Huskers clear UCLA obstacle
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
Nebraska didn't do anything to hurt its No.
I ranking Saturday as it leaped over its third
hurdle in the race for the national champion
ship.
But Nebraska and its offensive line proved
that UCLA wasn't as big of a hurdle as many
expected it to be.
The Cornhuskers beat the No. 12 Bruins
49-21 in front of a Memorial Stadium crowd
of 75.687.
The Buskers racked up 484 yards on the
ground. They were led by sophomore l-back
Lawrence Phillips’ 178-yard rushing day.
“I think our objective was to try to wear
UCLA out a little,” Nebraska coach Tom
Osborne said. “I don’t think we completely did
that. In the first half, we did a good job offen
sively, keeping the ball and hammering at
them.”
Like its first two games, Nebraska struck
early.
On their second possession, the Buskers
opted to go for the first down on a fourth-and
two play from the UCLA 40-yard line.
Phillips carried the ball for 17 yards and a
first down, and on the following play, with 9:09
left in the first quarter, quarterback Tommie
Frazier hit tight end Eric Alford with a 23
yard touchdown pass.
Frazier said the Buskers were ready to prove
themselves on the field from the opening kick
off
“I think they did more talking than prepar
ing for us,” Frazier said. “All week in the pa
pers they said that in last year’s game we got
lucky. I think we were the better team last year,
and we're the better team this year.”
Nebraska wasn't finished in the first quar
ter, as it took its following drive 89 yards on
13 plays and took up only 4:32 of the clock.
Phillips capped off the drive with a I-yard
touchdown run off the option to put Nebraska
up 12-0.
The Bruins opened the second quarter by
unleashing their passing attack, which was hurt
by the loss of Beisman candidate J.J. Stokes.
Stokes sat out the game with a deep thigh
bruise.
But the Bruin offense went on without
Stokes.
UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook completed
three passes for 80 yards in the Bruins' seven
play drive, capped off by a 20-yard touchdown
pass to Kevin Jordan, who caught seven passes
lor 129 yards.
Cook and his backup, Ryan Fien, combined
to connect on 21 of 35 passes for 285 yards
against the Busker defense.
But Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie
McBride said emphasis should be put on the
final score, not the game statistics.
“A lot of people want to see the West Vir
ginia game again, but that's over,” McBride
Shaun Sartin/DN
said. “West Virginia played right into our
hands. When they catch a pass, it doesn’t mean
that our secondary is done for the year. I'm
tired of that. We wanted to be better than their
defense, and we were.”
Nebraska’s defense was especially better
than UCLA’s in the first half.
After the UCLA score, Nebraska scored
twice more — on a 12-yard Frazier run and on
Damon Benning’s 2-yard run — and was suc
cessful on both two-point conversions to hold
a 28-7 lead at intermission.
Altogether, Nebraska racked up 234 yards ■
rushing in the first half, while the defense al
lowed the Bruins just 46 yards rushing.
UCLA posed a brief threat to Nebraska in
the second half, beginning with the opening
drive.
Nebraska had held UCLA and forced the
Bruins to punt from the Nebraska 49-yard line,
but the Huskers were flagged for a rough ing
the-punter penalty, resulting in an automatic
See GAME on 8
Clockwise from top left: Ne
braska quarterback Tommie
Frazier runs the option with
fullback Jeff Makovicka leading
the way for him. Nebraska I
back Damon Banning does a flip
into the end zone to put the
Huskers up 28-7. Nebraska's
Cory Schleslnger dives ahead
for extra yardage while UCLA’s
Paul Guidry, Andy Colbert and
Phillip Ward try to bring him
down. UCLA’s Derek Ayers (25)
is brought down by Nebraska’s
Leonard Alexander, left,
Brendan Holbein and Jeff
Sakalosky.
rfetftefefetgi Nebraska 49
Scoring 1st 2nd 3rd 4th UCLA 21
Nebraska 12 16 7 14
UCLA J 0 7 7 7
< Neb- Eric Alford 23 yd. pass from Tommie Frazier (No good, blocked)
Neb- Lawrence Phillips l yd. run (No good, pass)
UCLA- Kevin Jordan 20 yd. pass from Wayne Cook (Bjorn Merten, kick)
Neb- Frazier 12 yd. run (Frazier, run)
Neb- Damon Benning 2 yd. run (Benning, run)
UCLA- Shannon Shah 3 yd. run (Merten, kick)
Neb- Clinton Childs 8 yd. run (Tom Sieler, kick)
Neb- Brendan Holbein 9 yd. pass from T. Frazier (Sieler, kick)
Neb- Brook Berringer 1 yd. run (Sieler, kick)
UCLA- J Milliner 11 yd. run (Merten, kick)
Rushing
Phillips 4
Benning
Schlesinger
Frazier
Childs;
Makovicka
Passing
Frazier
Berringer
Receiving
Alford
Holbein
Muhammad
Childs
Att.
ij.v
"7 7
7
M ?
Comp-Att.
■ Ml
l-l
No.
2
2
1
1
Yds.
178
29
50
29
78
50
Int. Yds.
0
0
Yds.
35
14
15
7
59
12
Rushing
Shah
Millinef
W^Hgton 4
-j ^
Ayers
< <>ok
Passing
c°3rf
Fieri' \ i i
Rnroii/inn
nc?vCVVVVvi|
Jordan
Washington
McElroy
Ayers
Breakdown Neb UCLA
First Downs 24 24
Rushes-yards 65-484 35-129
Passing 71 285
Return Yards 17 13
Comp-Att-Int 6-12-0 21-35-2
Punts-avg. 3-47 4-40.5
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 7-65 ' 4-25
Time of Possession 32:05 27:55
DN graphic