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Osborne embarrassed by
By Nick Hodge
Staff Reporter
Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne said Sunday that the Com
huskers got whipped by Oklahoma
Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Osborne said the Huskers were
manhandled by a physically better,
faster Oklahoma team. He said the
Sooners controlled the front of both
the offensive and defensive lines —
where football is won or lost.
“I’m not saying we played poorly
on the offensive or defensive line,”
Osborne said. “But we generally got
knocked off the ball on both sides.”
Oklahoma racked up 444 yards of
offense against Nebraska, 419 of
which came on the ground. Mean
* while, the Sooner defense limited
Nebraska to 235 yards — 177 on the
ground.
Osborne said the Huskers didn’t
deserve to win because they weren’t
dominant enough. He said Nebraska
might have won if it had played a
perfect game without turnovers.
Osborne said he felt embarrassed
by the loss because he thought the
Huskers could win.
“That was probably as difficult a
loss as I’ve been associated with,” he
said.
Osborne said the players also be
lieved Nebraska could win.
“The players did some talking, and
I’m sure it will be thrown in their
faces,” Osborne said. “1 didn’t en
courage that, but I didn’t discourage
too much of it either because I felt like
sometimes in the past maybe they had
lacked confidence.
“Since now they did seem to feel
they had confidence, I didn’t want to
pour cold water on them and tell them
Maybe you guys really aren’t that
good’ and put them down in the pa
pers.”
Two key plays hurt Nebraska,
Osborne said.
He said the first occurred with
12:48 left in the third quarter when
Sooner defensive back Rickey Dixon
intercepted a deflected pass thrown by
Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor,
Dixon returned the ball to the Husker
13-yard line, and two plays later half
back Anthony Stafford scored on an
11-yard run that tied the score 7-7.
Osborne said the interception
drained Nebraska’s momentum after
its 7-0 halftime lead.
He said the other key play was a 65
yard touchdown run by Oklahoma’s 1
Patrick Collins.
Osborne said there would be some '
talk that Nebraska should have passed
more against Oklahoma. He said that
although the Huskers had wanted to <
establish the running game and then
intermix a pass or two, they did not
establish their running game
against the Sooner defense.
T felt very bad because I couldn’t
find anything that worked. I tried
everything,” Osborne said. T didn’t
feel the answer was to haul off and
throw every play. It was more of a
matter of not being able to execute.”
Osborne said field position is cru
cial to scoring when teams face oppo
nents with defenses like Oklahoma’s.
Nebraska’s only scoring in the game
came on a 10-play, 84-yard drive in
which the Huskers were forced to
overcome a 10-yard holding penalty.
That was a pretty good drive,”
Osborne said. “I don’t think wc ever
took over the ball on their side of the
50-yard line, whereas they did.”
Osborne said that although the
Sooners lost three fumbles in the
game, they all occurred deep in Ne
braska territory. The Husker defense
recovered fumbles on their own 5-, 9
and 25-yard lines.
Nebraskanevercontrolled the hall,
Osborne said. The Huskers’ defense
*as on the field more than
Oklahoma’s, he said.
Oklahoma ran 79 offensive plays
:ompared with Nebraska’s 59, and
controlled the ball for 35:11 of the
game’s 60 minutes.
Osborne said a positive aspect of
the game was Nebraska punter John
Kroeker’s performance. Kroeker av
eraged 46.2 yards per kick.
“John Krocker’s punting was out
standing,” Osborne said. “He’s taken
his shots this year. I thought he held up
very well.”
Osborne said he is concerned now
about where the Huskers go.
He said life is not always fair.
“A lot depends now on the attitude
and character of the players,’’Osborne
said. “We’II find out what we’re made
of.
. “Life’s that way — not always
perfect You can’t spend very much
time dwelling on the past or you don’t
have much rature.”
Osborne said Nebraska has a tough
game ahead next Saturday in Boulder,
Colo. He said Colorado has done a lot
to make this their big game.
“We’ll be in a situation that we’ll
get their best effort” Osborne said.
“We need to concentrate on Colorado.
We need to get some momentum
back.”
