V
Monday, October 28, 1985
Page 8
Daily Nebraskan
Sports
CdDFO HOT
laometown jfamis
By Mike Reilley
Senior Reporter
Nebraska fullback Tom Rathman
just wanted to do something to please
the home folks who traveled 90 mi'es
down Interstate 80 to watch him play in
the Cornhuskers' 17-7 win over the
Colorado Buffaloes.
Not only was it Homecoming Satur
day at Memorial Stadium, but it was
also Tom Rathman Day. Rathman, a
senior from Grand Island, said several
peopfe from his hometown traveled to
Lincoln to watch him play. A banner
honoring him hung in the southeast
corner of the stadium.
"A lot of people had come down and
I thought I had to do something excit
ing for them," Rathman said.
Rathman delivered that promise with
23 seconds remaining in the third
quarter. The Huskers and the Buffaloes
were deadlocked at 7-7 when Rathman
took a handoff from quarterback Travis
Turner and sprinted 84 yards for a
touchdown.
But Rathman, who runs the 40-yard
dash in 4.7 seconds, said it wasn't
exactly a sprint.
"I don't know if I outran them, but I
got to the end zone before they got me,"
he said. "Lady Luck was on my side."
Actually, it was linemen Brian Blan
kenship and Tim Roth who were on his
side. They cleared the way at the line of
scrimmage and let Rathman into the
Buffs secondary, where he jumped over
a pile of players. From there, blocks
from tight end Tom Banderas and split
end Robb Schnitzler helped spring him
loose down the right sideline.
"I thought there would be more peo
ple back there when I jumped over the
pile," Rathman said. "Everybody went
for the option fake. You've got to give
the quarterback and the I-back credit
there."
Rathman had only one more worry on
his trek to the end zone. He was hit by
Colorado cornerback Lyle Pickens
inside the 5-yard line, but he cut back
and stumbled into the end zone.
"I would never had made it if I had
run straight," he said.
"You don't make an 80-yard run and
get tackled at the 2-yard line. You make
that extra effort to get into the end
zone," he said.
That extra effort, combined with
Dale Klein's extra point, gave the
Huskers a 14-7 lead. It also gave
Nebraska some much-needed momen
tum, I-back Doug DuBose said.
"Rathman's run took the air out of
Colorado," he said. "That run really
propelled us. We knew things were
starting to go our way."
Blankenship said the touchdown run
epitomized the Huskers' tenacity.
"We knew sooner or later we would
pop one," he said. "We just kept pound
ing away at them and we knew we
would break one."
DuBose, who drew the fake on the
touchdown run, finished with a game
high 125 yards on 26 carries. He also
scored Nebraska's first touchdown from
1 yard out with 5:39 remaining in the
first half.
Colorado took a 7-0 advantage with
4:11 left in the first quater when quar
terback Craig Keenan scored from 2
yards out. Keenan replaced starter
Rick Wheeler on Colorado's second ser
ies. Wheeler lea the game with an
injured knee and won't play for the rest
of the season.
Neither team scored again until
DuBose ran around the left side to cap
an 80-yard drive and tie the game at 7-7.
After Rathman's run gave the Husk
ers a 14-7 advantage at the end of the
third quarter, Colorado had a chance to
tie the score again.
That opportunity came when DuBose
fumbled after he gained 13 yards
around the left side. Colorado free
safety Rodney Rogers recovered the
ball at Nebraska's 34-yard line.
But the Buffs muffed the scoring
opportunity two plays later. Keenan
fumbled an exchange with fullback
Anthony Weatherspoon and the ball
bounced around in the CU backfield
before Husker linebacker Marc Mun
ford fell on it at the Nebraska 36-yard
line.
"The ball just bounced around,"
Munford said of his recovery. "(Husker
linebacker Mike) Knox said he had it
in his hands for a while and then
another guy batted it into my hands. I
just laid on it and said 'No one is get
ting it.' "
Munford, who missed last week's
game against Missouri with a knee
injury, said the fumble was a key play.
"Getting the ball back helped us
out," he said. "Especially when we got
it out of our end."
Nebraska marched the ball down to
the Colorado 13-yard line before its
drive stalled. Klein, who missed two
field goal attempts earlier in the game,
came in on fourth down to boot a 32
yarder that put Nebraska ahead 17-7
with 9:34 left in the game.
In the South Stadium lounge after
the game, Rathman sat in a chair and
discussed his touchdown run with
reporters. He said he was "very tired."
"It was the longest run I've ever had
in my life," he said.
Turner said if Rathman "knew it was
84 yards he would've never made it."
But Rathman said he would muster
enough energy to make an appearance
at a post-game reception for him at the
Villager Motel.
"It's probably going to be a late
night for me," he said.
Coach proud of 'grown up 1 Buffs
Reserve quarterback fails to spark offense
By Jeff Apel
Staff Reporter
Colorado coach Bill McCartney was
the victim of the familiar circumstance
with a different outcome in the Buffa
loes 17-7 loss to Nebraska Saturday at
Memorial Stadium.
Last week, McCartney watched as
starting quarterback Mark Hatcher was
forced to the sidelines with a sprained
ankle in Colorado's 40-6 win against
Iowa State.
Against the Cornhuskers, backup
quarterback Rick Wheeler was sent to
the sidelines early in the first quarter
after suffering a season-ending knee
injury.
Unlike the Iowa State game, in
which Wheeler was able to replace
Hatcher successfully and guide the
Buffaloes to victory, third-string quar
terback Craig Kennan never really got
Colorado's dangerous wishbone attack
rolling.
