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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1988)
Shutout psychs Huskers for OU classic By Jeff Apel Senior Reporter % _ The abundance of media hype that will surround this week’s Nebraska Oklahoma game will not affect Corn husker linebacker LeRoy Etienne. Etienne said after Nebraska's 7-0 victory against Colorado Saturday at Memorial Stadium that he can not afford to let his emotions get swept up by the hype because a sky-high inten sity level affects his play. He said his emotions plagued him by causing him to miss tackles and make other mis takes during the first half of Nebraska’s win against the Buffa loes. Etienne said he does not know what he can do in order to control his emotions this week. He said he needs to find a solution because making mistakes rips him apart. “You try and knock someone’s head off and come up empty handed,” Etienne said. “I practically almost erv ” Elienne said the Nebraska defense pumped itself up by recording a shut out against Colorado. He said the shutout could not have come at a better time because next week’s game in Norman, Okla., will determine who this year’s Big Eight champion is. “Yes indeed we needed it,” Elienne said. “All we’ve got to do now is maintain our poise and play some good football.” Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said he hopes the shutout motivates the defense to play even belter next week. He said he hopes the intensity level established by the Huskcr defense carries over to the offense. Osborne said Nebraska is looking forward to its annual clash against the Sooners. He said he expects to sec a great game Saturday. Osborne said Colorado gave Ne braska a good preview of what to expect from Oklahoma because the Buffaloes and the Sooners possess big, physical lines and excellent, skilled people. “Colorado has a very good team,” Osborne said. “They played a great game. They played excellent defense and played very hard.” Osborne said strong defense, a northwest wind that gusted up to 31 mph, turnovers and penalties all con tributed to the lack of scoring. The two teams combined for nine turn overs while piling up 95 yards in penalties. “It was kind of a hard day to do a whole lot because of wind and be cause of field position,” Osborne said. Nebraska quarterback Steve Tay lor said he was glad die defense over came the tangibles cn route to posting its first shutout of the season. He said the defense made up for an uncharac teristic performance by the offense by holding Colorado out of the end /.one. Taylor said he was at a loss to explain Nebraska’s low offensive output. The Huskcr’s gained 2% yards of total offense while gaining 15 first downs. sometimes we aon t get tnc-joo done,” Taylor said, “at least not like we’re accustomed to.” Nebraska running back Ken Clark said the Huskcr offense overcame stalled drives early in the game by wearing the Colorado defense down. He said the Buffaloes’ defense was “getting a little soft” toward the end of the game. Clark said Nebraska’s perform ance against Colorado will serve as a confidence builder for the Oklahoma game. He said the Huskers refuse to be intimidated by the Sooners. “Oklahoma ain't no different than any other team .’’Clark said. “They ’re not a real dominating team this year.” Clark and Nebraska All-America outside linebacker Broderick Tho mas refused to make any predictions about the Husker-Oklahoma clash. Thomas said he is going to spend the six days leading up to the game in a laid-back fashion. He said he plans on letting the media do all of the predicting. Thomas said Nebraska will have to improve in order to beat Oklahoma. He said his only regret about the shutout was that it didn't happen ear lier in the season. “Like we say, ‘offense wins ball games. Defense wins champion ships,”’ Thomas said. “Our defense played a great game.” Thomas said he could not describe a second-quarter fumble by Colorado halfback J.J. Flannigan because "ifs, ands and buts don’t count.'' Flannigan burst up the middle for a 24-yard gain on a third-down-and-thrcc play, but blew an apparent touchdown w hen he fumbled in the open field. Flannigan recovered his own fumble at the Nebraska 19-yard line, but the drive stalled when Colorado wide receiver Jeff Campbell was tackled for a 19 yard loss on a reverse. Clark and Etienne said they were glad when Flannigan