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Daily Nebraskan
Monday, November 29, 1982
Switzer: 'We couldn't make the big pass play'
By Larry Sparks
Barry Switzer found himself in an un
usual situation Friday - having to explain
why his team's Memorial Stadium magic
failed.
The Oklahoma read coach has seen his
teams score come-from-behind victories
three times in four previous visits to
Lincoln, but Friday, those fourth-quarter
heroics ran out and Nebraska claimed a
28-24 win against the Sooners.
And Switzer, the coach who has
celebrated several victories in the Memorial
Stadium locker rooms, was in a less than
joyous mood as he tried to explain why the
Sooners fell short.
"We couldn't make the big pass play.
Obviously, we weren't as talented as
Turner Gill throwing the football," Switzer
said. "But we had a chance to win it twice
in the fourth quarter and we couldn't
convert on the passing game."
Running back Marcus Dupree, who led
the Sooners with 149 yards, offered
another explanation for OU's upset bid
falling short.
Time ran out
"We were moving the ball up and down
the field but time just ran out on us,"
Dupree said. "We knew we had to play ball
in the second half because time was
running against us and we were behind."
"This is really tough.. We've worked so
hard coming from a 1-2 season. We knew
this one was going to be tough. It just turn
ed out the way it did, 1 guess," Dupree
said.
Switzer said this is the best Nebraska
offense his teams have played against. He
praised 1-back Mike Rozier but also said
Rozier's second-half replacement, Roger
Craig, is a good back.
Middle guard John Blake agreed with
Switzer's assessment of Rozier and the NU
offense.
"There's really not much to compare
them to," Blake said. "They're strong at
every point. They're powerful and they
pass good. Their line, their running backs,
their quarterbacks . . . they've just got
strength at every position."
Rozier good back
"And he (Rozier) is the back everybody
says he is. He played with a hurt ankle to
day but he still performed. He is great," he
said.
Switzer said the Husker defense is not as
strong as it has been in past years, however.
"They know that themselves. You can
ak their coaches. They'll tf 11 you that," he
said.
The turning point of Friday's shootout
may have come midway through the third
quarter when Oklahoma was penalized 1 5
yards for a personal foul, Switzer said. Gill
had scrambled for 1 1 yards on a third-and-14
situation, but the late hit gave the
Huskers a first down and continued the
drive that eventually led to NU's final
touchdown.
"I'd say that third-and-14 Gill scramble
and the personal foul is the only play that
stands out in my mind," Switzer said.
Other than that play, Switzer said he
was pleased with the Sooners' second-half
performance. After falling behind 21-10,
OU allowed Nebraska only seven more
points in the final 30 minutes. What was
Switzer's half time message?
"I told them that if we didn't play
better defense, we were going to get the
CA-jr veins? '
, t f? 1 i vV 1 ' I r h
M tfi 1 v. v I: i
hell beat out of us," he said.
OU linebacker Jackie Shipp said the
Sooner defenders heeded Switzer's
halftime warning.
"We went out and played good foot
ball," Jie said. "We had a lot mpre people
around' the ball the second half. We held
them to only seven more points and
they're a team that's been averaging over
40 points a game."
"I felt we had a chance to win in the
second half but things just kept going their
way," Blake said.
Despite the disappointing loss, several
Sooner players made it clear they don't
intend to have a letdown when they meet
Arizona State in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1.
"It's still a good bowl game. It's on New
Year's Day and we'll be playing an except
ionally good team," Shipp said. "I would
have liked going to the Orange Bowl and
therefore be the Big Eight champion, but
I'm not going to the Fiesta Bowl with my
head down," Shipp said.
"We're going to go win the Fiesta Bowl
and finish a good season," Blake said.
Orange Bowl tickets
available Wednesday
The Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office will have a special
student sale of Orange Bowl tickets Wednesday through
Friday at South Stadium 1 1 7. The office is open 9 a.m. to
noon and 1 to 4 p.m.
There will be no lottery. The student allotment of
tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis to
students presenting their student ID card and showing
full-time status. Payment should be made in cash or per
sonal check, and all checks should show the student's
Lincoln address.
Tickets are $18 each and are limited to one per
student. Married students can purchase a ticket for their
spouse if they provide proof of marriage.
Students can purchase tickets together in groups of six
or less. One student may buy tickets for the group if he
brings in a student ID and individual payment for each
ticket.
Tickets are not returnable.
