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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1989)
Nebraskan Monday, January 16,1989 Miami bombs Huskers in Orange Bowl By Jeff A pel Senior Editor MIAMI - The pain and agony felt by Notre Dame 16 years ago was relived by Nebraska during this year’s Orange Bowl Classic. Nebraska, which finished with a 9 2-1 record in 1973 by taking a 20-0 halftime lead enroutc to defeating the Fighting Irish 40-6 in the Orange Bowl, trailed Miami by that same halftime margin en route to losing 23 3 to the Hurricanes. Miami coach Jimmy Johnson said the Hurricanes dominated Nebraska by controlling the offensive and de fensive lines. He said Miami also relied on a blitzing defense that helped the Hurricanes hold Nebraska to 135 yards of total offense. “Defensively, we pretty well had them zeroed in on everything they did,’’ Johnson said. “I felt like we were a better team, but I felt like they would move the ball a little better.” Johnson said Miami’s 20-point victory proves the Hurricanes are the best team in the country. He said Miami, which lost its national cham pionship bid when it dropped a 31 -30 game to top-ranked Notre Dame, was on a mission against Nebraska. “More than anything else, we wanted to prove we were the very best,” Johnson said. “We’re veiy happy to be the Orange Bowl champi ons. It’s great to win this ballgame.” Miami quarterback Steve Walsh, who along with Nebraska comerback Charles Fryar was named the game’s most valuable player, said the Hurri canes were ready for Nebraska. But he said he never imagined Miami’s defense would shut down the Husk ers’ offense. “It’s just unbelievable what they did to the Nebraska, offense,” Walsh said. Miami defensive end Greg Mark said the Hurricanes’ defense domi nated Nebraska by shutting down the Huskers’ vaunted running attack. Nebraska gained only 80 yards rush ing against Miami, 31 of which came in the first half. Mark said Miami also controlled the Huskers’ offense by confusing them with many different blitzes. “We did everything we wanted to do,” Mark said. “We went out there and played flawlessly. It was just a great game.” Miami cornerback Bubba McDowell said the performance left him feeling good because the Hurri canes' defense was not getting the respect it deserved. He said Miami knew it was playing well defensively when it forced Nebraska quarter backs Steve Taylor and Gerry Gdow ski to pass. Taylor and Gdowski completed 8 of 22 passes and threw three interceptions. “We wanted them to pass because we knew we had a good secondary,” McDowell said. “We knew we had a good chance of dominating them if they had to pass. It wasn’t easy, but it See AGONY ON 11 Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor is upended by Miami defensive tackle Jimmie Jones (63) and outside linebacker Randy Shannon. Comhuskers agree: The best team won the Orange Bowl By Nick Hodge Senior Reporter MIAMI— Following Nebraska’s 23-3 Orange Bowl loss to Miami Jan, 2, the overwhelming consensus in the Comhusker locker room was that the best team won. Husker coach Tom Osborne didn’t hesitate to explain the outcome. “We just got beat by a better foot ball team tonight,” Osborne said. Nebraska, which finished its sea son 11-2 and ranked 10th in The Associated Press and United Press International postseason polls, gained 135 yards of total offense -- 80 yards rushing and 55 yards passing - against the faster defense of the Hur ricanes. Miami’s swarming, blit/ing de fense harassed Husker quarterback Steve Taylor throughout the game. As a result, Taylor completed only 8 I of 21 passes, was intercepted twice and sacked six times. By halftime, Nebraska’s offense had been limited to 29 total yards and two first downs. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes racked up 212 total yards and 11 first downs to bu ild a 20-0 lead at halftime. Nebraska entered the Orange Bowl with the nation’s most prolific ground attack. For the fifth lime in the 1980s, the Huskers led the country’s Division I-A teams in rushing, with a 382.3 yards-per-game average. Husker I-back Ken Clark, who gained 1,497 yards during the season and averaged 124.8 yards a game, was held to 36 yards on 14 carries by Miami’s defense. Osborne said Miami’s ability to shut down Nebraska’s rushing attack forced him out of the initial game plan. “We wanted to run the ball at them,” Osborne said. “I guess we should have done more of it, but once you get down by 14-0 and 20-0, it makes it really hard to just run it up the middle. We had to get some big ger chunks of yardage.” Osborne said the strength of the Hurricanes is their defense, not of fense. ”1 think Miami has a great defen sive team - they run awfully well,” Osborne said. “We just couldn’t generate enough of a running game to keep pressure off our defense. Their defense played very, very well.” Miami, which finished 2nd in the AP and UPI polls behind national champion Notre Dame, gained 354 total yards against Nebraska. Passing accounted for 285 of the Hurricanes’ offensive output. Osborne said Nebraska’s defense kept the Huskers in the game. “Our defense probably played well enough to keep us - to win a lot of games, but they have a fine of fense,” Osborne said. Nebraska’s three points were set up when comcrback Tahaun Lewis intercepted a pass thrown by Miami quarterback Steve Walsh. Lewis re lurried the interception 31 yards to the Hurricane 37-yard line. Four plays later, Nebraska’s Gregg Barrios kicked a 50-yard field goal to cut Miami’s lead to 20-3 with 9:06 remaining in the third