Husker defense silences Tigers’ roar
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Reporter
After a week of doubt about their
abil ity to slow the M issouri air attack,
I the Nebraska Blackshirts not only
slowed it down but brought it to a halt
in the second half.
The Cornhuskcr defense held the
Tigers to zero yards in the third quar
ter and 32 yards in the fourth quarter
cn route to a 49-7 win at Memorial
' Stadium on Saturday.
Last week, Kansas State marched
up and down the Memorial Stadium
turf for 565 yards, including 489 yards
passing.
But Missouri managed only 172
yards — including 104 passing yards
— against the Huskcrs.
“That was a little more like it,”
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said.
“That was probably our most com
plete game of the year. 1 was pleased
with the defense. And offensively, it
was probably our most consistent
game.” _
Defensive coordinator Charlie
McBride said he felt good about the
defense’s performance.
“Last week we got it shoved in our
face pretty good, and 1 think a lot of it
was mental today,” McBride said.
Osborne said better pressure on
M issouri quarterback Jeff Handy and
better concentration were the keys for
the Huskcr defense.
“We put more pressure on the quar
terback than last week,” he said. “We
had a better rush, good coverage and
no glaring busts in the secondary.”
Nebraskacomcrback Barron Miles
said he wasn’t surprised by the de
fense’s dominating performance.
“We know how we can play; we
just have to maintain this kind of
performance,” Miles said. “I think we
silenced a lot of critics Saturday, and
we felt really happy that we threw out
all the little mental things from last
week and got it together.”
Senior outside linebacker Trev
Alberts led the Husker defense with
three quarterback sacks, while
-44
All week we were
getting a lot of grief
about our defense.
Any time people say
something bad about
you, it is going to
motivate you.
— Ramaekers
NU defensive tackle
-»f —
Dwayne Harris and Kevin Ramaekers
each had one sack.
Ramaekers said Ihc questions peo
ple were asking about the defense
inspired the Blackshirts.
“All week we were getting a lot of
grief about our defense,” Ramaekers
said. “Any time people say something
bad about you, it is going to motivate
you.”
While the defense shut down the
Tigers, the Husker offense moved
almost at will against the Missouri
defense.
Turnovers were what slowed the
Huskers down in the first half, as
Nebraska racked up 300 yards but
managed only 21 points.
The Huskers marched 76 yards on
their first drive before fumbling on
the Missouri 4-yard line.
The first quarter ended with no
score, but Nebraska exploded for three
touchdowns in the second quarter.
The last touchdown came withjust
34 seconds left in the half, on a 55
yard reception from Tommie Frazier
to Calvin Jones.
The Huskers marched 93 yards in
2:04 and went to the locker room with
a 21-7 lead.
Frazier said the touchdown at the
end of the half hurt the Tigers’ chanc
es at an upset.
“That might have been the back
breaker,” Frazier said. “If Missouri
See DEFENSE on 8
Record Pvs
1. Florida St. (62) 7-0-0 1
2. Notre Dame 8-0-0 2
3. Ohio St. 7-0-0 ‘3
4. Miami 5-1-0 6
5. Alabama 6-0-1 4
6. Nebraska 7-0-0 5
7. Arizona 7-0-0 7
8. Tennessee
9. Auburn
10. Florida
5-1-1 8
7-0-0 10
5-1-0 9
DN graphic
Travis Heying/DN
Game stats
Nebraska 49
Missouri 7
SCORING
Nebraska
Missouri
1st
0
0
2nd
21
7
3rd
14
0
4th Total
14 49
0 7
SCORING BY QUARTER
Time left
Nebraska
7
14
21
28
35
42
49
Missouri
'
Tommie Frazier - Clester Johnson
7-yd. pass
Jeff Jones 1-yd. run
Calvin Jones 4-yd. run
Frazier - Jones 55-yd. pass
Frazier 37-yd. run
Jones 1 -yd. run
Lawrence Phillips 25-yd. run
JefTMakovicka 1-yd. run
RUSHING LEADERS
Net
ATT yards Ave
27 129 4.8
81
29
27
340
11
4
2
63
7.4
7.3
13.5
5.4
Long
gain TD
16 2
37 1
10 0
25 1
37 5
Comp.
Pct.
.615
PASS RECIEV1NG
C.Jones
T. Bell
C. Johnson
No.
1
2
2
Yds.
143
Yards
55
36
24
TD
2
TD
1
0
1
DEFENSE
TACKLES
Trev Alberts
Five players tied at
four total takles.
Total
7
■
Unassisted
4
Assists
3
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
RUSHING LEADERS Net Long
ATT yards Ave. gain TD
8 53 6.6 21 0
4 10 2.5 5 1
26 68 2.6 21 1
PASSING Comp.- Comp.
Att. Pet. Yds. TD
J. Handy 15-23 .652 104 0
PASS RECIEV1NG
No. Yards TD
3 35 0
5 32 0
TACKLES
Andre White
Darryl Major
Travis McDonald
Total Unassisted
17 9
13 6
10 3
1U 1
Assists
9
7
7
DN graphic
Clockwise from bottom right: Defensive tackle Billy Wade
wraps up Tiger wide receiver Brian Sallee while Missouri
offensive tackle Trey O’Neil looks on. Nebraska outside
linebacker Trev Alberts, who had seven tackles on the
day, sacks Tiger quarterback Jeff Handy, forcing a fumble
during the first quarter of the Cornhuskers’ 49-7 win over
Missouri Saturday. Rover Toby Wright leaps to try to stop
Tiger tailback Jeff Jones, who scored the Tigers’ only
touchdown of the day on the play. Nebraska quarterback
Tommie Frazier, who gained o1 yards on 11 carries,
eludes Missouri’s Andre White. White then teams with
Daryl Major to stop Frazier, who also threw for 143 yards
on o-of-13 passing.