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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1995)
: ~ :: ir •-UtSMI yarntm- • ~ - _*_ Osborne, Huskers analyze execution against Cyclones By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter Nebraska coach Tom Osborne got exactly what he was looking for out of Saturday’s game against Iowa State — consistency and execu tion. The No. 1 Comhuskers consistently scored, l!!F”TiIj scoring on their first 10 pos sessions and 11 ot 13 pos sessions. Nebraska also did not commit a turnover lor the fourth straight game. The Nebraska defense ex ecuted well, holding the Cy clones’ offense to only 264 yards. cutting tnose two perfor mances together, Nebraska Green improved to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the Big Eight, rolling to a 73-14 win over Iowa State in front of a crowd of 75,505 fans at Menxvial Stadium. The Cyclones dropped to 3 6 and 1-4 in the conference. Osborne said he was worried that after play ing two top 10 teams, Colorado and Kansas State, and looking ahead to a third, No. 10 Kansas this Saturday, Nebraska might not be in the game mentally. “Sometimes there is a tendency to have an emotional letdown, and I didn’t think we did that,” Osborne said. “I don’t think it was an inspired football game, but it was a solid foot ball game.” Osborne’s worries didn’t last long. It took Nebraska only 3 minutes, 12 seconds to get on the scoreboard. The Huskers marched 69 yards on eight plays, and the drive was capped off by quarterback Tommie Frazier’s 4 yard touchdown run on an option-keeper. Then it took Nebraska four seconds to get the ball back. On the ensuing kickoff, Kris Brown popped the ball up in the air, and all of the Iowa State players ran away from the live ball. Eric Stokes eventually covered the 24-yard kick at the Iowa State 41-yard line. “It’s just one of those crazy things that hap pens to the football where we ended up with the ball,” Osborne said. But Nebraska took 5:34 to score its next touchdown. The Huskers converted two fourth down plays as I-back Lawrence Phillips re turned to action. Phillips,playing forthe first time since being suspended Sept. 10, entered the game with 10:13 left in the first quarter and picked up 2 yards on his first carry. Phillips picked up a first down on one of the fourth-down plays. On second-down-and-goal from the 6-yard line, Frazier threw a shovel pass from the shot gun to Ahman Green, who took it for a touch down to give Nebraska a 14-0 lead. The Cyclones’ offense didn’t even take the field until 6:10 remained in the first quarter. After Iowa State punted, the Huskers in creased their lead to 20-0 in 2:38. Nebraska drove 80 yards in seven plays, and the drive ended with a 17-yard run by Green. The Cyclones did manage to cut the lead to 20-7 when Ed Williams scored on a 15-yard reception from Todd Bandhauer. After that, the Nebraska offense seemed to score at will. “We had a good idea we could score every time we’d touch the ball,” Frazier said. “We just went out there and executed really well, and that’s all that Coach Osborne asked of us.” Nebraska scored again on its next posses sion. It took Nebraska nine plays to move 82 yards and jump to a 28-7 lead after Green’s 26 yard run and Frazier’s two-point conversion. Frazier said he was battling a sore leg that bothered him Friday and early Saturday morn ing. He said he knew he would play, but he just didn’t know how much. On Nebraska’s next drive, it was Frazier’s arm that did the damage. He connected with Reggie Baul on a 36-yard strike to give Ne braska a 35-7 lead. Green, who rushed for 176 yards on 12 carries, said the offense needed this game to polish its attack. Nebraska had 624 yards rush ing and 776 yards of total offense. In the meantime, the Nebraska defense held Troy Davis to 121 yards on 28 carries, well below his average of 190.8 yards a game. Defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said he knew the Cyclones would have trouble at Memorial Stadium since they had scored only 17 points in their two previous road games this season. Brown added a 38-yard field goal 27 sec onds before the half to give the Huskers a 38-7 lead. To start the second hal f, Iowa State again had trouble with the kickoff as Preston Rheamy coughed up the ball, and Tyrone Williams re covered it at the Iowa State 23-yard line. A 16 yard shovel pass to Green set up a fourth-down and-goal from the 1 -yard line, and Frazier scored with 12:39 remaining. After a Cyclone punt, Nebraska had its sev enth one-play drive of the season when Green turned around the left comer and raced 64 yards for a touchdown. Nebraska scored three more rushing touch downs in the game, including one by Phillips. Phillips scored on a 13-yard run with 5:37 left in the third. Frazier said Nebraska was now on pace to make it to Tempe, Ariz., to play in the Fiesta Bowl. “We had to go out there and win,” Frazier said. “We know if we go out there and stumble a bit, we won’t be playing for the championship. “We put ourselves in a position now where we have two games to go, and if we win next week, we have one win to go, and that’s all we’re doing is taking them one game at a time.” -—lj Nebraska rover Mike Minter intercepts a Toe ( quarter. The interception led to a Kris Browi • 38-7. * _ a • m •_•_••_• • •.• • • • • • • • • • •••••••» • • • • • • • ■ ^::rx:::$::v:;:::v:;53 ^?^^:::::^g:::X::::X;X. :%-:«:::::§-::x:: IKpH Jon Waller/DN Nebraska fullback Jeff Makovicka runs past Iowa State’s Matt Straight Makovicka ran for 39 yards on five carries. k _ Nebraska 73 Scoring 1 St 2nd 3rd 4th Iowa State 14 Iowa State 0 7 0 7 Nebraska 20 18 28 7 Neb- Frazier 4yd run (Brown kick) Neb- Frazier 1yd run (Brown kick) Neb- Green 6yd pass from Frazier (Biown kick) Neb- Green 64yd run (Brown kick) Neb- Green 17yd run (kick failed) Neb- Phillips 13yd run (Retzlaff kick) ISU- Williams 15yd pass from Bandhauer Neb- Childs 13yd run (Retzlaff kick) (Kohl kick) ISU- Norris 6yd run (Kohl kick) Neb- Green 26yd run (Frazier run) Neb- Joel Makovicka 18yd run Neb- Baul 36yd pass from Frazier (Brown kick) (Retzlaff kick) Neb- FG Brown 38yd Attendance: 75.505 (Nebraska Rushing Att. Yds.. Green 12 176 j Phillips 12 68 j Frazier 8 62 = Pas sing Com p-At t. I n t. Yds.] Frazier 10-15 6 118 j Receiving No. Yds. j Baul.4.'48. j Vedral 2 35 j Green L ■ Breakdown Neb. isu Iowa State Bushing.au..Yds. Davis 28 121 . Norris 1 6 Bandhauer 3 -6 Passing Com£.-Att. Int. Yds. Bandhauer 11-24 2 143 Receiving No. Yds. ® ® ®^®®®^®®®®®®^®®® ® ®^®®®®®®® ® ®^®®®®®®®®®^®^000000000 00000000000• Horacek 5 66 Williams 4 45 Guggenheim 1 19 Neb. ISU First Downs 37 15 Punts-avg. 0-0 6-36 Rushes-yards 68-624 32-121 Fumblcs-Lost 0-0' 2-1 Passing yards 152 143 Penalties-Yards 8-89 4-36 Return Yards_ 73 133 Time of Possession 35:59 24:01 DN graphic % * *' . „ • ‘ *•$, • '• .• . - • : ' -- ;l. f ; i?*.. *7 L • * • ’ . v f: * -if . Nebraska l-back Lawrence Phillips breaks through the Iowa State defense. Phillips ran for 68 yards : I V" " r' ' * - .. ' V::: "'fvsjiia i I