Gameday: Nebra
Page 8 ■ Daily Nebraskan ■ Monday, November 4,1996
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne
said he wasn’t trying to run up the
score when he called a pass play
with 12 minutes remaining in the
game and Nebraska leading 45-0.
Quarterback Scott Frost found
Jeff Lake for a 51-yard touch
down, giving the Comhuskers a
52-0 lead. The catch was Lake’s
first for a touchdown this season
and was a season best for both
Lake and Frost. It was also Frost’s
last play of the game.
“The reason we didn’t take
Scott out at that time was that
Oklahoma had come back so well
in the fourth quarter,” Osborne
said. “We weren’t trying to
embarrass them or anything. We
didn’t throw any long passes after
that one and it certainly wasn’t
our intent. I hope people don’t
read that into it.
“Maybe it’s something I
shouldn’t have done. If so I
apologize.”
OU Coach John Blake didn’t
think Osborne was trying to run
up the score. “Coach Osborne is a
nice person. I always have
thought a lot about Coach
Osborne, and I’ve always
respected him. I never thought
about him running up the score.”
■
The 21 points given up by the ,
at
19 points in Sept. 21 win over
NU.
Since the loss to the Sun
Devils, Nebraska has out-scored
its opponents 313-50. In NU’s
first four conference games, it had
allowed just 20 points.
The 7 ^ as
Nebraska’s Hxth-straight victory
over the Sooners, tying a school
record for the longest winning
streak against Oklahoma.
Nebraska won its 28th-straight
conference game, and the victory
assured the Huskers of 35
consecutive winning seasons, a
streak that leads the nation and is
third all-time among Division I
teams.
■
Saturday’s game was the
fourth loss at home this season for
the Sooners, the first time OU has
ever lost four times at home in
one season. In addition, the 73
points scored by Nebraska were
the most ever given up by a
Sooner team.
Injury report: I-back Ahman
' Green, who did not play in the
second half and had just 9 yards
Saturday, has been bothered by a
turf toe injury since Nebraska’s
Oct. 5 win over Kansas State.
I-back Damon Benning (thigh
bruise) may not practice today ;
wingback Shevin Wiggins (thigh
bruise) will not practice today;
offensive linemen Adam Treu,
Eric Anderson and Rob Zatechka
suffered minor ankle injuries; and
fullback Billy Legate pulled a
hamstring.
Notebook compiled by senior
reporters Mike Kluck and
Itevor Faria.
Husker offense awakens
to slaughter Oklahoma
NU hands Oklahoma
its worst loss ever after
failing to score in the
first quarter.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
NORMAN, Okla. — The words
amazing, astonishing and astounding
all could be understatements to de
scribe the Ne
braska football
team’s 73-21 vic
tory over Okla
homa on Saturday.
What else
could describe a
game in which the
Cornhusker of
fense punted the
- first six times it
Peter had the ball, but
didn’t kick the ball
away for the rest of the game?
What other way is there to depict
an intimidating Husker defense, which
gave up zero points and only 89 yards
through the first three quarters, but
then allowed 186 yards and 21 points
in the final period?
And what pan be said for a Sooner
~ :hampion
r^aeteat era; giving
up the most points in school history
before a sellout crowd of 75,004 at
Memorial Stadium?
With the victory, fifth-ranked Ne
braska (7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Big
12) secured its 35th-straight winning
season, and OU (2-6 and 2-3) is now
assured of its first losing season since
1965.
“In some ways it wasn’t our best
game, and in some ways if you look at
the final score, it was kind of amaz
ing,” Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne
said. “I guess when you win 70-some
to 21, you say the key to the game was
defense.
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but
obviously we played very well defen
sively.”
The NU defense — through the
game’s first 50 minutes — was con
sistent and helped compensate for the
Nebraska offense, which struggled
early.
“Nebraska is the quickest defensive
team we have faced,” Oklahoma
Coach John Blake said. “We got beat
by an outstanding football team, but
this game just showed us what we have
to do to get better.”