3 Standings
Staff Photo by Dave Bflntz
Sooner running back Marcus Dupree breaks loose for an 86-yard touchdown run in the third quarter while Husker
linebacker Steve McWhirter tries to catch up to make the tackle. Dupree's touchdown brought the Sooners back to
within four points, 2117.
Iba pleased by balanced scoring
By Cindy Gardner and Bob Asmussen
Even without the services of one of its most potent
point producers, the Nebraska basketball team had
little trouble downing the University of Denver 94-58
Friday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Nebraska Coach Moe Iba held junior guard Handy
Johnson out of the season opener after Johnson missed
the pre-game meal. Even with Johnson on the bench,
the Huskers proved to be too much for the Pioneers.
The Huskers led from the outset and opened up a
10-point margin when Greg Downing hit from 18 feet
with 12:04 left in the first period. Nebraska lead by
double digits the rest of the evenings.
"1 thought we had better continuity tonight than
we did in the first ball game (an exhibition against Wind
sor)," Iba said. "It was a good game for us to open with."
Junior guard David Ponce helped the Huskers open
up a 24-point halftime lead when he hit three in a row
from the top of the key in the final minutes of the first
half. Nebraska went to the locker room with a 45-21
edge.
Denver shot 50 percent from the field and was per
fect from the free-throw line in the first half. The Pioneer
performance was hampered, however, by 21 turnovers.
The second half, too, belonged to Nebraska. The Hus
kers continued to pour in the points and run the more
up-tempo style of play Iba has initiated this season.
"Our biggest problem was that we let them (the
Huskers) control the tempo," Denver Coach Floyd Theard
said. "We were very tentative and non-aggressive. It was
like we played the whole game in awe of them."
The crowd of 8,173 applauded the Huskers' second
half shooting exhibition, which included alley-oop com
binations of Stan Cloudy to Greg Downing and Eric
Williams to Kenny Walton.
One thing that particularly pleased Iba was the Hus
kers' balanced scoring attack. Five Huskers reached
double figures, and every Husker that entered the game
scored.
"I wish we could get that type of balance every game,"
Iba said.
Denver's Mike Wilson lead all scorers with 19, but
Theard said Wilson's scoring performance was
overshadowed by nine turnovers.
Ponce lead Nebraska scoring charts with 15. Claude
Renfro and Dave Hoppen added 12 each, and Williams
scored 11. Downing was the other Husker to reach the
double digits with 10.
The Huskers play at Montana tonight. Iba said he is
expecting a tough game.
"Montana has got a great basketball team," Iba said.
"Defensively, we're going to have to be much better."
Big Eight Football Standings
Conf. All Games
Nebraska 7-0-0 10-1-0
Oklahoma 6-1-0 8-3-0
Oklahoma State 3-2-2 4-5-2
Kansas State 3-3-1 64-1
Missouri 2-3-2 5-4-2
Iowa State 1.5-1 4-6-1
Kansas 1.5.1 2-7-2
Colorado 1.5.1 2-8-1
Friday's Result
Nebraska 28, Oklahoma 24
Saturday's Result
San Diego State, 35, Oklahoma State 6
Next Saturday's Game
Nebraska flt Hawaii
HuskerSooner Statistics
Oklahoma 7 3
Nebraska 7 14
NU - Gill 14 run (Seibel kick)
OU - Dupree 2 run (Keeling kick)
OU - FG Keeling 24
NU - Wilkening 2 run (Seibel kick)
NU - Wilkening 14 run (Seibel kick)
OU - Dupree 86 run (Keeling kick)
NU - Craig 3 run (Seibel kick)
OU - Wilson 1 run (Keeling kick)
Attendance - 76,398
14
7
0-24
0-28
OU NU
First downs 21 24
Rushes yards 57-270 61-298
Passing yards 115 111
Return yards 18 53
Passes 6-19-2 8-18-0
Punts 2-45 5-30
Fumbleslost 1 -1 2-2
Penalties-yards 6-50 5-59
Time of Possession 29:42 30 8
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Oklahoma, Dupree 25-149. Wilson 14-61.
Sims 9-40. Nebraska, Rozier 15-96. Gill 15-65. Wilkening
10-58.
r ,1 T k,ahoma' PheP 6-19-2-115. Nebraska,
Gih 7-1 7-0-74. Fryar 1 -1 -0-37.
n RECviNG " Oklahoma. Sewell 247. Wilson 1-26.
Carter 1 -20. Nebraska. Fryar 4-45. Krenk 2-44. Brown 2-22