dropped the ball. “I was happy,” Clark said. “I'm glad he dropped it because that was a big break.” Colorado received an equally Dig break early in ihe fourth quarter when Taylor fumbled at the Buffalo three yard line following a 25-yard gain. The fumble was recovered by Colo rado nose tackle Tom Reinhardt. “I was just trying to gel every yard I could get,” Taylor said. “It was an unfortunate thing because that could have been the go-ahead touchdown.” Nebraska scored its only touch down when Clark scampered in the end /one on a two-yard run with 4:35 remaining in the third quarter. The play was set up when, following runs by Taylor, fullback Bryan Carpenter and a nine-yard pass from Taylor to tight end Todd Millikan, Clark rambled 10 yards on a fourth-and-lwo play from the Colorado 17-yard line. Clark said the biggest obstacle he faced on the play was hearing the pilch audible called by Taylor. He said he often can’t hear the audibles, so he has to wait and sec which direc tion the Nebraska fullback goes. “It’s hard to hear sometimes,” Clark said, “so you’ve just got to see Doug Carroll/Dally Nebraskan Colorado fullback Erich Kissick is stopped by the middle of the line during Nebraska’s 7-0 victory against the Buffaloes Saturday at Memorial Stadium. things. Clark, whose 165 yards against Colorado gave him 1,330 for the sea son, said he credits his success to an elusive running style. “The big thing for me right now is just making people miss me,” he said. Clark and Thomas said the only disturbing aspect about the game was the tactics used by Colorado. They said Colorado coach Bill McCartney has resorted to desperate tactics in an attempt to beat Nebraska. “They just don’t like Nebraska,” Clark said. “If they don’t like me I’m not going 10 like them. Thomas said he exchanged words with McCartney after he spotted the Colorado coach on the field. “The guy is silling on the field coaching,” Thomas said, “that’s not his place.” Thomas said he can’t understand McCartney’s tactics against Ne braska. He said the tactics include a variety of vocal insults. “It’s not our fault,” Thomas said. “I don’t know what McCartney is telling those guys but it’snot good for the blood." Husker volleyball team hopes to clinch conference tie by Kyle Thurman Staff Reporter Nebraska moved within one win from capturing its 13th-straight, regu lar-season Big Eight volleyball championship by defeating Missouri 15-2,15-3,15-6 Saturday night at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Coliseum. The Comhuskers, who are now 22 4 overall and 9-1 in the Big Eight, Can clinch a tie for the conference title with a win in either of their final two, regular-season matches — Tuesday at home against Kansas or Saturday at Kansas Slate. Nebraska volleyball coach Terry Pettit said he thought the Huskcrs played very well against Missouri, but he does not think his team is peaking yet. “We’ve got a lot of things to do yet,” Pettit said. “We’ve got a lot of things to work on.” The Huskcrs did not have long to work on their game during the Mis souri match. Nebraska disposed of the Tigers in 48 minutes, which included seven time outs, and the Huskcrs never trailed. Missouri’s 11 points were the sec ond-fewest the Huskcrs have allowed this season. Nebraska allowed 10 points during a 15-4, 15-2, 15-4 win over Missouri in Versailles, Mo., earlier this season. Nebraska had its highest hitting percentage, .507, of the season against the Tigers. Sophomore middle blocker Linda Barsness, who was last week’s Big Eight player of the week, led the Huskcrs with 11 kills. Pettit said senior setter Lori Endi cott helped the Huskers earn their high hitting percentage by contribut ing 30 set assists. Pettit said Nebraska did a good job of playing at its own level against Missouri. The Tigers made the same number of attacking errors and kills. Petti t said the H uskers d id not have any trouble preparing for the match because they were at home. The loss dropped Missouri to 13-18 overall and 3-8 in the Big Eight Nebraska moved to 12-1 at home this season, and the Huskers have never lost a home match during the regular season to a conference oppo nent. With the straight-set win over Missouri, Nebraska nas won 13 con secutive sets aga ist conference op ponents. The Huskcrs did not show any signs of fatigue against the Tigers, despite playing a match at Colorado Thursday night. Pettit said