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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1986)
Monday, September 29, 1986 Daily Nebraskan Page 7 TTh I " i'i.jii ii-L Jfi AWjc - 1 . L - Andrea HoyDaily Nebraskan Quarterback Steve Taylor keeps the ball on an option play as Mark Cooper, 54, prepares to block. Hmskeim pMdk Qm&ck Attaek9 48-14 By Bob Asmussen Night News Editor Maybe after Nebraska's 4814 win against Oregon Saturday, the Cornhuskers should swap nicknames with the Eugene school. Call Nebraska the Lucky Ducks. Or, even better, the Opportu nistic Ducks. Nebraska intercepted four Oregon passes Saturday and recovered two Duck fumbles. Twice in the game, Nebraska fumbled the ball and then recovered it for touchdowns. At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said that he hoped the team could win the turnover ratio in one of its games this season. Defensive end Broderick Thomas must have been paying attention. Thomas, a sophomore from Houston, reco vered three fumbles, two by the Ducks and one by teammate Jeff Tomjack after an interception. On the Tomjack fumble, Thomas ran the ball four yards for his first collegiate touchdown. All three of Thomas' fumble recoveries came in the first half. "No one said that the offense is the only people that can touch the ball," Thomas said. "I just love being around the ball." Thomas said he had scored touchdowns in high school on similar plays. He said when he saw the Tomjack fumble, he knew what to do with it. "That was a great fumble recovery'Thomas said. "I enjoyed it. Six points is six points. I don't care if it's 90 yards or three yards, it's six points. I'd much rather run 90 yards for the excitement, yet it's still great. "When I saw the ball go, I said, 'Brod, you better get the fumble,' I didn't feel like crawling on the ground so I just picked it up and kept running." Thomas' touchdown helped him do something not many people thought he could do in a game outscore his roommate. Thomas' roommate, Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor, didn't score a touchdown, but did throw a touchdown pass to Todd Millikan. For the second week in a row, the Nebraska defense started the game by forcing a turnover. After the opening kickoff, Oregon quarterback Chris Miller fumbled the snap on the first play from scrimmage. Thomas' recovery gave Nebraska the ball at the Oregon 22-yard line. But Nebraska was just as generous as the Ducks. Taylor's first pass of the game was tipped by Oregon's Mike Blakey and intercepted by linebacker Dan Devaney. The turnovers continued on Oregon's next series. Miller threw two incompletions before finally connecting on third down. Unfortunately, Miller's first completion was to Nebraska cor nerback Charles Fryar. After three plays took Nebraska to the 12, Taylor ran an option to the left side of the field. Taylor fumbled at the one, but the ball was recovered by teammate Keith Jones for Nebras ka's first touchdown. On Oregon's next series, the Ducks again played Santa Claus. This time, Thomas made all three parts of the play: sacking Miller for a 1 2-yard loss, forcing a fumble and recovering the ball. Three plays later, a Taylor to Millikan pass for 22 yards gave Nebraska a 14-0 lead. Following Nebraska's second touchdown, Oregon had a nine-play, 83-yard drive for its first touchdown. Miller hit Alan Jackson for a 25-yard touchdown pass to complete the drive and pull the Ducks within seven points, 14-7. Nebraska scored on its next drive, a 15-play, 71 -yard journey capped by Micah Heibel's 4-yard touchdown run. On Nebraska's next possession, Taylor had a run that had to bring back memories of Bobby Reynolds and Mike Rozier to Nebraskans. Taylor started toward the right side of the field. He then reversed direction, going back 12 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Taylor picked up some blocks and ran 46 yards to the Oregon 12-yard line. Four plays later, quarterback Clete Blake man scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. Nebraska's final touchdown of the half came on Thomas' recovery of Tomjack's fumble. Tom jack, a junior from Ewing, intercepted a Miller pass and ran 36 yards to the 4-yard line. He fumbled and Thomas scooped the ball up for the touchdown. Nebraska led 35-7 at halftime. "Defensively, we were trying to improve on things and getting more turnovers was one of them," Nebraska defensive tackle Lee Jones said. Despite the lopsided final