Turmoil ends as Nebraska burns ASU
By Nick Hodge
Staff Reporter
Two weeks of self-inflicted tur
moil came to a convincing end during
Nebraska’s 47-16 victory against
Arizona State Saturday at Memorial
Stadium.
Nebraska senior safety Tim
Jackson said the Comhuskers treated
their victory against Arizona State as
redemption. He said the win made
amends for Nebraska’s 41-28 loss to
UCLA because it proved that the
Huskers are a good football team.
“We didn’t think of the game as
revenge or anything like that, but we
had to go outand do things very well,”
Jackson said. “We couldn’t just come
outand play an all right game • we had
to play to win.”
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
the win was satisfying. He said the
Huskers need to improve if they are
going to be successful for the remain
der of the season.
“We did a little better,” Osborne
COtH “W/ A ’ ro flAt tknrn «IA» U/a knt.A
the potential to be a good football
team. We’re a decent team, but to be
a great team and to be the kind of team
I envision, we have to get better. We
should have put that thing away early
and we didn’t.”
Three Nebraska running backs
rushed for more than 100 yards—the
first time a Husker hack has hit the
century mark this season — as the
Huskers cruised to a season-high 441
yards rushing.
Junior I-back Ken Clark led the
Nebraska ground attack by picking up
122 yards on 22 carries, including the
Huskers’ longest run from scrimmage
this year - a 31 -yard touchdown run in
the second quarter that gave the Husk
ers a 16-13 lead.
Senior quarterback Steve Taylor
rushed for 116 yards on 17 carries and
a touchdown. He also completed
three of 10 passes for 29 yards and a
i
touchdown.
Sophomore I-back Terry Rodgers
rushed for 113 yards on 13 carries and
a touchdown.
The Huskers took the opening
kickoff and drove 49 yards in 13 plays
to set up a40-yard field goal by kicker
Chris Drennan. On Arizona State’s
third play from scrimmage, Jackson
got his 1st interception of the game at
the Sun Devil 28-yard line. Four plays
later, Taylor gave Nebraska a 9-0 lead
with 6:45 remaining in the first quar
ter when he scrambled through the
Sun Devils’ defense cnroute to an 11
yard touchdown run. The extra point
by Drennan was no good.
Arizona State then struck via the
air.
After the Sun Devil’s defense held
Nebraska to three plays and a punt,
Arizona State quarterback Daniel
Ford hit split end Chris Garrett on a
54-yard touchdown pass to cut the
Huskers’ lead tO 9-7.
The Sun Devil defense forced
Nebraska to punt on its next posses
sion . A 46-yard pass play from Ford to
split end Leland Adams set up a 2
yard touchdown run by Arizona State
tailback Bruce Perkins. The 2-point
conversion attempt failed. The seven
play, 59-yard scoring drive gave the
Sun Devils’ a 13-9 lead after the 1st
quarter.
Osborne said he was disappointed
in how Nebraska let the Sun Devils
back into the game.
“Defensively -1 was not real happy
with some of the first half,” Osborne
said. “There were some situations
where we gave up so many big plays.”
Nebraska regained the lead with
13:04 left in the half when Clark took
a 4th down and two pitch from Taylor
and ran 31 yards for a touchdown. The
PAT by placekicker Gregg Barrios
gave the Huskers a 16-13 lead.
After Nebraska forced the Sun
Devils to punt, wingback Dana Brin
son received the ball attheHusker 25
yard line. He sped through a huge lane
in the center of the field for a 75-yard
touchdown return Barrios’ PAT gave
Nebraska a 23-13 lead.
Arizona State fought back by put
ting together a 15-play, 76-yard drive
that led to a 22-yard field goal by
placekicker Alan Zendejas that made
the score 23-16 with 4:13 remaining
in the first half.
Nebraska came right back with an
drive of its own. Taylor hit split end
Morgan Gregory with a 9-yard scor
ing strike that gave the Huskers a 30
16 halftime advantage.
Both teams failed to score in a
turnover-plagued 3rd quarter. Ari
zona State had two scoring threats
halted by turnovers.
On the second play from scrim
mage in the second half, Ford
fumbled after a 40-yard scramble and
Nebraska strong safety Reggie Coo
per recovered at the Huskers’ 40-yard
line.
Six plays later, a pass from Taylor
to tight end Todd Millikan was inter
cepted in the end zone by Sun Devil
free safety Nathan La Duke.
Jackson then ended another An
zona State threat by intercepting his
second pass of the game. He returned
it 55 yards to the Sun Devil 32-yard
line.
Nebraska took the ball to the Sun
Devils’ 1-yard line, but was stopped
on a fourth down and goal attempt. On
Arizona State’s first play from its own
1-yard line, outside linebacker Jon
Marco tackled Perkins for a safety to
make the score 32-16. <
After Arizona State’s free kick,
Rodgers’ 3-yard touchdown dive
cappeda67-yard,9-playdrive.The2
point PAT by Rodgers upped the lead
to 40-16. Redshirt freshman quarter*'
back Mickey Joseph tallied the final
score on a 6-yard touchdown run.