Cornhuskers impressed
by Oklahoma's Thompson
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
Oklahoma quarterback Charles
Thompson earned — mn i^yoar
tradition during the Sooners’ 17-7
r victory over Nebraska Saturday at
Memorial Stadium.
Thompson, who replaced an
injured Jamelle Holieway earlier
this season, used the victory to
become Oklahoma’s third re
placement quarterback to have a
chance to lead the Sooners to a
national championship.
The first time that happened
I was in 1976, when Thomas Lott
replaced Dean Blevins and led the
Sooners to the national title in ’78.
Holieway replaced Troy Aikman
in ’84 and led Oklahoma to the No.
1 ranking.
Saturday’s win gave Okla
homa, 11 -0, its fourth consecutive
Orange Bowl birth. The No. 2
ranked Sooners will face the Mi
ami Hurricanes on Jan. 1, 1988.
The loss forced Nebraska, 9-1,
intoa New Year’s Day date against
the Florida State Seminoles in the
Fiesta Bowl.
Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne said the loss was disap
pointing because the Comhuskcrs
“just didn’t get in the ball game.”
He said Nebraska “just got
whipped.”
“Unfortunately, there’s not a
whole lot I can say,” Osborne said.
“ I real ly don ’ t know w hat to apolo
gize for.”
Osborne said part of the Husk
ers’ problems could be traced to
Thompson, who rushed for a ca
reer-high 126 yards.
“I think their quarterback
played very well ” Osborne said.
Nebraska defensive end Brod
erick Thomas said he was also
impressed by Thompson’s play.
He said Thompson’s speed gave
the Sooners a new dimension in
their vaunted wishbone.
“As far as I'm concerned, he
(Thompson) is a better quarter
back than Jamelle,” Thomas said.
“Jamelle just doesn’t have the
speed he has.”
Nebraska defensive tackle Neil
Smith said it was difficult for him
to compare Thompson and
Holieway. He said he hasn’t seen
either quarterback enough to make
such a comparison.
“Thompson did great—as you
sec, he can play,” Smith said. “But
I just can’t compare them because
I don’t know them that well.”
Husker defensive coordinator
Charlie McBride said Thompson
was the fastest Oklahoma quarter
back he has seen during his 11 -year
coaching career at Nebraska. He
said the speed of Thompson and
halfbacks Anthony Stafford and
Patrick Collins posed problems for
Nebraska.
“Their speed beat us,” McBride
said. “We really didn’t slow them
down. They didn’t have any
trouble moving the football.”
McBride said the loss was the
most lopsided Nebraska-Okla
homa game he could recall.
“It was one of those old-time
rear-end shots,” McBride said. “It
was a butt-kicking.
“I think Oklahoma, in all rights,
gave us a legitimate whipping. It
wasn’t a fluke.”
Nebraska quarterback Steve
Taylor said the loss resulted from a
lack of execution. He said things
just didn’t click late in the game.
“They stopped us,”Taylor said.
“We didn’t play today like wc did
our previous nine games.”
I Clockwise from top: Nebraska quarterback Steve
Taylor scrambles to get away from an Oklahoma
defender. Members of the Nebraska Yell Squad
mourn Nebraska’s loss to Oklahoma. Husker Neil
Smith goes after quarterback Charles Thompson
on the third down of the Sooners’ first drive, only
to gain a 15-yard penalty for face masking at the Nu
12-yard line. Oklahoma’s Charles Thompson
hands off to fullback Rotnei Anderson during
second-quarter action. Nebraska’s Keith Jones
breaks away from Sooner Darren Kilpatrick to gain
yards for the Huskers.
Layout By:
Andrea Hoy
Photos By:
Eric Gregory
Andrea Hoy
Butch Ireland
Oklahoma win draws mixed reactions
By Mike Reilley
M&l
Sights and sounds near Memorial
Stadium Saturday after Nebraska’s
17-7 loss to Oklahoma:
• A man stood on the sidewalk west
of the stadium selling bumper stickers
that read “Shit Happens” as disap
pointed Comhusker fans walked to
their cars.