Oklahoma moved 11 yards back
wards on first offensive possession, in
part because of a seven-yard sack of
Sooner quarterback Justin Fuente by
Nebraska tackle Jason Peter. On sec
ond down, rush end Jared Tomich
stopped OU running back James Allen
for a 4-yard loss.
fcverybody knows about our de
fense,” said Peter, who led the Ne
braska defense with six tackles while
playing with his right hand in a cast.
“When an offense has in their heads
that (they) can’t move the ball on (us),
then we come out and tackle or sack
them for a loss. They start thinking to
themselves that maybe they can’t
move the balL It plays a big part.”
But when the NU offense took
over, it didn’t do much either. The
Huskers went three downs and out on
five of their first six possessions.
In the first quarter, Nebraska ran
15 offensive plays for seven yards, and
the two teams combined for 26 yards
and zero points.
“Oklahoma came out and didn’t
play the standard 4-3 that we have
seen,” Osborne said. “I’m not sure that
1 Adjusted very well myself. We were
kind of searching.
“I don’t think I did a very good job
at the first part of the game, but then
again it was so different from wha^we
have seen them do. We really had to
kind of re-organize ourselves.”
However, on Jesse Kosch’s sixth
punt of the afternoon, NU received a
break when Sooner freshman Jarrail
Jackson fumbled the kick and Chad
Kelsay recovered at the Oklahoma 17
yard line.
The Huskers moved only nine
yards in seven plays and had to settle
for a 25-yard Kris Brown field goal,
which gave NU a 3-0 lead with 7 min
utes, 57 seconds remaining in the half. .
The Nebraska defense took over
again on the Sooners’ next possession.
On third and 13 from the OU 17-yard
line, Mike linebacker Jay Foreman
picked off a Fuente pass with one hand,
giving NU the ball at the OU 19.
“It was behind me and I just wanted
to get my hand on it because I didn’t
want him to catch it,” Foreman said of
his first career interception.
After Foreman’s interception, Ne
braska needed three plays to go 19
yards, scoring on a 1-yard run by fresh
man I-back DeAngelo Evans. Ahman
Green added a 4-yard scoring run with
2:14 left in the half to give Nebraska a
17-0 halftime lead.
In the third quarter Oklahoma quar
terbacks threw three-consecutive inter
ceptions, all of which Nebraska con
verted into Husker touchdowns.
Freshman cornerback Ralph
Brown picked off an Eric Moore pass
and returned it 83 yards for a touch
down. Minutes later, Mike Minter in
tercepted Fuente at the OU 30, setting
up a 10-yard touchdown strike from
Scott Frost to Jon Vedral.
On the first play of the next Sooner
possession, Eric Warfield intercepted
Fuente after Peter tipped the ball. Four
plays later, Evans scored from seven
yards out to put NU on. top 45-0.
“I’ve got to give all the credit to
the defense,” Frost said. “We had 31
points off turnovers. That’s amazing.
When they keep getting turnovers like
that, it makes it a lot easier on the of
Please see OU on 11
GaWIAflAlf Nebraska 73
iMRinrua| okw,om» 21
Pfayer Att. Yds. TPs Player Att. Yds. TPs
4DeAngejoEvans_13_42 225 Jamm Altai 15 32 0
Player Rec. Yds. TPs Player Rec. Yds. TD»
89 JcffLake 2 58 1 18 Maurice Little 1 27 0
Player Att/Cmp/Int Yda. TPs Player Att/Cmp/Int Yds. TDs
11 Mtftltanan 2/2/0 0 0 1 EricMoore 7/2/1 18 0
First downs 20 16 Fumbles / returns 3/2 2/1
Rushing yards 208 189 Penalties/yards 6 / 80 9 / 53
Passing completions 12 8 Kickoff returns / yards 2/94 10/108
Total plays 76 63 Third-down conversion 7 of 16 1 of IS
Average yards per play 5.1 4.4 Sacks /yards 5/23 1/6
' ; Li i
