_Soorts____
| Taylor breaks tradition, NU pass record
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
A quick analysis of Nebraska football history
will reveal that the Comhuskers have built their
tradition around a strong running game and a
stingy defense.
But on Saturday, the Huskers stepped away
from that tradition as quarterback Steve Taylor
broke a school record and tied a Big Eight record
by throwing five touchdown passes to lead
Nebraska to a 42-33 victory over UCLA.
Taylor burned the Bruin secondary and broke
the Nebraska record of four touchdown passes in
a game. The record was previously held by Turner
Gill, Dave Humm and Vince Ferragamo. He also
tied a conference record that was set in 1938 by
former Kansas quarterback Ralph Miller. Taylor
completed 10 of 15 passes for 217 yards.
“I thought Steve Taylor had a fine day,”
Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne said.
‘‘Steve played very well.’’
Taylor said he thought his passing shocked
the Memorial Stadium crowd of 76,313. He said
he had no ideahe was approaching either record.
“I knew our passing game needed some work,
but it wasn’t anything that needed a large
amount of work,” Taylor said.
Osborne said Taylor’s passing enabled
Nebraska to overcome a running attack that he
described as “terrible” and a defensive effort that
was "kind «f hard to figure.” Nebraska gained
only 117 yards rushing while the Husker defense
surrendered 16 points in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got a lot of room to improve,” Osborne
said.
Osborne attributed Nebraska’s inability to
establish a consistent running attack to the
UCLA defense. He said the Bruins were keying on
the run.
“We normally run the ball pretty well, but we
didn't get a whole lot done on the ground,”
Osborne said. "We do really need to improve our
running game.”
Osborne said the Huskers’ problems on defense
arose from fatigue. He said Nebraska wore down
in the second half.
Nebraska defensive tackle Tim Rother agreed.
"The fatigue got to us because last week (dur
ing Nebraska’s 56-12 win over Utah State) we
didn’t have to play the whole game,” Rother said.
‘‘It was something different.”
w
UCLA took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when
Bruin tailback Gaston Green capped an 11-play,
41-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.
The Bruins had taken possession at the
Nebraska 41-yard line following a 31-yard punt by
Nebraska’s John Kroeker. UCLA then used six
runs by Green and two runs by fullback Mel Farr
Jr. and quarterback Troy Aikman to take the lead
with 1:21 remaining in the first quarter.
Nebraska tied the score 7-7 with 12:16 remain
ing in the second quarter when Taylor threw a
9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tom
Banderas.
Taylor began the drive by completing a 14-yard
pass to Nebraska wingback Dana Brinson. Taylor
also completed a 24-yard pass to Brinson, a junior
from Valdosta, Ga., later in the drive.
Taylor said he attributed his passing success
to the fact that he threw 15 times against the
Bruins.
"By throwing the ball, it really helped our
rhythm,’’ he said.
Nebraska took a 14-7 lead in the second quar
ter when Taylor threw an 11-yard touchdown
pass to I—back Ken Clark, following a blocked
punt by Husker cornerback Cartier Walker.
Nebraska began its drive at the UCLA 34-yard
line and needed only five plays to score, Brinson
rambled 19 yards on a wingback reverse, and
Taylor then passed to Clark to give Nebraska the
lead with 7:49 remaining in the first half.
UCLA cut Nebraska’s lead to 14-10 in the first
half when the Bruins’ Alfredo Velasco kicked a
23-yard field goal.
UCLA had taken possession at its 37-yard line
and used a 25-yard pass from Aikman to split end
Mike Farr and a 12-yard pass to split end Willie
Anderson to advance to the Nebraska 6-yard line.
But the Nebraska defense forced the Bruins to
settle for a field goal as it stopped Green for no
gain on a third and three play from the six.
Rother said he wasn’t impressed with Green, a
Heisman Trophy candidate who finished with 46
yards on 19 carries.
“He’s just like any other back to me,” Rother
said. “I didn’t think he was anything special.”
Nebraska defensive end Broderick Thomas
agreed.
“Gaston, he’s going to get his yards some
where else,” Thomas said. “When you get hit as
hard as he did, you kind of want to save him.”
Nebraska extended its lead to 28-10 in the
third quarter when Clark scored on a 1-yard run
and Taylor threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to
split end Rod Smith, but UCLA cut Nebraska’s
lead to 28-17 when reserve tailback Eric Ball
scored on a 6-yard run with 2:37 left in the third
quarter.