•A band of Oklahoma fans,
perched in the southwest comer of the
stadium, shouted ‘‘Broderick, Broder
,ick”as Nebraska defensive end Brod
erick Thomas walked to the locker
room.
“It reallv didn’t bother me,” Tho
mas said. \ was glad that they were
thinking of me.”
•Meanwhile, Oklahoma coach
Barry Switzer praised his players.
“Talk about Sooner magic, we didn’t
need it,” Switzer said. ‘‘Wedominated
from start to finish. This was a domi
nating win.”
•In the Haymarket, two vendors
pushed carts heaped with leftover T
shirts that read: ‘‘Huskers — Orange
Bowl bound ’88.”
• Four champagne-swilling Sooner
fans mingled outside the Nebraska
Union, reminiscing about past NU
OU battles. They eventually boarded
a bus. Its destination sign read: M iami.
No matter where a person went in
Lincoln Saturday night, there were
constant reminders of what happened
in Memorial Stadium earlier m the
day. Postgame celebrations were de
layed for at least another year.
And nowhere was the disappoint
ment more evident than in the South
Stadium lounge, where Nebraska
players meet the press after games.
Thomas, the usually outspoken
defensive end, whispered so low that
reporters had to strain to hear him talk.
“My heart is hurting right now,”
Thomas said. “If it was my fault, I
apologize."
Nebraska quarterback Steve Tay
lor, who rushed for 54 yards and
passed for 58 more, also was frus
trated with the loss.
“I don’t regret anything," Taylor
said. “Now I have to cat my words."
Taylor’s comments were in refer
ence to a pregame war of words he had '
with the Sooners. Taylor told report
ers earlier this week that the game
“wouldn’t even be close."
“I thought we could move the ball
against them,"Taylor said. “They just
stopped us.” 1
“We’ve lost to Oklahoma all three
years I’ve been here,” Taylor said. “I
only have one year left”
The loss was even more disap
pointing for Nebraska’s 29 seniors ~
who will leave the university without
beating the Sooners. It was the Husk*
ers’ fourth consecutive loss to Okla
homa.
One of those seniors, offensive
tackle Keven Lightner, said he wasn’t
bothered by the loss so much as by
how badly the Huskers played.
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if we
would have played them close,”
Lightner said. J‘We were dominated.
It’s disappointing to go out being
dominated by them.”
Another senior, I-back Keith
Jones, who scored Nebraska’s only
touchdown, said he will recover from
the loss.
“Sports is winning and losing,"
Jones said. “You’ve got to be able to
accept losing to be a good winner.
We’ 11 come back and we ’ 11 be ready to
play Colorado next week.”
In the Oklahoma locker room,
players spoke not of Colorado or
Miami, the site of the 1988 Orange
Bowl. Instead they talked about fol
lowing through on goals.
“We faced the challenge,” Switzer
said. “I like that. It points out that
comparing scores and point spreads
like that doesn’t mean bull.”
The Sooners lost their No. 1 rank
ing to Nebraska last week when they
struggled to a 17-13 win against Mis
souri. Nebraska defeated the Tigers
42-7 earlier this season.
While the Sooners lost the top spot
in the polls, they never lost their
composure. With starting quarterback
Jamclle Holie way and fullback Lydell
Carr sidelined with knee injuries,
Oklahoma relied on strong perform
ances from two underclassmen.
Freshman quarterback Charles
Thompson gained 126 yards rushing
on 21 carries in place of Holie way.
“You don’t have to be a fifth-year
senior to lead a team to a national title,
and that has been proven here,” Th
ompson said.
Rotnei Anderson, a junior, re
placed Carr and rushed for 119 yards
on 24 carries,
“Our offensive line was a big fac
tor,“hesaid. “We’ve gotagreat offen
sive line and they blocked real hard.
And as long as they’re blocking, we’ 11
run as hard as we can."
Anderson and fellow running back
Patrick Collins, who rushed for 131
yards and scored one touchdown, said
they were motivated by pregame
comments by Nebraska’s Thomas and
Taylor, who predicted a Husker win.
“Broderick Thomas is a great
player, but 1 think he got himself into
a little trouble this week with a lot of
talk, and evidently he didn’t back it
up,” Collins said.