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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1979)
monday, november 26, 1979 page 10 daily nebraskan oing to Dallas OU nips UNL; Bi shifts gRedg ByRickHuls Yes, the score was 17-14. But no, it wasn't Nov. 11, 1978. It was Nov. 24, 1979 and the scene was different. The weather was warmer, the winner was reversed and another national champion ship drive was fizzled. Oklahoma always 'Sims' to have too much for Nebraska to handle. Saturday at Owen Field in Norman, it was in the form of a Billy Sims. Husker injuries According to Don Bryant, NU sports in formation director, injured players Andy Means and Ric Lindquist are "both fine." Both returned from Norman with the team Saturday but spent the night in a lo cal hospital for observation. Bryant said Means, defensive corner back, had a bruised thigh, not a broken leg as was earlier reported. Lindquist, left cornerback, suffered a slight concuss ion. Both were released from the hospital Sunday. Sims ended all Nebraska hopes for a national championship by slashing, squirm ing and slipping through a proud Husker defense for 247 yards on 28 carries. He' played the leading role in the downfall of the unbeaten and second ranked Corn huskers, who just the year, before ended the top ranked Sooners' chance for a national title by the identical score. And tiiis year there will be no rematch. The 1978 Heisman trophy winner, who made his last bid for the 1979 trophy, had a 68-yard touchdown called back because of a clipping penalty five minutes into the ; game. The penalty reduced the run to 53. yards but it was still a sign of things to, come. .,. , i 1 Sims had runs of 17 and 21 yards and had rushed for 114 yards before the first quarter ended. Although fairly quiet in the second and third quarters, Sims broke the Huskers' backs early in the fourth by racing down the sidelines 71 yards to the Nebraska eight. OU quarterback J.C. Watts eventually scored for the Sooners on a fourth down run from the three and Oklahoma took command 17-7. - IT WAS JUST too much Billy Sims and the Nebraska players and coaches seemed to agree. "He's a great back-the best we've faced all year," junior defensive end Derrie Nelson said. "He always has that lunge for- ward. Not many backs can do that." . But neither Nelson, defensive tackle Rod Horn or Head Coach Tom Osborne figured Sims and the OU offense could gain that many yards against Nebraska. The rest of the Husker defense probably didn't either. Nebraska's defense entered the shootout ranked first nationally against the run, giving up 67.2 yards a game. But Sims and the Oklahoma offense took care of that statistic by rushing for 352 yards. For the Sooners that was normal business-they averaged 351.6 coming into the game. 'THEY HAD A good team, It's hard to stop the wishbone when they execute so well," Nelson said. Rod Horn added,, "I thought our defense and our schemes were enough to stop them. But they're real explosive and powerful." . Osborne said Oklahoma just played better than his team did. "I didn't think anybody could rush the Photo by Mark Billingsley Billy Sims (20), leading rusher in the Oklahoma game with 247 yards, eyes Husker safety Russell Gary (9). ball that much on us. It cost us field position, too," Osborne said of the Sooners' offensive drives. Meanwhile Nebraska's offense, which before the game was first nationally in rushing offense and second in total offense, was stymied by a quick Oklahoma defense. The Huskers rushed for 234 yards after averaging 356 through 10 games. Nebraska added 102 yards passing for a total of 336 yards, well below their season average of 477.7. ' , t; : .... ;J I V ''" Despite Oklahoma's surprising dominance statistically, the Huskers had a chance for victory after slicing a ten-point deficit to three in the final eight minutes. Nebraska drove down the field immediately following Watts' touchdown. Quarterback Jeff Quinn passed 25 yards to Junior Miller, 15 yards to Tim McCrady and 28 yards to Tim Smith as the Huskers moved to the Oklahoma seven yard line. However, Quinn was sacked by safety Sherwood Taylor on second down and Nebraska was faced with a third down and 14. Since it was do-or-die for the Huskers, the "intentional fumble" play was brought in. Continued on Page 11 Huskers run up points in exhibition win, score most ever n mm " mm Q o O 1 1 r. 7i" wy t Photo by Masai Go'o" ffcdcer Ray Collins goes for the lay-in in Saturday's exhibition game against Windsor, Ont. The Huskers est a Cob Devaney Sports Center scoring record in ths 113-69 victory. By Ron Powell It appears the Nebraska basketball team took a part from the Billy Sims script Saturday night. The Huskers ran (and passed) for 24 lay -ins, many of them coming on the end of fast-break opportunities. When the smoke cleared, the Huskers had run up a 113. 