quarter. Huskcr A11-America center Jake Young said it wasn’t a case of one phase of Nebraska’s team not doing its job, but every part of the team. ‘‘The biggest failing was that we didn’t win the game,” Young said. ‘‘That was it. That’s the biggest fail ing. There’s no one factor that con tributed to it. It was all the factors that contributed to it. We scored three points - you can’t win scoring three points.” Nebraska offensive guards Andy Keeler and John Nelson said they were prepared for Miami’s quick defense, but the Hurricane defensive line ran stunts that the Huskers hadn’t seen on film prior to the game. “They probably did a little bit more slanting and looping than we expected,” Keeler said. “We ex pected them to do a little bit, but not to that extent. When they did, they came hard.” Keeler, an All-Big Eight selec tion, said Miami’s speed and blit/es were difficult to handle. But he said that’s still no excuse for losing. “They were all over the place,” Keeler said. “They brought a few of their safety men in for blitzes. We just really didn’t protect Steve that well, didn’t give him a shot. I’m going to Huskers dominated by OSU in Stillwater By Darran Fowler Staff Reporter Nebraska coach Danny Nee was the first to admit that his team was manhandled Saturday night # after the Comhuskers lost to Okla homa State 82-69 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla. Nee said no team this season has physically dominated Ne braska like Oklahoma State did. He said that includes Ohio State, which walloped the Huskers 103 76 earlier this season in Colum bus, Ohio. ‘ ‘They (Ohio State) beat us by a large score, but they didn't domi nate us physically,’ ’ Nee said dur ing his postgame radio show. ‘ ‘We made mistakes by throwing the ball away.” Nebraska committed a team record 30 turnovers against Ohio State, and added 21 against Okla homa Stale. The Cowboys fin ished with 12 turnovers. “I thought they outworked us,” Nee said. ‘‘They were more ready. They were very domineer ^ ing and I told the kids that they really took it to us.” Nebraska was outworked to the po<nt that sophomore Beau Reid failed to score in the game. Reid came into the game as the Huskers leading scorer at just over 12 points per game. Two freshmen -- Corey Wil liams and Byron Houston - helped lead Oklahoma State past Nebraska. Williams scored a team-high 16 points while hitting 3 of 6 shots from the three point range, while Houston added 14. The Cowboys connected on seven three-point shots, while Nebraska hit two. Nee said the Huskers need to develop some "mental maturity." He said he knows his team can play belter. "We have got to grow up," Nee said. Nebraska trailed Oklahoma State by as many as nine points in the first hall. The Huskers cut the Cowboys’ lead to 40-35 at halftime despite giving up a buzzer-beating basket by reserve guard Darwyn Alexander. Nee said Nebraska was just trying to survive in the first half. *Tthought they dominated us from start to finish," he said. "They completely had us on our heels, even m the first half. "They took us out of our game plan. We didn’t execute and it was because of Ok lahoma S late ’ s pres sure. They outplayed us.” Oklahoma State outscored Nebraska 25-10 to start the second half and led by as many as 24 points in the game’s final 20 min utes. Nee said things may have bec|ft different if the Huskers woula have given a belter effort, changed their altitudes and been more motivated. "If we changed it around and we had the psychological edge, and played as hard as they did Oklahoma’s Tony Martin battles Nebraska’s Eric Johnson and Pete Manning for a rebound. lonigni, a nngni nave oeen a uu ferent story, he said, ‘‘h was their night. They made things happen with their energy, their enthusiasm, their coach getting j^them ready to play.” Nee said the lone bright spot for Nebraska was guard Eric Johnson, who scored a team-high 16 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. ”1 though E.J. was accountable all night,’ ’Nee said.* * I thought he was die one guy who showed up anu piayea well. Nebraska guard Clifford Scales also turned in a strong perform ance, scoring 14 points. Also, Husker center Rich King tied the single-season record for blocked shots with 30 when he rejected a shot by the Cowbuys’ Johnny Pittman. Nebraska’s next game is on Tuesday, when the Huskers face Maryland-Baiiimorc County. The game begins at 7:35 p.m. at the sports center. See BLOWOUT on 14 NU men’s team wins experience on Hawaii trip By Mike Kluck Staff Reporter Experience earned during a trip to Hawaii over winter break almost lead to an upset of Okla homa. Nebraska participated in the Chaminade New Year’s Tour nament on Dec. 28 through 30 in Chaminade, Hawaii. The Comhuskers defeated Chamin ade 86-85 and Morehead State 81-77 but lost to Louisiana State 90-87. Nebraska then faced the 3rd ranked Sooner? last Monday at the Bob Devaney Sports Cen ter. The Kuskers led 78-75 but were outscored 14-3 in the final three minutes to lose the contest 89-81. Nebraska sophomore Beau Reid, who tallied a career-high 12 rebounds against the Soon ers, said the Chaminade Tour nament helped the Huskers. ‘‘We played pretty well in Hawaii and came together as a team,’* Reid said. “We’re get ting more and more close knit.’ ’ “In Hawaii, we won two really close games. You hear the names of the teams and you think we should have killed them,” Reid said. “But it’s not the case when you’re playing Hawaii-Chaminade and there’s three Hawaiian (refarces). We overcame a lot of adversity to win the two games we did/’ See HAWAII on 11