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Scott Bruhn/DN
CORNELIUS WHITE (No. 4) is ran down from behind by Ralph Brown as Mike Minter (No. 10) assists. The play went
for 33 yards, but Nebraska handed the Hokies their second loss in 22 games.
Beamer: :
Despite 20point lc
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
MIAMI — Though Virginia
Tech trailed b^lO points at the end
of the Orange Bowl, not all was lost
for the Hokies.
“I’m not
barrassed
how we played,
Virginia Tech
rCoach Frajtk
B&iiier said af
Dec. 3t. <JWc
just got beat by a
better football
team that played Beamer
a better football game this particu
lar night. (Nebraska) kind of
showed us what the very top is all
about.”
The Hokies, who finished
ranked 13 th in the nation with a
10-2 record, hung with the
Comhuskcrs through the first two
quarters and trailed 17-14 at half
t ime behind two touchdown passes
by quarterback Jim Druckenmiller.
Druckenmiller, a 6-foot-4 224- .
pound senior from Northampton, :
Pa., finished the game completing
16 of 33 passes for 214 yards and
three touchdowns. He said too
many mental errors resulted in the
Hokies’ loss.
“I don’t know if it was a lack of
effort out there,” Druckenmiller
said, “but there were too many mis
takes offensively and defensively
and personally. Those are things 7
i you can’t do to win big games.”_
Junior tailback Ken Oxendine,
who said he played his best game
ever, agreed that the team commit
ted too many mistakes.
But Oxendine, who tallied 150
yards — the second most against
the Nebraska defense all season —
and was named the Virginia Tech
Orange Bowl MVP, said the Hokies
had no trouble running against the
Huskcrs’ fifth-ranked rushing de
fense—until the final 15 minutes.
“A lot of running backs tried to
run east-west on them,” Oxendine
said. “We pretty much knocked
them in the teeth. We got the ball
and hit the hole bard and just took
it where we had to take.it.”
But Nebraska more than
matched Virginia Tech’s running
attack with 279 yards of its own.
The Huskers’ lack of turnovers,
Beamer said, made the difference.
A fourth quarter fumble by NU
I-back Ahman Green, which-was
recovered by tight end Vcrshan
Jackson, was the closest Nebraska
came to turning the flail over
against the Hokies. __
On the other hand,-Virginia
Tech only committed a fumble that
Jason Peter returned 33 yards for a
touchdown.
“I felt we’d have a little bit more
success defensively,” Beamer said.
“If we could have had them turn
the ball over a few times, I think
that could have made the differ
ence.”
Sophomore cornerback Loren
Johnson said the Hokies were worn
down by Nebraska’s depth. The
Huskers used 14 more players than
the Hokies.
“It was where we wanted it at
halftime,” Johnson said, “but
they’ve got some horses up front
and some stables in the backfield.
They just wore us down. It’s bad to
say that. It means we weren’t physi
cally prepared.”
That happened for the first time
since a 52-21 loss at Syracuse Sept.
28. Since then Virginia Tech had
won seven straight games before
losing to the Huskers.
In all, Bcamcr said the Hokies
—who lose seven offensive and six
defensive starters from this year’s
squad — will take more positives
than negatives from the loss.
“When you get to games like
this, you’d like to win them against
the best in the country,” Beamer
said. “It’s just a journey. You’re try
ing to climb that mountain and
sometimes you don’t make it. You
take a couple of steps back but you
keep going.
“We’re going to keep going in
this program. We’ll be back. You
haven’t seen the last of us yet.”
out his way
BENNING from page 9
wasn’t far-the national championship,
it was a tag game for our program.”
ener
ground game,
which gained
279 yards and
provided the
knockout blow}
in the Huskers’
third straight
bowl win.
Before the
game, Benning,
along witk fel
Huskers ring in New Year
ORANGE from page 10
missed the Big 12 championship
game with a broken toe, rushed for
24 yards on three attempts before
Frost capped r~-1—ppn
the seven play
55-yard drive
bulling his.
way in,to the :
end zone.
Nebraska
finished the
game with
415 total
yards, 288 of 1—————P*
which came
on the ground. That performance,
combined with the Huskers’ 398
yard offensive outburst against
Texas in the Big 12 chanqiionship
game Dec. 7, boosted Frost’s con
fidence for next season.
“Down the stretch, when they
put in Ahman, 19 of the 11 guys'
were underclassmen,” Frost said.
“We’ve got some key people to re
place on defense and we’ve got
some senior leadership we are go
ing to miss, but we’re definitely
looking forward to ’97.