Barrios’ PAT made the final score 47
16.
Butch 1reland/D»iIy Nebraskan
Nebraska outside linebacker Mike Croel throws Arizona State
Suarterback Daniel Ford for a loss during the Cornhuskers’
7-16 win Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. The Husker
defense held Ford to three completed passes for 87 yards in
the 2nd half.
Stahr, Endicott lead NU
to ‘tough’ tournament title
By Kyle Schurman
Staff Reporter
After winning two-consecutive
volleyball tournaments at the NU
Coliseum, one might suggest Ne
braska should make a habit of staging
the invitationals in Lincoln.
Nebraska, which won all three of
its matches in straight sets during the
FirsTier Invitational earlier this sea
son, ran its record to 6-0 in home
tournaments and 11-2 cverall by de
feating Wyoming, Kansas State and
Indiana during the Gillette Dairy/
Prairie Maid Invitational this week
end at the Coliseum.
The Huskers beat Wyoming 15
11, i5-!2, 15-6 Friday night and
Kansas State 15-10,15-10,15-6 Sat
urday morning to set up a champion
ship match against Indiana. The
Hoosiersbeat Kansas State 15-11,15
9,15-13 Friday and Wyoming 15-13,
6-15, 15-11, 16-14 Saturday. Wyo
ming defeated Kansas State 15-9,13
15, 15-6, 15-9 Saturday evening to
take third place. Nebraska won the
tournament title by defeating Indiana
16-14,15-0,13-15,16-14, after fight
ing off game points in the first and
fourth games.
Nebraska’s Virginia Stahr, who
had a tournament-high hitting per
centage of .460, and Lori Endicott,
who had 167 set assists to lead the
tournament, were named to the ail
tournament team. Stahr was named
the tournament’s most valuable
player. Husker coach Terry Pettit said
.both players played well.
“I thought Virginia had a great
match,” Pettit said. “This is begin
ning to sound like a broken record, but
she hasn’t had a bad match all year.
Endicott hustled all over the place.”
Pettit said Nebraska expected to do
well in the tournament.
“When we’re on our own court, we
expect to perform well,” he said.
See VOLLEYBALLonTo
Butch (reland/Da.Iy Mebrartan
Nebraska’s Sue Hesch, left, and Carla Baker, right, attempt to block a Wyoming spike
attempt Friday night during action the the Gillette Dairy/Prairie Maid Invitational. The
Huskers defeated Wyoming, Indiana and Kansas State to capture the team title.
Osborne puzzled about Huskersy slow start ,
By Nick Hodge
Suff Reporter_
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said Sunday
that the Comhuskers slow starts this season are
hard to explain
Osborne said he doesn’t understand his
team’s difficulty getting untracked.
“We have good athletes,’’ Osborne said.
“But it’s puzzling why we don’t start out faster.
We always seem to finish well, but ideally
you’d like to do both.”
In the Huskers’ opening game against Texas
A&M in the Kickoff Classic, Nebraska fell
behind 7-0 during the 1 st quarter and trailed 7
3 at halftime. The Huskers came back to score
20 second-half points and defeat the Aggies
23-14.
Nebraska did outscore Utah State 14-0 in the
1st quarter in its 63-13 win. But, against UCLA,
the Huskers fell behind 28-0 in the first quarter
in what Osborne said was a “nightmare.”
Osborne said Nebraska plaved much better in
the second half in their 41 -28 loss to the Bruins.
Saturday against Arizona State, the Huskers
scored on their first two possessions and led 9
0 with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter.
Following two long passes, the Sun Devils led
13-9 at the end of the 1st quarter.
Nebraska went on to defeat Arizona State
47-16, limiting the Sun Devils to just 103 yards
of total offense in the second half.
The Huskers need to come out of the locker
room ready to play hard for four quarters,
Osborne said. y
“W* hd&Tft) HdVt? frtbrt thteifgfty WOte'
games,” he said. “I’m not saying that we’re
totally lackadaisical, but we need to play harder
earlier.”
Osborne said the number of big plays die
Blackshirts have given up in the last two games
concerns him.
“The number of big plays on defense are not
characteristic of our defense,” he said. “Take
away the big plays and we’ve played real good
defense. You can’t just erase them. They all
count.”
In the “nightmare” first quarter against
UCLA, the Bruins had three scoring plays of
more than 50 yards. Arizona State had three
plays exceeding 40 yards.
Osborne said he can’t explain why these big
surprising,” he said.
Osborne said he was pleased with Ne
braska’s turnover ratio against the Sun Devils.
The Huskers only had one turnover, while
Arizona State had three.
Osborne said the Nebraska offense has
played well, but also needs to improve.
“The offense has done a lot of good things,”
he said. “But we still need to smooth things out
a little. We missed some key blocks and some
key assignments.”
Osborne said the Huskers’ offensive line
performed well Saturday.
“Overall, the offensive line played well,” he
said. “(Todd) Millikan blocked well and so did
(Doug) Glaser. He didn’t have any spectacular
our offense. He s a very good player.
