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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1996)
Jeff Haller/DN Pacific defensive back Ryan McGinnis grabs the facemask of Brendan Holbein to bring him to the ground in first quarter. Holbein caught two passes for 24 yards. The Tigers bounced back when Tyrorte 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 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.” Benning finished with a career-high 173 yards on 10 carries, while Green tallied 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. He said he was disappointed with the passing game, which resulted in 162 yards and two interceptions on a 16-of 36 performance. “I wanted to work on it a little bit today,” Osborne said. “I didn’t think our throwing game was really that good. Some of that was the wind. But it was unsatisfactory, being under 50 percent.” Shelton: This year’s Husker team better Pacific coach Chuck Shelton had an idea of what would happen when his team faced No. 2 Nebraska Saturday. But Shelton wasn’t about to let his players know. “You get a little tired about reading how you are lambs for the slaughter and stuff like that,” Shelton said. “We didn’t say anything about those types of things to our kids, and they just came and played as hard as they could play. “And we got beat by an awfully good football team.” Shelton’s squad may not have been lambs for the slaughter, but the Tigers gave up 731 yards — the most ever given up by Pacific - in Nebraska’s 49 7 win. But the Tigers were not disappointed in their encore performance at Nebraska. Last year, the Huskers defeated the Tigers 70-21. Shelton said the defending national champions looked impressive. “They’re better,” Shelton said. “I didn’t expect that. When I started looking at film last week, I bawled because I thought they were good enough last year, and they’d be down because they lost some of those linemen. But they’re better.” The Huskers limited the Tigers to 197 yards of offense. Tiger quarterback Nick Sellers said he saw signs of another championship team. “They have an offense that comple ments their defense, and they may be better (than the defense),” Sellers said. “You have the makings of a national championship football team. I don’t know of a team that can play with these guys right now.” j Another Tiger limited by the Husker defense was running back Joe Abdullah. Abdullah entered Saturday’s game averaging 123.7 yards a game, but was held to just 25 yards against Nebraska. Abdullah said Nebraska’s defense limited him from getting outside. He said Nebraska had a better defense than Arizona, which beat the Tigers 35-9 on Sept. 2. . “A professional offensive line and a professional defensive line (could beat them),” Abdullah said. “I don’t know if there’s such a thing as a perfect college football team, but they’re about as close as you can come.” - Mike Kluck Benning survives season of scars Damon Benning already had a career’ high 173 yards Saturday in his first game back after being sidelined with a pulled hamstring for two weeks. But in the third quarter — after scoring three touchdowns in the first half— Benning left the game with a twisted ankle and is questionable for Saturday’s game against f he said. “That’s OK. It happens sometimes, and I’m not going to cry about it. I just don’t think you write stories like that without knowing what’s going on.” But in the media frenzy that surrounded the Nebraska football team last week, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Benning’s account of the incident would fall on deaf ears. “I stated what had happened a thousand times,” he said. “There were people who told it the same way I did. Obviously, it was the truth that I told them. “I don’t know why we had to go through with the process we did to get to that truth.” * After Lawrence Phillips was sus pended, Benning should have been the Washington State. It was just another scratch in a season of scars which have turned Benning’s life into a a roller coaster tide for the past three weeks. Benning did not make the trip to East ^B Lansing, Mich., for the ” Comhuskers’ game against Michigan State on Sept. 9 Eariy that morning, Benning was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his former girlfriend. The junior from Omaha Northwest maintained his innocence, as did Coach Tom Osborne. guy to take his place, but he was After no charges were filed, Benning should have received as much publicity in the media as he was given after the \ arrest. '^k But he didn’t. And after he jP rushed for a career high 173 yards as the starting I-back, he shouldn’t have to worry about maintain ing the No. 1 spot. " ‘ n injured :o en will it Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey announced Sept. 19 that there was not enough evidence to file charges against Benning. But Benning, who saw his picture and name thrown around by the local and national media after his arrest, did not hear much from the same people after the charges were not filed. “The media wasn’t near as aggressive and didn’t have the fervor they had when the charges hit,” Benning said. “I’m not going to sit here and say I was a victim, but the media took advantage of the situation. “There were a lot of inaccuracies out there.” But after Benning’s story proved to be accurate, he wonders who the real victim is. “When it comes down to it, I was a victim of lies and a victim of the media, ” g3r “I’ve had a lot & of adversity so far this year,” he said. “I would hope everything would just be a walk in the park after all this. Who knows? “My body’s been hurt, they’ve tried to damage my character and my family has gone through a very tough time. That pretty much covers everything that could go wrong. “I’ve caught some bad breaks, but that’s part of life. I know everything can’t go my way. All I can hope is to learn from this and be a better person. I know things like that happen. It goes with the territory.” Hopefully, for Benning, a little good fortune may be part of the territory also. Samson tea senior news-editorial major anda Daily Nebraskan senior reporter and columnist. Mfcraska 749 Passing Att-Comp. Int. Yds. XTTT Frazier 6-14 1 90 Team Stats OU . First Downs 36 7 Receiving No. Yds. Rushes-yards /0-56^ 17^0 Johnson 2 31 Passing 137 Baul 2 24 Return Yards *7^ 55 Holbein 2 24 Comp-Att-Int 2 14-31-1 D PuntS'^vg. 1-33 *7*43 Rushing Att. i ds. Fumbles-Lost ^-0 0-0 Benning 10 173 Penalties-Yards 3-26 2-20 Green 15 112 Time of Possession 39:44 20:16 Frazier 7 62