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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1992)
Huskers trip Sooners, gain gloating rights 33-9 rout puts NU one win from Orange Bowl trip By Nick Hytrek Senior Reporter < NORM AN, Okla.—For Nebraska football fans, it didn’t matter that the Comhuskers’ matchup with Oklahoma on Friday wasn’t for the Big Eight championship. It didn ’ t matter that the game didn ’ t mean an automatic berth in the Or ange Bowl for the winner. What it meant for Huskcr fans at Owen Field was another year to gloat and poke fun at the Sooncrs. And gloat they did after the No. 12 Huskers beat Oklahoma 33-9 before 69,770 fans, many of whom were Sooner backers who left long before the game was over. After Steve Collins replaced of ten-booed Sooner quarterback Calc Gundy late in the game, Huskcr fans greeted Collins with a chorus of‘‘We want Gundy!” Rather than savoring the win as much as the fans, Huskcr coach Tom Osborne said the win was just another hurdle to clear on the way to achiev ing the team’s goals. “We hopc-wc’vc got enough left to carry ourselves through this thing and win the Big Eight championship and get down to the Orange Bowl,” Osborne said. “1 think we look a big step today.” But for the first half, the Sooncrs, 5-4-2 overall and 3-2-2 in the Big Eight, were bent on salvaging their season. Oklahoma needed a win to finish third in the conference and earn an Aloha Bowl bid. A loss would mean the end of the season. The Sooncrs kept the ball on the ground and limited Nebraska, 8-2 and 5-1, to only three offensive plays in the first quarter. “The first quarter didn’t look loo exciting for us,” Osborne said. “1 wasn ’ t real sure we were ever going to get the ball. Oklahoma just came out and just ran it right at us.” The Sooncrs racked up 142 yards of offense in the first quarter, com pared with only six for the Huskers. m—■■■■Bggra—ggM Still, Nebraska led 7-3, thanks to in side linebacker Ed Stewart. With the Huskers trailing 3-0, Stewart stepped in front of a Gundy pass and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown. “I don’t think Gundy saw me,” Stewart said. “I read his eyes all the way, and I just stepped in front of the tight end, and the ball was right there. From there I was just hoping that no one could catch me.” And evert though the Husker of fense wasn’t getting a chance to have the ball, Stewart said the defense wasn’t concerned. “We were kind of enjoying it a little bit,” he said. “It took us a little while to settle in defensively at first, but finally we got things done and took care of business.” - «« I think every guy on our team just made up in his mind that we were going to turn it up a notch higher and go out and win this thing. Stewart NU linebacker -99 ~ But when Nebraska got the ball with 2:23 left in the first half, Okla homa had regained a 9-7 lead on two more Scott Blanton field goals. Then Nebraska’s offense finally got in gear. The Huskers went into their two-minute offense and were able to get a 33-yard field goal from Byron Bennett with six seconds left before halftimeTo take a 10-9 lead. That score gave Nebraska the boost it needed, Osborne said. “I think the drive right toward the end of the half and field goal gave us a lift emotionally,” he said. Husker quarterback Tommie Frazier said the team had just wanted to be ahead at halftime. “ All we were determ ined to do was come into the loekerroom with the halftime lead,” he said. "When we did that we knew we were getting the ball back after halftime and if we push it down there and score then it would break the game wide open right there.’ The Huskers did just that, taking the second-half kickoff and driving 64 yards for a score. Frazier capped the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Armstrong to give Nebraska a 17-9 lead. It was then the defense’s turn to strut its stuff. The Huskers dominated Oklahoma’s offense in the second half and held the Sooncrs to 50 yards in offense and allowed only one com pleted pass. “In the second half we knew that we were going to be the dominant team by the end of the game,” Stewart said. “We just came out in the second half and it seemed like we gelled a lot better. “I think every guy on our team just made up in his mind that we were going to turn it up a notch higher and go out and win this thing.” . Outside linebacker Travis Hill sup plied more emotion for the defense later in the third quarter as he sacked Gundy in the end zone for a safety and a 19-9 Nebraska lead. From there, the Huskers wore down Oklahoma with the ground game and piled up 317 yards rushing, 137 of those by Calvin Jones, who scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the game away. The