page 10
daily nebraskan
monday, november3, 1980
Husker win evens record against Mizzou coach
By Tad Stryker
Missouri quarterback Phil Bradley lay sprawled on the
50-yard line. He slammed his right hand against the turf in
disgust after being knocked down by Husker defensive
end Jimmy Williams and seeing his fourth -down pass sail
over the head of his intended receiver. Nebraska's black
shirt defense had risen to the occasion and stopped a
Missouri comeback attempt again and again and again.
"Our defense did a great job in the second half,"
Husker Head Coach Tom Osborne said. "We really played
with a lot of intensity."
Nebraska fumbled the ball away four times in the
second half, and Osborne credited the defense with
bailing out the offense on those occasions.
"We did everything we could to give the game away,"
he said. "With all the turnovers we had, it's amazing that
we were able to beat Missouri by the number of points
we did."
The Huskers had six turnovers in the game, but they
led to only six Missouri points. On the other hand, Ne
braska took maximum advantage of two Tiger turnovers,
using them to score 14 points.
Nebraska's 38-16 win over Missouri Saturday not only
kept the Huskers tied for the conference lead with Okla
homa, it also evened Osborne's record against Missouri
Head Coach Warren Powers at 2-2. Co-captain Randy
Schleusener referred to this in the locker room when he
silenced the players and writers and stood up on a table
with the game ball in his hand.
Schleusener said, in so many words, that Powers had
been a "pain in the ass" to Husker players, coaches and
fans for the past few years.
"But I'll tell you who won the coaching battle today
that man over there," he said, pointing to Osborne. "So
we're going to present the game ball to Coach Osborne."
The Husker offense made its contribution much earlier,
giving the Huskers a quick 14-0 lead when Jarvis Redwine
scored from 15 and 18 yards out on option plays. The
first touchdown came after Husker defensive tackle Toby
Williams recovered a Terry Hill fumble at the Missouri
26. The second came when Redwine followed an excellent
Husker line surge and a fine block by fullback Andra
Franklin into the end .one. Redwine was tripped as he
ncarcd the goal, but was able to lunge across for the
score.
"I got a good block on their cornerback," Franklin
said. "The other guys, especially the linemen, got in some
real good blocks on that play, too."
Redwine gained 12 yards and Franklin passed the
100-yard mark for the first time as a Husker, gaining
122 yards.
"Today I felt more like part of the offense," Franklin
said. "Sometimes when I'm not gaining many yards, I
feel like I'm kind of 'out' of the offense, but it's really
not that way."
After Tiger kicker Ron Verrilli kicked 28- and 49
yard field goals, Nebraska used big plays to extend its
lead to 28-6.
Anthony Steels returned a kickoff 63 yards, and three
plays later, Jef f Finn caught a short pass, got away from
two defenders, and scored.
On Missouri's ensuing possession, the Tigers moved
well into Nebraska territory. Phil Bradley dropped back to
pass, but was pressured by David Clark and Sammy Sims.
Bradley's hurried throw was nothing more than a pop
fly, and Husker linebacker Kim Baker gathered it in at the
23-yard line.
Baker was escorted down the west sideline by defensive
end Derrie Nelson, whose savage block knocked Terry Hill
nearly into the Tiger bench, and Jimmy Williams, whose
brush block on Missouri running back James Wilder en
abled Baker to score.
Bradley threw a four-yard touchdown pass to flanker
Ron Fellows with 1 : 39 left in the second quarter to make
the score 28-13 at halftimc, but the Husker defense made
its contribution in the second half, holding Bradley to
52 yards passing and the Tigers to a single field goal.
The game also featured one of the hardest hits of the
year. When Missouri tight end Andy Gibler slowed and
turned to catch a short pass, he didn't see Rodney Lewis
bearing down on him at full speed. He felt Lewis a mom
ent later, though. Just as he turned upfield, Lewis hit him
just below the facemask with force reminiscent of the
John Ruud-Kelly Phelps collision in the 1978 Oklahoma
game. Both Gibler and Lewis fell to the turf and lay
motionless for several seconds, but both then walked
off the field.
"Good hit!" Anthony Steels told Lewis in the locker
room. "When you came off the field, the crowd went
wild!"
"I was trying to be physical," Lewis said.
Powers: Tigers may have been too ready to play
By Shelley Smith
A dejected Warren Powers made his
way through the small crowd of Mis
souri fans, and headed towards the bus.
It was clear to the onlookers that disap
pointment and frustration gripped the Mis
souri head coach like a vise.
The words Powers spoke were soft,
mundane, and matter-of-fact; he verbalized
what everyone already knew of Missouri's
38-16 loss to Nebraska moments earlier.
"Nebraska has a good, strong football
team, offensively and defenisvely, they
showed it out there today. You saw the
game, you could tell me just what I just
told you," Power said.
"1 thought both teams were ready to
play today. Maybe we were just a little
too ready," he added.
Apprehension might have caused Mis
souri back Tony Hill to fumble on the
second play of the game, and when
Nebraska's Jarvis Redwine tiptoed into
the endzone six plays later, that appre
hension must have dug a little deeper.
It wasn't until Nebraska led 14-0 in
the middle of the first quarter that Mis
souri made its first ten-yard drive,
responding with three first downs in a
row.
Missouri quarterback Phil Bradley, who
later set a new Big Fight career total of
fense record, marched the Tigers to Ne
braska's 12-yard line, but failed to put the
ball in the end one. Missouri had to settle
for a field goal.
"That seems typical of the entire game,"
Missouri tight end Ron Fellows said. "We
had some good drives, and were moving
the ball well, but we ended up settling for
a field goal, or punting the ball away."
Missouri's only touchdown was a
Bradley to Fellows connection late in the
second quarter, but by that time Ne
braska had boosted its lead by two touch
downs, and led 28-13 at the half.
Many wondered why Powers didn't
elect to go for a two-point conversion
following the touchdown-if converted, the
score would have put the Tigers in a two
touchdown tying margin .
The coaches in the press box screamed
for a two-point try once they saw
Missouri's extra-point team head onto the
field. Powers threw his head phones on
the ground, tried to signal kicker Ron
Verrilli to call time-out to correct the
mistake, but Bradley had just called a
time-out following the touchdown. Con
secutive time-outs are not allowed.
"There was a mix-up between Powers
and the specialty team," Missouri punter
Jeff Brockhaus said. "He said he took full
blame for that. As it turned out, it wasn't
a factor, but it could have been," he said.
Two of Nebraska's scores resulted from
Missouri turnovers. However, of Nebraska's
six turnovers (two interceptions and four
fumbles) Missouri could only capitalize
on two of them.
"That was an important difference,"
Brockhaus said. "They capitalized on our
turnovers and we couldn't even tough
theirs hardly," he said.
Bill Whitaker, Missouri's cornerback,
said he couldn't believe Nebraska's depth,
and its ability to execute a variety of
plays.
"They were successful at their sweeps,
options, passes just at everything they
tried," Whitaker said. "I tell you, that
Jarvis Redwine is something and so is
number 21 (Roger Craig) and so is (Andra)
Franklin. There's no way we could stop
them today," he said.
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Above: Husker Rodney Lewis puts the crunch on Missouri's Andy Gibler in
Saturday's 38-16 Nebraska win. Left: l-back Jarvis Redwine tries to escape the
grip of Missouri's Bill Whitaker.
Photo by Mitch Hrdltcka