.5 yards per catch, 18 more than McNeill's average.

“He just tells me every week that he averages the most yards per catch,” McNeill said after the game. “He's kind of got my number on that one.”

McNeill finished Saturday's game with two catches for 26 yards. He's tied with Roy Helu for the team lead in receptions (11).

— Rich Kaipust and Jon Nyatawa

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