score, Osborne said the Cornhuskers were not at the top of their game. "We're pleased with the win," Osborne said. "I thought our effort was pretty good. I think we can play better than we did today." Osborne said he wasn't happy with the block ing of the offensive line. "Offensively I was disappointed with the way we knocked them off the ball," Osborne said "I thought we could dominate them a little bit more than we were able to." For the third game in a row, Nebraska held its opponent to less than 100 yards rushing. The Ducks gained 47 yards on 33 carries. Oregon also gained 224 yards on 16 pass completions. Taylor led Nebraska with 85 yards rushing. Jones gained 67 yards and Heibel gained 55 yards. Taylor hit three of 10 passes for 40 yards and one touchdown. Millikan caught two touchdown passes in the game to become the first Nebraska player to have two touchdown receptions since Todd Frain had two against LSU in the 1985 Sugar Bowl. Oregon's leading rusher wafc James Harper with 39 yards. Miller completed six of 17 passes for 1 10 yards and had three interceptions. Miller injured his elbow in the first half and didn't play the rest of the game. Pete Nelson had 114 yards passing in relief of Miller. Nebraska, 3-0 and ranked No.4 in the nation, travels to Columbia, S.C., Saturday to play 1-3 South Carolina. Oregon plays undefeated South ern Cal. Saturday's score disappoints Oregon coach, but tenm's strong effort eases the pain By ChucH Or": ouuris tuny a . it , 1 I i. f t" Oregon cnch Eich Creeks wasn't quite as di::; ;i !:.tcd a3 he v;cs this time list year, bat he was sill! Ices than h?-;y. Acccrdir j td Creeks, the Ducks played ir.achh?.r Jcr thr-n they did in last year's 3 0 tcr.;!r3 ct ?.:-:.?:-ial Stadium. "We had scr.e :oi t!,;rr for ou younger pe;!e tc i ;;," F:: ' s s; i 1 "I don't know what they (Nebraska) were down to today. .Maybe they were at their eighth cr ninth teams there at the end of the gane, but at least our seccr.i 2i third tcains didn't r.:t t!r-i cut like our seconds hs tot vesr." Crooks said he was pieced with . 1.2. ML..Allin nnifAM ffntrn wit i p!ay: i hrd ur.til the end cf the r.e. Erocks was especul-y in scJ v.ith the thy of freshman :2rtcrbick Pete Nelson, who re- Saccd starter Chris Miller in the md ouirter. Miller was forced f::n the gir.s with an irjury to his ii -r.t elbow. . ""He made some youth mistakes, got a couple of delay of the game penalties and . things like that," Brocks said, "but I think it's a tough situation for a young gay to see 1 v tl 'lr " crowd zrJ a t cry red f ca i. of- i: El pi rienced a couple times, tut he lUq Vs) 44 U aid. made some very fine pi said. "I was very pleased with the job gJ stopping their ccre, troths We really clayed thilr crticn ,rae pretty well." - Oregon free safety Ed Hubert echoed his coach's fec'io. "I thought our defence, though they came up with cn!y 43 points, played pretty well under the cir cumstances " Hulbert said. 'To turn the ball over six times and give them (Nebraska) the short ede of the field, playing a team like Nebras ka, it's not hard to give up p,;:rts Husker 2nd at invite By Kristi Reetz "Staff Reporter The'Husker Volleyball Invitational started Friday night with No. 7 Nebraska beating No. 17 Wyoming in four sets, 13-15, 15-4, 15-6, 15-8. In the first game, Wyoming took the lead, 14-10, before Nebraska started to come back. On Wyoming's match point, Nebraska's Karen Dahlgren made a kill to keep the Huskers in contention. Lori Endicott then served three points for Nebraska to put the score at 13-14 before Darcy Cudaback served the game point for Wyoming. In the second game, Nebraska scored five points before Wyoming got on the boards. Wyoming never really threa tened, though, as Nebraska put the game away on a kill by redshirt fresh man Virginia Stahr to take the game, -15-4. - J In the third gained 'Nebraska scored ' first but Wyoming quickly took a '4-1 lead. Nebraska scored three straight points to tie the game at four, then scored three more to take a 7-4 lead. Wyoming managed one more point before Nebraska put it away, 15-6. Wyoming took control of the fourth game early, holding a 3-0 lead before Terry Pettit called time-out. The Huskers re-grouped and scored two points, one on a kill by Kathi DeBoer. Wyoming then took leads of 5-4, 7-5 and 8-6. Nebraska came back behind the serv ing of Jackie Cook to take a 9-8 lead, then finished off the Cowgirls to take the game and the match, 15-8. See VOLLEYBALL on 8