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
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