Nebraska did not return to Lincoln from Boul der until 1 p.m. Friday, so the team did not practice Friday. He said he thought the day off made Nebraska sharocr acainsl Missouri. Fumbles, collapses cost Buffs game, McCartney says By Nick Hodge Staff Reporter Colorado coach Bill McCartney said you cannot make mistakes like the Buffaloes did in their 7-0 loss to Nebraska Saturday in Memo rial Stadium and expect to win. McCartney said great football teams like the Comhuskers do not beat themselves, so Colo rado could not afford to have fumbles and mental breakdowns at critical times in the game. “I feel like it was a ease of shooting our selves in the foot,” McCartney said. ‘We had some opportunities, we just didn’tcapilali/.c on * them." The first Colorado error happened with 6:40 remaining in the second quarter. Colorado halfback J. J. Flannigan burst through the middle of the Husker defense for what appeared 10 be a 43-yard touchdown run. But with no Nebraska defenders within 10 yards of him, Flannigan lost control of the football at the Husker 20-yard line. He recov ered the fumble at the Nebraska 19-yard line. McCartney said Flannigan was attempting to switch the ball from his left to his right hand when he dropped the football. “He said he tried to switch the ball. 1 don’t know why he would do that, but 1 guess it’s just second nature,” McCartney said. “Obviously, when you’re that wide open and going to score, there’s no need to be switching the ball. He made a heck of a run to gel that far, so I can’t fault him.” Four plays later, including a holding penally and a 19-yard loss on a reverse, the Buffaloes were faced with a fourth and 34 at Nebraska’s 43-yard line— the original line of scrimmage before Flannigan’s run. Colorado, which fell to 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the Big Eight, was forced to punt the ball to Nebraska. McCarUiey said the reverse play was the same play wide receiver Jeff Campbell scored on in Colorado’s 20-10 upset of Nebraska at Boulder, Colo., in 1985. “Our ‘famous’ reverse play didn’t work,” McCartney said. “The ‘famous’ Broderick Thomas stopped our ‘famous’ reverse play. This time he stayed home and read it.” On the Huskers’ ensuing drive, Colorado comcrback Keith Pontiflet recovered a fumble by Husker fullback Bryan Carpenter at the Nebraska 39-yard line. Two plays later, Husker safety Tim Jackson recovered a fumble by Colorado halfback Erie Bicnicmy at the Ne braska 12-yard line with 1:46 left in the first half. McCartney said he didn’t believe Bicnicmy’s fumble was a legitimate call by the officials. McCartney said Colorado wasted another opportunity when Buffalo nose guard Tom Reinhardt recovered a fumble by Husker quar terback Steve Taylor at Colorado’s 3-yard line with 13:55 remaining in the game. After Colorado drove 70 yards in seven plays to the Nebraska 27-yard line, the Buffa loes were faced with a fourth and one. Colorado quarterback Sal Aunese fumbled the snap from center for a 3-yard loss. The Husker* took over on downs with 9:43 left. McCartney said the fumble happened be cause the noise level of the Memorial Stadium crowd of 76,359 hampered his team’s ability to hear Auncsc’s snap count. ‘‘I wish Sal had turned around and asked the official for quiet,” McCartney said.‘‘It was real loud and there was a mix up in the snap count. That was really a critical opportunity for us.” The Colorado defense forced the Huskers lo punl on their next drive. The Buffaloes were again faced with a fourth down situation. This lime it was fourth and five at the Colorado 43-yard line with 2:26 remaining. Aunesc’s pass attempt lo halfback Mike Pritchard fell incomplete to give Nebraska the ball. The Huskers ran out the remainder of the clock lo preserve the win. McCartney said his team doesn’t pass very well and it hurl Colorado in a clutch situation. He said wind gusts of 35 mph hurt both teams' passing ability. McCartney said the outcome of the Ne braska game reminded him of Colorado’s game against Oklahoma earlier this season. The Sooners defeated Colorado 17-14 at Boulder, Colo. 'We had our opportunities in both games,’’ McCartney said. “We’re gonna look back at both of these games. They’re both great teams. They’re not going to beat themselves.” McCartney said despite mistakes, he thought his players gave a great effort and played hard. “1 just feel real proud of our kids,” he said.
