NU kicking, defense punts Wildcats §
Hushers lack teamwork
against KSU, coach says
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
MANHATTAN, Kan. — With an offense
described as disjointed by Coach Tom Osborne,
Nebraska needed stellar special teams and
defense to pull apart Kansas State on Saturday,
45-8.
The Comhuskers, cheered on by about one
third of the 35,757 spectators, returned eight
punts for 170 yards and three kickoffs for 153
yards, setting up 31 of the team’s points.
“Take away a few plays in the kicking
game, we would would have won by maybe 10,
14 points,” Osborne said.
Sophomore Tyrone Hughes returned the
three kickoffs and brought back five punts for
94 yards. The 153 yards and the 51-yard aver
age returning kickoffs were school records for
one game.
The Husker defense held Kansas State to 40
yards rushing and 119 yards passing. Of the
Wildcats’ 70 plays, 31 went for a loss or no
gain.
The kicking teams and defense kept the
Huskers together while the offense sputtered.
“This may sound bad with 45 points, but I’m
not very happy with the way we moved the
football,” Osborne said.
In the game’s first 27 minutes, Nebraska
had three points and 67 yards. The 33-yard
field goal from Gregg Barrios came because of
a 66-yard punt return by Hughes.
Kansas S late’s two points came on a blocked
punt that bounced through Nebraska’s end zone.
The Huskers finally put together an 81-yard
touchdown drive at the end of the second
quarter to make the score 10-2 at halftime.
Quarterback Mike Grant completed 4 of 6
passes for 46 yards in the drive, capping it off
with a 5-yard touchdown toss to Jon Bostick
with 11 seconds remaining.
But the Huskers managed only a season-low
243 yards rushing and 372 total yards, the
second-lowest output of 1990.
“We were not functioning as a unit,” Osborne
said. “Five games into the season, you hate to
see that.”
The Husker defense put the team in position
for a touchdown early in the third quarter.
Tackle Joe Sims intercepted a pass that had
been batted into the air. Sims, who had eight
tackles and 2 1/2 sacks, relumed the ball 7
yards to the Kansas State 31-yard line.
Leodis Flowers, who rushed for 112 yards,
gained 21 yards up the middle. Quarterback
Mickey Joseph ran in for the touchdown on the
next play.
Two possessions later, after a 28-yard punt
return by Nate Turner, Flowers scored on an
other 21-yard run up the middle.
Nebraska’s next touchdown came in the
fourth quarter on a 45-yard touchdown pass
from Grant to Bostick. The key was Bostick’s
leaping catch, reaching over a Kansas State
defender to snap the ball away before he tumbled
into the end zone.
Hughes provided Nebraska’s first-froin-last
touchdown with a 99-yard kickoff return. The
return caine with 3:52 left in the fourth quarter,
after Kansas State s Tate Wright kicked his
second and Final field goal to make the score
31-8.
Kansas State at first faked an onside-kick
alignment, so Nebraska replaced five linemen
up front with five receivers. Hughes said he
was surprised that with those smaller blockers,
he was able to break the run.
The total success of the kicking game, though,
did not surprise him.
“We work on it a lot, so when the blocks are
there, all I have to do is read the blocks,”
Hughes said.
Joseph scored the final touchdown on a 26
yard run.
The win, Nebraska’s 22nd straight over
Kansas State, makes the Huskers 5-0. Osborne,
though, gave credit to the new-and-improved,
3-2 Wildcats.
“I was proud of their football team*” he said.
“It’s not my job to be proud of them, but their
defense played rough.”
But so did Nebraska’s defense, the top unit
statistically in the nation. Substitute quarter
back Paul Watson and regular starter Carl
Straw, who played in the second half despite a
sore ankle, completed 15 of 34 passes and
threw two interceptions. Nebraska recorded six
sacks.
And whenever the Huskers needed better
field position, the special teams provided it.
“We had the safety on a blocked punt,”
Osborne said. “Other than that, our kicking
game was pretty dominant.”
I_ - ”*vw" - ■ . 1 ■■ ■■ -—*
Clockwise from center: Kansas State s Billy Ray Smith (48) and
Rogerick Green attempt to drag down Nebrask’s Jon Bostick
during a fourth quarter punt return.
Kansas State’s Michael Smith is stopped in the air by Nil’s
Bruce Pickens early in the fourth quarter.
Nebraska’s Kenny Walker brings down KSU quarterback Paul
Watson.
NU’s Leodis Flowers avoids Kansas State defenders Danny
Needham (21) and C.J. Masters in a fourth-quarter dash
Photos by Shaun Sartin
Husker offense sputters
in beginning, then clicks
By Paul Domeier
Sentor Reporter
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Nebraska followed
the axiom that a team plays like it practices,
according to Comhusker wingback Tyrone
Hughes.
Hughes said the offense struggled in prac
tice on the Monday and Tuesday before the
team’s 45-8 victory over Kansas State on Sat
urday.
In the second half of the week’s practices,
Wednesday and Thursday, the offense started
to click.
That was the way the game against the
Wildcats went: 67 total yards for Nebraska in
the. first 27 minutes, 305 yards in the last 33
minutes.
I-back Leodis Flowers rushed for 112 yards,
30 in the first half and 82 in the second half.
“Now we just have to concentrate on the
first half," Flowers said. “It’s not really a
concern. I know we can move the ball.”
This was the second straight game where
Nebraska’s offense sputtered at the start, though.
Against Oregon Stale, Nebraska had 131 yards
and three points at the half.
The Huskers were playing without their
regular tight ends. Chris Garrett broke his ankle
the week before and did not play, and starter
William Washington injured his leg on the
third play of the game.
That icfl*Daryl Leise and freshman Johnny
Mitchell the team’s only two tight ends.
But the rest of the offense was healthy, and
the Kansas State defense, which had been giv
ing up an average of 390.3 yards a game, kept
Nebraska from making a first down on five
possessions.
Neither Mike Grant or Mickey Joseph stood
out at quarterback.
Joseph rushed for 28 yards and two touch
downs, but threw three passes and completed
one, for four yards. Grant rushed for 10 yards
and passed for 125 yards. He completed 7 of 17
passes.
Beyond the statistics, though, neither quar
terback moved the team consistently. Nebraska
coach Tom Osborne said Grant, in his second
game back since missing three weeks with a
sprained knee, looked awkward.
“I don’t feel like Mike is in the flow right
now,” Osborne said.“He’s still feeling his way,
and that’s a concern.”