69 exhibition win over Windsor, Ont, A crowd of 5,230 saw the Huskers set a Bob Devaney Sports Center record for the most points scored in a game. The previous record was Nebraska's 104 points against Montana State in 1977. The 113 points is second to the UNL all-time scoring record of 116 points set against Nevada-Reno in 1971. , - 'This team can pass and catch the ball better than any team I've seen here at Nebraska " said Husker assistant coach Moe Iba. "It's a quick and unselfish team that can kick it out to the open man and get the open shot," "During practice we have talked about controlling the break-not going too fast. Tonight we went at a rate where we controlled the ball and the shots." Head coach Joe Cipriano, who is having his assistant coaches Iba, Tom Baack and Ron Stewart handle the team while he recovers from surgery, said he was impressed with the team's performance. 'THEY HANDLED the ball pretty well," Cipriano said. "They played a little better in the second half when they increased their intensity on defense." It was unselfish play that enabled the Huskers to get 14 players in the scoring column, including six in double figures. Senior center Andre Smith led all scorers with 29 points while reserve freshman guard Eric Williams came off the bench to add 12. Sophomore forward Jerry Shoe craft had 1 1 points and junior forward Tim West, junior guard Mike Naderer and sophomore guard Jack Moore all had 10 each. It also was unselfish play that enabled the Huskers to shoot 61 percent from the field. The good shooting did not surprise Iba. however. "WeVe shot like that in practice, too," Iba said. "We've got some excellent shooters on this team." Although this exhibition game will not go on the team's record, Smith said the team had a lot of intensity going into the game. ' "We wanted to play hard because we had worked hard in pre-season practices and we wanted some reward for it," Smith said. . Iba said he thought Williams and reserve guard Ray Collins both played well. Williams and Collins combined for 13 assists. "WILLIAMS AND COLLINS had very good games," Iba said. "I'd have to say Collins has been the biggest sur . prise so far. He's a returner from last year that has worked hard in practice and has had an excellent attitude," Besides his 12 points, Williams had seven assists and three steals. One of Williams's assists was a behind-the-back bounce pass that hit Shoecraft in strde for a lay-up with nine seconds left in the first half. Shoecraft was fouled on the play and converted the three-point play with the free throw. "At the time, I wasn't thinking of it," Williams said about the pass. "But I say Jerry (Shoecraft) breaking toward the basket and that was the only way I could get him the ball quickly. ' "It's something you don't want to do very often because, although sometimes it will work, sometimes it doesn t and the coaches don't like it." Williams said he has a good feeling about this year's team. ' 'i.lon.8Las we.!tay healthy. Play with enthusiaism as we did tonight and know each other's moves on the court, we should be alright," Williams said. The Huskers will open the regular season Friday night at home against South Dakota State. m'S! b? facing a different situation with them," Iba unu ?.ey veJot ,three gljys that are 6'9 and some good ball-handlers. They're a very tough team " f Lth.tpre,iminary game Huskcr Td'd Swift hit a pair of free throws with 45 seconds remaining in the game to give the Nebraska junior varsity an 80-80 tie in their sea son opener against the Salem Oilers, an AAU team. of imenfactwCd WUhUt Phy'mg ovcrtinie because Freshman center Dave MacFarlane led the Husker scorers with 16 points.
