Daily Nebraskan Monday, November 19, 1934
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Huskers squander .chances in loss to Soone
JO.
By Mike Rcilley
Dully Nebraskan Staff Reporter
They should have.
They could have.
But they didn't.
That was the feeling of players
and fans alike after the Huskers
dropped a heartbreaking 17-7
decision to Oklahoma Saturday
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne,
whose team was favored by five
points, said the Huskers made
too many mistakes to defeat a
team of the caliber of Oklahoma.
"Obviously, we made more mis
takes than they did," Osborne
said. "We had some in the kicking
game and some in the plain
scrimmage plays. And, of course,
too many missed scoring oppor
tunity plays, but I guess I have to
take the blame for some of that."
The loss was particularly tough
on the Husker seniors, many of
whom have never lost to the
Sooners.
David CrecmerDs'.fy Nsbrcskan
Right end Scott Strasburger,
whose interception in the waning
. seconds of the 1982 shoot-out
preserved a 28-24 Nebraska win,
The Huskers drove to mid-field,
where quarterback Craig Sund
berg threw a strike to I-back
Doug DuBose.
DuBose shook a tackier and
shot down the left sideline before
being driven out of bounds at the
Sooner 8-yard line.
"When DuBose broke that one,
I thought 'Heck; we're in there,' "
left guard Harry Grimminger said.
A first and goal at the Sooner
8-yard line, I-back Jeff Smith
carried a pitch around the left
side for 3 yards. Sundberg followed
with a 4-yard keeper to the one.
With their backs to the wall,
the Sooner defense stiffened.
Freshman linebacker Brian Boa
worth stopped Husker fullback
Scott Porter for no gain to set up
a fourth and goal situation.
"You could lay a hair down on
the goal line," Grimminger said.
That's how far we had to go."
Smith took a pitch from Sund
berg and ran to the left side
looking for daylight, but all he
found was a cloud of white jerseys.
Smith was stopped for no gain.
"We thought about that a lot,"
Osborne said. "We felt they'd stack
the middle and thought we might
be able to run a pitch, which is
basically an off-tackle play and
we'd had some success with that."
Osborne described the play as
"a basic goal-line play we practice
all the time." He admitted the
thought of running up the middle
had crossed his mind.
"I thought about going straight
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Nebraska quarterback Travis Turner meets the turf via Ecop.er pursiiers Sonny Brown (8),
Erim Bcs.Tcrth (44) &r.d Tony Esj'fcam (S3).
Somes celebrate tkeir time9
Ld difflculty swallowing the ?T,t ,h.
bitter taste of defeat.
This is my last game here,"
Strasburger said. "A lot of good
things have happened to me in
this stadium the last two years.
It's kind of tough to end it this
way."
Osborne said the loss was one
of his biggest disappointments as
the Husker coach.
This is about as disappointing
a loss as we've had," Osborne said.
"We've had some over the years
that have hurt, and this one
we had gone straight ahead now.1
Sooner cornerback Brian Hall,
who was the first to hit Smith,
said he and his teammates were
ready for the goal-line stand.
"We just looked at each other
and said we got to do it now," Hall
said. They couldn't get over the
middle, we thought they might do
something like that. It was the
same kind of thing Texas tried on
us. We stopped them, and we
stopped Nebraska too."
Oklahoma drew first blood,
capitalizing on a Travis Turner
nrnhahlv hurts as had as anv of w" "vk xuiuci
prooapiy nurts as Baa as any oi fumble t0 take , 70 Iead ith
inem- 2:40 to play in the first quarter.
While Nebraska .remained in a The Sooners marched 26 yards
state of shock, Sooner Coach m seven plays capped by a 1-
rw"""'.",""i'"w"""iai"" yard scoring plunge by quarter
By Wcrd W. Triplet! Ill
Daily NebmsSaui Senior Editor
Barry Switzer came on like
evangelist Jim Bakker turned
football hero. Danny Bradley
prayed and thanked God. George
Rhymes laughed and joked with
the ease of Eddie Murphy.
Saturday's 17-7 win over Ne
braska was no ordinary victory
for the Oklahoma Sooners.. They
had beaten a team even they
thought might be better, and they
had done it after several ad
versities and injuries appeared to
have killed their season's momen
tum. The Sooners finally had the
breaks go their way after three
years of frustration. As the coach
so loudly and proudly put it, "It
was our time."
The Sooner celebration started
as soon as Nebraska I-back Jeff
Smith was nailed to the Memorial
Stadium turf by an Oklahoma
defensive back who was only play
ing because a car accident had
removed the starters from the
line up. Brian Hall had been in
several plays during the long
afternoon, including a last-second
tripping of Smith just before the
Husker back turned upfield in
the first quarter, and an ankle
tackle of Doug DuBose. Both had
had clear sailing ahead.
But the fourth-quarter play
that that killed Nebraska's last
legitimate chance to win was
Hall's brightest moment. Was he
surprised the Sooners were able
to hold the Huskers? "
"No. WeVe done it before against
Texas. Before they lined up for
that last play, we looked at each
other and said 'We've got to do it
now.' We knew they were running
it Wp wpre readv for it."
Was he surprised the Huskers
went to the outside?
"I wasn't. I was supposed to
look for something like that. When
the play started, I just followed
the man in motion. I fought off
CcEtinsied cn Pass 9
"Our defense rose to the
occasion," Switzer said. "If I had
to say one reason for winning this
game, it would be defense, de
fense, defense!"
back Danny Bradley.
Nebraska got on track in the
second quarter, moving 84 yards
in 10 plays. -
A 5-yard draw play to DuBose
highlighted the drive. The sopho-
Trailing, 10-7, Nebraska took more from Uncasville, Conn.,
possession of the ball on its own twisted, spun and jitter-stepped
11-yard line with nine minutes the Sooner defense into a tizzy,
remaining in the game. Ccstisised ca P&ga 9
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j , ? .; ' . I Above: In a twisted mssa Ginzsziea igp, OiiLiAca Jeroae Ledbsttcr grinds to ahs2tTi
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icit, sooner qcsrteros usnny iirsuiey gets two tiasers. Gcess wMeh one was a Iissker fca
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