Nebraska defensive tackle Jason
Peter hyper-extended his right knee
in the second quarter.
Peter sat out the rest of the first
half, but he came back onto the field
after halftime and played the entire
second half.
Osborne said he will have to wait
and see what the team doctors say
about Peter’s availability for next
week’s game against Washington.
Peter said he had no second thought
about playing in the second half.
“It was a close ballgame,” Peter
said. “When die game is that tight,
you are not thinking about injury.”
Injuries also plagued Eric
Warfield (right shoulder sprain),
Mike Brown and Joel Makovicka
(right ankle sprains).
The 17-14 halftime deficit was
the first time Nebraska trailed at
halftime, and won since the 1995
Orange Bowl. In die national-cham
pionship game Miami, led Nebraska
10-7 at halftime, but the Huskers
cam back to win the game 24-17.
The last time NU trailed at Memorial
Stadium at the half, and won was
also during the 1995 season.
Nebraska trailed Wyoming 21-14 at
halftime but came back to win 42
32.
■
Chris Lorenti, Central Florida’s
starting center, went down with an
injury in the first half. That paved the
wayjbr freshman Daron Herndon to
takeliverthe snapping duties, if ^
The UCF offensive line gave up
three sacks, but earned praise from
quarterback Daunte Culpepper.
“I know I will get hit a lot,”
Culpepper said, “but the offensive
line played very well.”
■
NU extended two Memorial
Stadium streaks this weekend. It was
the 38th consecutive home win,
which is the longest current streak in
the country and ties for the seventh
longest of all-time. The crowd of
75,327 extended Nebraska’s all-time
record streak of sellout crowds to
215.
Central Florida did some streak
extending of its own. Receivers Todd
Cleveland and Marie Nonsant each
extended their streaks of catching
passes in consecutive games.
Cleveland caught three passes for
three yards to extend his streak to 20
straight games. Nonsant led the
Golden Knights with 174 yards on
seven receptions, which extended
Nonsant’s streak to 14 games.
With a 4-yard touchdown pass to
Kendrick Moore in die fourth quar
ter, Culpepper extended his streak of
games with a touchdown pass to six.
■
NU kicker Kris Brown contin
ued to make his way in die Nebraska
record books against the Knights.
Brown’s 21-yard field goal not only
tied the game at 17, but it also tied
Brown with Dale Klein for most
field goals in a Nebraska career with
27. The junior from Southlake,
Texas, also kicked five extra points.
That put Brown’s career point total at
200, which ties him for ninth in
Husker history.
Game day Notebook compiled
by assignment reporter Jay
Saunders.
By Antone Oseka
Senior Reporter
No one expected Nebraska to be
losing at halftime.
Not to Central Florida.
Last week, leading up the
Saturday’s contest with Central
Florida, die Nebraska coaching staff
had been saying the same thing - the
Golden Knights are a good team and
could play with Nebraska for all
four quarters.
But nobody actually thought die
Huskers would be trailing 17-14 at
halftime.
A 17-point third quarter helped
Nebraska rally to 38-24 victory
before 75,327 at Memorial Stadium,
the Huskers’ 38th consecutive home
field victory.
“I was pleased we were able to
win it,” Nebraska coach Tom,
Osborne said. “Another turnover or
two or big play or two against our
defense, we would have been onside
week. It was somewhat concerning
it was that close.”
Central Florida, which dropped
to 0-3, lost to South Carolina 33-31
on Sept. 6 after failing to recover an
onside kick.
The first half of Saturday’s game
was a back-and-forth battle.
Central Florida put the first
points on the board when junior
quarterback Daunte Culpepper dove
in on a 10-yard touchdown run with
1:16 left in the first quarter. Junior
kicker Fred Waczewski added the
extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Nebraska (2-0) responded with a
nine-play, 69-yard scoring drive of
its own, topped by senior quarter
back Scott Frost hitting Sheldon
Jackson on a 16-yard touchdown
pass with 13:21 left in the half. Kris
Brown added the extra point to knot
the score at seven.
UCF retook the lead when
i--——
u
I felt like a totally
different person in
the second half
Jerome Peterson
Nebraska comerback
Waczewski kicked a career-long 51
yard field goal at the 9:39 mark to
put UCF up 10-7.
NU sophomore quarterback
Frankie London then took over the
helm for Frost, and led the Huskers
on a 65-yard drive capped by an 8
yard London touchdown run to give
Nebraska a 14-10 lead.
Nebraska’s defense stepped up,
and forced the Knights to punt on
their next possession; but NU junior
wingback Shevin Wiggins fumbled
the return. UCF’s Jeff Fye recovered
the ball on Nebraska’s 45-yard line.
hooked up with Mark Nonsant on a
43-yard bomb to put the ball on the
NU 2-yard line. Knights’junior tail
back Mike Grant then carried the
final two yards for the score to put
UCFup 17-14.
The Huskers had one last chance
to tie the score as Frost drove the
team 70 yards in nine plays, but
Brown missed a 27-yard field goal.
Rush end Grant Wistrom said the
defense got an earful during half
time.
The defense had sacked
Culpepper only twice in the first
half, but the preseason third-team
All-American threw for 186 yards,
completing 12 of 16 passes.
For the most part, Culpepper
threw to the weak side of the NU
defense, challenging sophomore
comerback Jerome Peterson.
“I was trying not to mess up,”
Please see FOOTBALL on 12
Football Game Review
Central Florida
RiisMee
No. Yds Avg TD No. Name Yds Ayg TD ,
3D Ahman Green 113 4.5 0 8 Daunte Culpepper 34 2.6 1 )
36 Correll Buckhalter 82 73 2 24 Mike Grant 17 J '1U ’
45 JoelMakovicka 68 62 0 1 SiahaBurley -4 -4 O '
No. Name No Yds TD No. Name No Yds TD
88-SheidonJackson 3 61 1 18 MarkNonsant 7 174 0
6 KermyCheatham 2 36 0 1 SiahaBurley 7 76 0
3D Ahman Green 2 30 0 7 Charles Lee .3 31 0
PasWm PossiBv
No. Name Att Cmp Int Yds TD No. Name Att Cmp Int Yds TD
7 Scott Frost 14 9 0 120 1 8 Daunte Culpepper 35 24 1 318 1
1 Frankie London 1 1 0 30 0
Game Stats ■mum acr wmmm act
First downs 30 14 Fumbieslost 2 1
Rushing attempts 65 26 Interceptions 1 0
Rushing yards 364 47 Penalties/yards 1/5 7/35
Passing attempts 15 35 Punt returns/yards 3/8 1/2
Passing completions 10 24 Kickoff returns/yards 4/108 0/0
Passing yards 150 318 Time of possession 3350' 26:10
Total plays 80 61 Third-down conversion 8 of 14 3 of 13
Totalyards 514 365 Fourth-down conversion OofO 2of2
Average yards per play 64 6.0 Sacks/yards iSl 3/21 1/5. I
■' . - ■ Y- ■*. ,, • ‘ ... Vi -
NEBRASKA RUSH END Chad Kelsay hits Central Florida quarterback Daunte CuQ