Nebraska offense received a blow in the third quarter when I-back Derek Brown was lost for the Kansas State game with a separated shoulder. Brown injured the shoulder alter be ing tackled at the end of a 43-yard run that put him over the 1 ,(XX)-yard mark forthc season. Jones alsocleared 1 ,(XX) yards in the game. Now the Huskers can win the Big Eight and a spot in the Orange Bowl by beating Kansas Slate in Tokyo Saturday. But Huskcr fans shouldn’t make hotel reservations in Miami yet, Osborne said. “We in no way have the Big Eight locked up,” he said. “We’ve got to play well a week from now. It’ll be very strange circumstances, going that far, that much time change.” But Osborne said he thought the win over Oklahoma did much to show that Nebraska has earned a trip to the Orange Bowl. “I think at least that we’ve shown today that we’re a good football team and certainly deserve to win the Big Eight if we beat Kansas State.” _4 V * Sooners finish season amidst boos from fans By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter NORMAN, Okla.—AsOklahoma quarterback Cale Gundy came to the Sooner huddle midway through the third quarter of last Friday’s game, he heard boos. Most of the 69,770 fans at Owen Field didn’t want Gundy calling Oklahoma’s signals, and the Sooncrs were well on their way to being trounced 33-9 by Nebraska. In addition, Oklahoma was about to finish with a 5-4-2 record,ns worst season since the Sooncrs posted a 3-5 mark in 1965. Several of the Sooner players said they could understand the crowd’s disappointment in Oklahoma’s play, but they didn’t think thcbfamcsliould be pul on one person. “The quarterback shouldn’t take all the heal for the offense not per forming or the team not performing — he’s a team player just like us,” said Oklahoma split end Albert Hall, who had six receptions in the game. “Calc’s our quarterback and we’re going to go with him regardless of what the fans think.” Backup Sooner quarterback Steve Collins finally entered the game in the fourth quarter, but Oklahoma was al ready down by 24 points with less than four minutes to play. Collins said even though he appre ciated knowing the crowd wanted him in the game, he didn’t like the way they treated Gundy. “When things don’t go our way, fans arc going to get on the quarter back because it’s such a high-profile position,” Collins said. “You can’t really boo a person in that situation because it’s a team game.” Gundy finished the game by com pleting 9 of 20 passes for 98 yards and two interceptions. He declined to talk to the media after the game. The Sooncrs’ senior co-captains, Kenyon Rasheed and Reggie Barnes, said they wished they could have heard a few more cheers during their final football game at Oklahoma. “Fans will be fans—when you win they’re behind you 1 (X) percent,” Rasheed said. “You’ve got to put up with that at Oklahoma or any other big-time university that’s used to win- . ning.” Barnes said the disgruntled fans might have been reacting more to ward the season as a whole. The Soon crs finished in fourth place in the Big Eight. “Sometimes, just like in the sea son, we didn’t get the breaks we needed. Things happened to us amid adversity and sometimes we didn’t live up to our potential,” Barnes said. The loss kept Oklahoma from fin ishing in th ird place and earning a trip to the Aloha Bowl on Chrisunas Day. Kansas, which finished at 7-4, will go to Honolulu as the Big Eight’s third-place team and will play Brigham Young. Oklahoma coach Gary Gibbs said not being able to compete in a bowl game this year represented the Soon ers’ season-long disappointments. “We wanted to win and we wanted to go to Hawaii,” Gibbs said. “We’ve had some frustrating games through out the season. When you have disap pointments, frustration mounts.” Nebraska-Oklahoma Scoring Summary rl I 50 OU-Biamoa 33 yd field goal NU^SteiOft 50 yd intercepbofi return (Bennettluck) (^3 OU—Blanlon, 22 yd field goal CXi—Canton, 42 yd field goal NU—Bennett, 33 yd, field goal S3 NIMnratong, 24yd pass Iran Frazier (Bennett lock) NU—Hi, sacks Gundy tor safety B3 NU-Jones, 14 yd run (Bennett kick) NU->k)nes, 2 yd mn (Bennett Iddt) Daily Nebraskan Top: Tommie Frazier keeps the ball on an option in the Cornhuskers’ 33-9 win at (^ktahbma. Above: Sooner quarterback C3le Gundy avoids the rush of outside linebacker Travis Hill. Gundy threw two interceptions and was sacked for a safety in the game. Left: Hill celebrates a third quarter safety after sacking Gundy to put Nebraska up 19-9. Right: Husker l-Back Derek Brown is tackled by William Shankle. Brown left the game in the third quarter with a separated shoulder and will miss the Huskers’ final regular season game against Kansas State. Photos by: Erik Unger X %