“We just need to come out and
play like this. We’ve had the talent
to play like this all year, but some
times injuries or lack of emotion
will get to us and we don’t play like
a team. The best thing about the
’95 team was it came out and
played its best game every game,
and we didn’t do that this year, and
it showed up a couple of times.”
But Frost wasn’t the only
Husker optimistic about Nebraska’s
chances to regain the national title
in 1997. Junior defensive tackle
Jason Peter said he would like to
spend his next New Year’s Eve in
Miami, ate of a possible national
chanqrionship game. ,,,
“The plan is definitely to come
back here next year for the cham
pionship game,” Peter said. “We
will beieady”
to the 1996 game. Peter made
an impact returning a a fumble by
Virginia Tech quarterback Jim
Druckenmiller 31 yards for a sec
ond quarter touchdown. Left rush
end Mike Rucker stripped the ball
from Druckenmiller on a third and '
37 from the Hokies 33 and Peter
scooped the ball up and rumbled
into the end zone.
. During the past four seasons,
this group compiled a 47-3 record,
played in three national champion
ship games, winning two, and
never lost a game at Memorial Sta
M
The plan is
definitely to come
back here next
year for the
championship
game.”
Jason Peter
NU defensive tackle
dium.
With the return of Frost, four
offensive linemen, three of the top
four 1-backs and all three tight
ends, the offense looks loaded to
make a run at another national
championship.
“I think we should have the tal
ent to compete for one next year,”
Osborne said. “It’s always impor
tant to have experience returning
at quarterback. Every year there are
about 20 teams who can compete
for the championship, and we think
we are one of them.”
•.
, Junior rush end Grant Wistrom,
the Big 12 Conference defensive
player of the year, announced
Thursday that he will remain in
school for his senior season.
Wistrom, considered a mid-to-late
first-round pick by many National
Football League draft analysts,
chose to return after discussing the
situation with NU Coach Tom
Osborne on Tuesday.
“It wasn’t a very tough deci
sion,” Wistrom said. “With my
heart, I always wanted to come
back. I just didn’t want to rush into
a decision.”
Wistrom, a consensus first-team
All-American, also sought advice
from former Cornhusker All
American Trev Alberts. Alberts,
the fifth pick of the 1994 NFL draft,
emerged as a top prospect during
his senior season and now plays for
the Indianapolis Colts.
“These past years have been the
best of my life,” Wistrom said. “If
I left, I would have felt like I was
letting down my teammates. When
you take all things into consider
ation, everything that is there now
in the NFL will be there next year,
too.”
■
Unlike Wistrom, three members
of the All-Big 12 first team opted
to enter the NFL draft a year early.
Kansas State cornerback Chris
Canty, and tailbacks Troy Davis of
Iowa State and Byron Hanspard of
Texas Tech announced their deci
sions after the season. Texas Tbch
defensive end Tony Daniels, a sec
ond4eam all-conference selection,
also chose to leave school a year
early, , y * *% *■ f» >
■
The Big 12 finished 2-3 in the
bowl season. In addition.: 4o
Nebraska’s 41-21 Orange fiowl
win over Virginia Tech, Colorado
beat Washington 33-21 in the Holi
day Bowl. Iowa defeated Texas
Tech 27-0 in the Alamo Bowl*
Brigham Young beat Kansas State
19-15 in the Cotton Bowl and Penn
State hammered Texas 38-15 in the
Fiesta Bowl.
\>
■
Offensive tackle Adam Treu
played in the East-West Shrine
Game, Saturday in San Francisco.
Rush end Jared Tomich,
cornerback Michael Booker, rover
Mike Min ter, linebacker Jamel
Wiliams and offensive guard Chris
Dishman will play in the Senior
Bowl, Saturday in Mobile, Ala.,
and fullback Brian Schuster will
participate in the Hula Bowl, Sun
day in Honolulu.
After losing seven straight bowl
games from 1988 through 1994,
Nebraska has now won three
straight, its longest winning streak
since a six-game run from 1969
through 1974.
■■ ■
.. •
Osborne enjoyed the lack of na
tional news media attention sur
rounding Nebraska’s meeting with
Virginia Tech. At Orange Bowl
media day on Dec. 29 at Pro Player
Stadium, Osborne spent about 15
minutes answering fewer than 10
questions.
“That’s more like k,” the 24th
year NU coach said as he left the
interview stand. “Last year (at the
Fiesta Bowl) I was up here for an
hour. There’s some good things
about this.”
r t .
NU Notebook compiled by se
nior reporter Mitch Sherman.