The Huskers then rebuilt their lead to 42-17
when Taylor threw 33- and 35-yard touchdown
passes to tight end Todd Millikan.
Nebraska scored its final points of the game
when I-back Tyreese Knox rushed for 13 yards
and Taylor threw to Millikan to give the Huskers
a 25-point lead with 5:37 remaining.
But the Bruins used two touchdown runs and
two two-point conversions by Green to bring the
contest to its 42-33 outcome.
Osborne said he thought the 1-1 Bruins
deserved their No. 3 ranking.
“I think UCLA will do very well this year,” he
said.
Taylor agreed.
‘‘A lot of people thought they might be over
rated. We didn’t want to take any chances,”
Taylor said.
“They have great team unity.”
-
Clockwise from left:
Broderick Thomas celebrates a first-half quarterback sack.
John Makinson, a senior mechanical engineering major,
waits with his tuba for the band’s halftime show to begin.
Nebraska’s Broderick Thomas chases UCLA’s Brendan
McCracken during fourth quarter action Saturday.
UCLA’s Carnell Lake face masks Nebraska’s Steve Taylor
during first quarter action as Taylor makes a run around the
right side.
Husker Dana Brinson (33) runs behind tackle Bob Sledge to
gain yards in the first quarter.
Photos by Andrea Hoy
and
Doug Carroll
Layout by Andrea Hoy
UCLA finds NU pass attack
as potent as its running game
By Mar* Derowitsch
Senior Reporter
UCLA sacrificed too much pass
coverage in an attempt to stop
Nebraska’s running game during
the Comhuskers' 42-33 win Satur
day, said Bruins coach Terry Don
ahue.
And as a result, Husker quarter
back Steve Taylor had the best pass
ing game of his career, completing
10 of 15 passes for 217 yards and a
school-record five touchdown passes.
“When you play Nebraska you know
that they’re going to run the football,
and they’re going to have some play
action passes,’’ Donahue said. “1
thought that we could hold off and I
thought that they would have to
throw the ball.
“1 thought we forced them to
throw, but I didn’t think their re
ceivers were going to be as open.”
UCLA linebacker Ken Norton Jj.
said Taylor ran the Husker offense
well.
“Taylor’s a good quarterback who
can run and pass well,” Norton said.
“He’s Just an uil-around player. We
concentrated on the run and we
were able to beat them on the line.
They just caught us off guard."
But while the Bruins were stop
ping Nebraska's running attack, the
Husker defense was equally suc
cessful in stopping UCLA’s Heisman
Trophy candidate, Gaston Green.
Green was held to 46 yards on 10
carries, but scored three touch
downs. Two of his scoring runs came'
in the fourth quarter when Nebraska
had a comfortable lead.
“I thought (Nebraska) would be
hard to run against," Donahue said.
"We ran well early, but they made
some adjustments and shut us down."
Donahue said there were two rea
sons why the Bruins were unable to
run against Nebraska.
"It was a combination of good
defense by Nebraska and we didn't
make all our blocks or get the right
holes," Donahue said. "Nebraska is
a real good defensive football team
and when you play that kind of
team, you’re going to have trouble
running the ball.
"When you don’t generate enough
yardage running you get behind on
the down and distance, and then
you can’t run anymore."
Donahue said Nebraska was able
to acjjust better after UCLA's run
ning game was shut down.
"We put Nebraska in the same
situation, but the difference was
they were able to hit their play
action passes we didn't execute as
well as they did,** Donahue said.
In the first quarter, UCLA held
Nebraska to 13 yards rushing and
led 7-0 when Green scored on a 4-yard
run. But the Huskers scored 14
points in the second quarter on two
touchdown passes from Taylor to
Tom Banderas and Ken Clark.
UCLA then cut Nebraska’s lead to
14-10 on a field goal late in the
second quarter.
“At halftime we thought we had a
chance, but the third quarter got
away from us,’’ Donahue said.
On the second play of the third
quarter, Nebraska linebacker Doug
Welniak recovered a Troy Aikman
fumble at the Bruin 12-yard line.
“1 thought the momentum really
shifted toward Nebraska in the t hird
quarter,” Donahue said. “We funv
bled and the pass we dropped across
the middle that would have given us
a first down was crucial. Plus, the
bobbled snap on the field goal was
crucial and those three things hurt
our chances to win.”
Norton said the Bruins didn't
expect the Huskers to pass as often
as they did in the second half.
"We were surprised in the third
quarter," Norton said. “Their pass
lng caught us off guard. We didn't
jump back as quick and their
receivers caught the ball behind our
defense.”