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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1995)
Different team, same results. Even though Nebraska scored fewer points in its 49-7 win over Pa cific Saturday, most everything else was just a replica of the Comhuskers’ previous three wins. “We’re glad to get this one behind us,” Coach Tom Osborne said. “Our players responded about as well as they could under the circumstances. I don’t think we were flat, but I don’t think we were quite as excited as we have been or will be.” Nebraska continued running over its opponents, as it totaled 731 yards Saturday, with 569 of those coming on the ground. Going into the game, the Huskers were averaging 674 yards oftotal offense agame, including486 yards rushing a game. “We had a lot of yards—a lot more than the points would reflect,” Osborne said. “I thought we moved the ball pretty well.” And like its previous three victo-1 rics, Nebraska put its opponent away early. The Huskers marched 80 yards on seven plays on its opening drive — capped by Damon Benning’s 26-yard touchdown run. After the Tigers went three plays and out, it took only one play for Benning to find the end zone again— this time on a 17-yard run. Two possessions later, Benning broke loose for a 43-yard touchdown run, putting Nebraska up 21-0 at the end of the quarter. Benning, who gained 98 yards on five carries for three touchdowns in the first quarter alone, said he still wasn’t fully recovered from the ham string injury that sidelined him the past two games. “I didn’t really let loose at all to day,” he said. “The offensive line did a good job of protecting me. I’m sure on paper, the numbers probably look pretty good, but I was probably only about 80 percent. I never actually went all-out.” The names changed in the second quarter for Nebraska; the efficiency didn’t. I-backs Ahman Green and James Sims each scored on runs in the sec ond quarter to give Nebraska a 35-0 lead at halftime. The Nebraska defense was the big irffTTTTH W H I LUMILiULl Nebraska 49 Scoring 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Pacific 7 Pacific 0 0 7 0 Nebraska 21 14 14 0 Neb- Benning 26yd run (Brown kick) Neb- Frazier 5yd run (Brown kick) Neb- Benning 17yd run (Brown kick) Neb- Green 13yd run (Brown kick) Neb- Benning 43yd run (Brown kick) Pacific- Watley 12yd pass from Sellers Neb- Green 4yd run (Brown kick) (Fleenor kick) Neb- Sims 9yd run (Brown kick) Attendance: 75,630 Itebraska Pacific Rushing Att. Yds. I Rushing_Att. Yds._ Benning 10 173 j Reeder 1 36 Green 15 112 j Abdullah 13 25 Frazier 7 62 j Sellers 2 1 Passing Comp-Att. Int. Yds, j Passing Comp.- Att. Int. Yds. Berringer <M7 0 57 f Sellers 13-25 0 132 Frazier 6-14 1 90 | Fotheringham 1-5 0 5 Receiving No. Yds. j Receiving No. Yds. Johnson 2 31 [Atkins 3 63 Baul 2 24 j Watley 3 17 Holbein 2 24 j Abdullah 3 8 Breakdown Neb. PacificNeh. Pacific First Downs 3^ 7 Punts-avg. 1-33 7-43 Rushes-yards 70-569 17-60 Fumbles-Lost 2-0 0-0 Passing 162 137 Penalties-Yards 3-26 2-20 Return Yards 146 55 Time of 39:44 20:16 Comp-Att-Int 16-36-2 14-31-1 Possession gest story in the first half. Pacific gained only 73 yards in the first half, compared to 446 by Nebraska. The Tigers did not cross midfield until the third quarter, with 6:59 left. “A lot of the young guys stepped up and played really well on defense,” defensive tackle Christian Peter said. “I thought the defense, as a unit, stepped it up and played really well.” Nebraska turned the opening pos session of the second half into points when Tommie Frazier finished a seven-play, 80-yard drive offwith a 5 yard touchdown run. Green scored his second touch down of the game on Nebraska’s next possession with a 13-yard run for a 49-0 lead. The Tigers bounced back when Tyrone Watley hauled in a pass from Nick Sellers for a 12-yard touchdown reception. Even though Watley’s touchdown ended the scoring for the day, leaving Nebraska 15 points under its average, Pacific coach Chuck Shelton said he DN graphic was amazed by the Huskers’ offense. “I think they’ve taken their kind of offensive football to another level,” Shelton said. “They’ve improved it to a point where it’s very difficult to deal with. Even if you match up physically, it ’s difficult to deal with. Certainly we didn’t even match up physically.” I Benning finished with a career- I high 173 yards on 10 carries, while Green tallied up 113 yards. Frazier ran for 68 yards, and completed six of 14 passes for 90 yards. But Osborne said that, despite the huge offensive numbers, the offense was far from error-free. I He said he was disappointed with | the passing game, which resulted in | 162 yards and two interceptions on a | 16-of-36 performance. I “I wanted to work on it a little bit j today,” Osborne said. “I didn’t think I our throwing game was really that good. Some of that was the wind. But it was unsatisfactory, being under 50 percent.” . . ...■■ ■ ■ ' • • --- - - ' Jeff Haller/DN Pacific defensive back Ryan McGinnis grabs the face mask of Brendan Holbein to bring him to the ground in first-quarter action Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Holbein caught two passes for 24 yards. Nebraska l-back James Sims runs the ball in for a thd Travis Heying/DN Starting l-back Damon Benning eludes tacklers during a first quarter touchdown Saturday against Pacific. Benning rushed** for a career-high 173 yards and three touchdowns. 0.
