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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1999)
Huskers warm up in 2nd half Key plays early on set the tone fora decisive Nebraska win By Darren Ivy Senior staff writer Just 15 seconds into its ABC regionally televised game with No. 18/21 Texas A&M on Saturday, No. 9 Nebraska found itself in a heap of trou ble. Bobby Newcombe, the hero of last week’s 24-17 victory over Kansas, coughed up the ball on the Comhuskers’ first play of the game, and it was recovered by Aggies line backer Harold Robertson at the NU11 yardline. The 77,705 Nebraska fans were in disbelief but soon rose to Iheir feet as the Blackshirts put the clamps on A&M’s offense on three straight plays. That set up a 28-yard field goal attempt by Terence Kitchens, which was tipped by junior rush aid Kyle Vanden Bosch and came up short “That Mock was huge,” said senior rover Mike Brown. “I think that was the turning point of the game. We gave them the ball in our backyard, and they weren’t able to score. I think that was the biggest play of die game. No doubt” x That scoring opportunity would be one of only three times that A&M had the ball inside Nebraska territory the entire game. me Jtsiacksmrts rose to tne occa sion the entire game as momentum swung back and forth most of the first half and early into the second half before the Huskers took control for good. A 31-point scoring explosion in the last 23 minutes of the game lifted Nebraska to a 37-0 victory and improved its record to 8-1 and 5-1 in the Big 12 Conference. A&M dropped to 6-3 and 3-3. After holding the Aggies to 46 yards of total offense in die first half, die Blackshirts continued their domina tion in the second half. The Aggies added 72 more yards to finish with 118 -290 yards below their season average. But they couldn’t punch in any points and were shut out for the first time since 1988. ‘Today was one of the best defen sive performances I have been a part of since I’ve been here,” Mike Brown said. Lane Hickenbottom/DN Husker left cornerback Keyuo Craver intercepts e Reedy McCown pees in the fourth quarter. “We really came out and dominated. We got a lot of sacks, two blocked field goals, four interceptions and a fumble recovery. Those are the things we have to do to beat teams ofTexasA&M’s cal iber.” Afterwards, Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride echoed Brown’s com ments. “I can’t even pick out guys,” McBride said. “There were so many guys that played well. Both of the Browns played great Mike Brown was unbelievable. The way he was support ing the run, he looted like he was a heat-seeking missile today.” Mike Brown made nine tackles, picked off two passes, caused two fum bles and recorded one sack. And all but four of those tackles came in the first half as he set the tone for the Blackshirts. While the defense was strong die entire game, it took the offense a half to wake up. Stupid penalties and Please see HUSKERS on 12 ' ip* 31 I '-'■‘-VV. ' S* ; Lane Hickenbottom/DN ABOVE: Aggie quarterback Randy McCown gets a face full of Rusker middle linebacker Carlos Polk on Saturday during Nebraska’s victory over Texas A&M. The Blackshirts were all over McCown with four interceptions and eight sacks for 64 yards. RIGHT: Ban Alexander and the rest of the Cornhuskers rolled over Texas A&My beating it 37-6. : ;v ■ FAR RIGHT Cheering Nebraska fans give their vote on who the No. 1 team in the nation is. * •> ^ .