"I'm not trying to take anything
away from Nebraska, " McCartney said,
"but we just Gidn't have the continuity
we needed on offense to be successful.
When Wheeler was in there, we were
doing just what we wanted to do, but
when he left with the injury we just
couldn't execute."
Wheeler, who said McCartney told
him last Wednesd- that he would start
against Nebraska, engineered Colora
do's only scoring drive of the game. He
teamed with Keenan to give the Buffa
loes an early 7-0 lead.
After a missed 46-yard field goal
attempt by Nebraska's Dale Klein,
Colorado took possession of the ball on
its own 30-yard line.
Two quarterback option runs by
Wheeler, a short run by halfback Ron
Brown and a 12-yard Wheeler pass to
Loy Alexander gave the Buffaloes a first
down at their own 44-yard line.
Wheeler then tore through the
Nebraska defense for a 7-yard gain on
another quarterback option, which put
the Buffaloes into Nebraska territory at
the 49.
But the play turned out to be a costly
one, as Colorado lost Wheeler to a
severe knee injury after he was hit by
Husker cornerback Brian Davis.
"I'm not really sure how it (the
injury) happened," Wheeler said. "It
wasn't because of the hit I took and it
wasn't because I rolled on the knee.
It's all a mystery to me."
Keenan, who turned down an offer
from the Canadian Football League's
Ottawa Rough Riders so he could play
his senior season at Colorado, then
replaced Wheeler and promptly march
ed Colorado the final 49 yards for the
touchdown.
"That early score gave us the
momentum early but we weren't able to
take advantage of it," McCartney said.
"We just didn't execute."
The rest of the game turned out to be
a nightmare for the Buffaloes. Colora
do's newly installed wishbone attack
was held to only 2 18 yards total offense.
The only bright spot for the Buffaloes
was their kicking game. The Buffaloes
showed why they are ranked first in the
nation in punt coverage when they
allowed Nebraska only 27 yards in punt
returns. Punter Barry Helton averaged
50Vi yards a kick.
"I told our players that I have never
been prouder of them because today is
a step in the right direction even
though we didn't win," McCartney said.
"Our Buffs are grown up now. I'm really
proud of them."
Junior Varsity 'Knox ' William Jewell 48-0
By Jeff Apel
Staff Reporter
As a member of the scout team, Nebraska
junior varsity running back Tyresse Knox has
spent much of the season imitating Florida
State's Sammy Smith, Oregon's Tony Cherry and
Colorado's Anthony Weatherspoon.
But Friday at Memorial Stadium, Knox was
"imitating" a different running back: Corn
husker varsity I-back Doug DuBose.
Knox, who, like DuBose, wears No. 22, rushed
for 176 yards and one touchdown on 1 1 carries to
lead the Nebraska junior varsity to a 48-0 win
over the William Jewell junior varsity.
"Tyreese (Knox) was talent-wise so much bet
ter than those guys today, but he still has some
areas where he needs to improve," said freshman
coach Dan Young. "It would help him if he got
more repetitions (with the junior varsity) even
though he is a valuable part of the scout team."
Knox, who spent last season as a redshirt
while recovering from a stress fracture in his left
leg, broke loose on a 70-yard touchdown run
midway through the second quarter to boost
Nebraska's lead to 27-0.
Earlier, running back Ken Clark had scored
the Husker's first touchdown of the game when
he scored on an 1 1-yard run.
Quarterback Steve Taylor, who needs only one
more touchdown to tie the freshman scoring
record, then increased Nebraska's lead to 13-0
when he scampered 6 yards for a touchdown.
The extra point attempt failed when holder
Mike Preston couldn't handle a high snap and
his pass for the two-point conversion fell incom
plete to kicker Chris Johnson.
After a William Jewell possession, fullback
Sam Schmidt capped off a four-play, 74-yard
drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to give the
Huskers a 19-0 lead.
But the extra point attempt failed when holder
once again couldn't handle a high snap from
center.
Knox, the junior varsity's leading rusher with
397 yards, then raced 70 yards on Nebraska's
first play from the scrimmage line to increase
Nebraska's lead to 25-0.
"I'd like to credit all the success I had to my
father, who was here from California," Knox said.
"It seems like every time he is here, I do well."
. Preston closed out the scoring for the half
when he hit reserve fullback Russ Luben with a
two-point conversion pass to give Nebraska a
27-0 lead.
"We pretty much did what we wanted to do in
the first half," Young said. "The big thing that I
was really happy to see was our offense getting
started faster than it normally does."
Nebraska continued to dominate William
Jewell in the second half as Taylor hit wide
receiver Richard Bell with a 73-yard touchdown
pass just 46 seconds into the third quarter.
Cornerback Charles Fryar, who returned a
kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown earlier this
season, returned a punt on the Husker's next
possession 73 yards to give Nebraska a 41-0 lead.
"Overall, I was really pleased with the effort
we got today," Young said. "Our offense was a
little more consistent and all of our players
responded well."
ACACIA and AOPI
PRESENTS
MELODRAMA '85
OCTOBER 31,8:00 PM
NOVEMBER 1 & 2, 7:30 AND 9:45
Tickets available at booth City Union
Acacia, AOPI, and at the door.
Shows at 1 71 7 Yolande
(Near Gas'n Shop on 14th and Cornhusker)
IT
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Assistant Admissions Director
Orj CACVJFU3 TUEOOAY OCT. OO
9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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Linda Senar Bux of Southern Methodist University will be
here to talk to students about admission and financial
assistance.
To sign up for interviews contact the Career Plannina and
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