Al Schaben/Dally Nebraskan
NU offense rolls over Huskies
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
From the first play, a 65-yard kick
off return by Tyrone Hughes, Ne
braska’s 60-14 win over the Northern
Illinois Huskies on Saturday showed
signs of being different from the
Comhuskers’ 13-0 victory ovei Bay
lor the week before.
This game was for the offense.
After Hughes’ return pul Nebraska
at the Northern Illinois 34-yard line,
the Huskers marched in for their first
touchdown, something that didn’t come
for 59 minutes against Baylor.
Seven players scored touchdowns
for Nebraska. The Huskers rolled up
549 yards of total offense, 424 on the
ground, and Nebraska improved in
short-yardage situations.
“We knew we would because we
can knock these people off the ball,”
Husker coach Tom Osborne said. “A
lot of it has to do with relative strengths
of your opponent.”
For a moment Saturday’s game
started looking like the defense
dominated Baylor contest. The Hus
kies stopped Leodis Flowers on fourth
down al the Northern Illinois 3-yard
line. Nebraska countered with a safety
sack by Travis Hill, Mike Croel and
Pat Tyrance.
But Nebraska returned with the
explosive offense. After the safety
Jon Bostick returned the free kick 30
yards to the Northern Illinois 36. Six
plays later, quarterback Mickey Jo
seph faked a hand-off and threw to
tight end Chris Garrett for a 20-yard
touchdown. Nebraska led 16-0.
And the Northern Illinois wish
bone showed that it could move the
ball, loo. Using an offensive set they
had never used before, the Huskies
went on an 82-yard scoring drive
capped off by a 48-yard run by full
back Adam Dach. Dach led Northern
Illinois with 89 yards on 13 carries.
Quarterback Stacey Robinson ran in
the two-point conversion.
Defensive coordinator Charlie
McBride said Oklahoma ran the same
set a few years ago, but Saturday was
the first time this Nebraska defense
had seen the formation.
“Until about halfway through the
series, we didn’t get adjusted,’’
McBride said. “We didn't‘get fully
adjusted until halftime."
Most of Nebraska’s second-team
defense was playing when Northern
Illinois unveiled the new unbalanced
line set, which looks like a wishbone
with two tight ends, except both ends
ate on the same side of the line.
Starting inside linebacker Tyrance,
who led Nebraska with 12 tackles,
said the youthfulncss may have hin
dered the Huskers as they tried to
adapt.
“At times I think some of the
younger guys may have had trouble
with calls, with their check calls," he
said, then added with a smile, “You
need to have all 11 guys playing the
same defense."
The next time Northern Illinois
had the ball, Robinson led a 59-yard
march toward John Ivanic’s 42-yard
field goal, making the score 16-11
Nebraska.
Osborne said he was pleased with
the final outcome, but the Huskers
had occasional rough spots. Northern
Illinois gained 295 yards.
“When their good people went
against our good people, sometimes
they moved the ball,’’ Osborne said.
“At times they didn't make us look
bad, but they did make us look sus
pect.”
The Huskies fumbled on their next
possession, Tyrance recovered at the
Northern Illinois 28 and Nebraska
drove in for a touchdown. 1-back Leodis
Flowers, who rushed for 124 yards,
dove over the top f rom a yard out for
the score.
Nebraska added a 32-yard field
goal from Gregg Bamos with one
second left in the half.
The Huskers dominated the sec
ond half. The defensc,-having solved
the new Husky formation, held North
ern Illinois to 103 yards in the second
half.
Nebraska gained 336 yards in the
second half and piled on the last 34
points of the game. Omar Soto, Tim
Johnk, Robert Giant/ and Derek Brown
(twice) scored their first touchdowns
as Huskers, and Byron Bennett con
tributed his first two extra points.
Nebraska used 96 players, includ
ing four quarterbacks: Joseph, Tom
Haase, Keithen McCant and Jerry
Dunlap.
Quarterback Mike Grant, who
suffered a bruised knee against Bay
lor, didn’t play. He has two weeks to
recover before the next game, at home
against Minnesota, and Osborne said
Gram could have played Saturday if
needed.
He wasn’t needed. Joseph com
pleted 4 of 11 passes for 103 yards
and and rushed 11 times for 75 yards.
If Joseph had completed a couple
of long passes to Hughes that were
narrowly broken up, his passing sta
tistics would have looked much bet
ter. Joseph, who is from Marrero, La.,
also threw an interception trying to
get another play-action pass to Gar
rett.
“That really kind of spoiled it for
me,” Joseph said.
He said he didn’t know how his
performance affected the battle for
the starting quarterback spot and he
didn’t know how he would grade on
film.
“The only thing that counts is that
we won,” he said. “We’re 2-0.”
Clockwise from bottom: Ne
braska’s Jon Bostick (18) drives
through Huskie defenders as
Northern Illinois’ Steve Wild
loses grip during the first quar
ter.
NU l-back Leodis Flowers
dives over defenders to the goal
line to score during the second
quarter.
NU’s Matt Pendland (52)cele
brates after sacking NIU quar
terback Rob Rigai in the fourth
quarter.
NU’s LeAndre Anderson (90)
takes down NIU's Brett Schroe
der (38) during the second quar
ter.
Flowers struggles unsuccess
fully to stay in bounds as wing
back Tvrone Hughes blocks NIU
defenders during the first quar
ter.
__I
Butch Ireland/Dally Nebraskan
Al Schaben/Daily Nebraskan
A! Schaben/Daity Nebraskan