Tuesday, October 28,1997MM . • ___Page 7
r
The Big 12 offensive player of
the week was Missouri junior quar
terback Corby Jones, who was 13
25 passing for 231 yards with two
touchdowns. He also had 85 yards
rushing and two touchdowns in the
Tigers’51-50 upset over the No. 12
Oklahoma State in overtime. Jones
scored the winning touchdown on a
15-yard run in the second over
time.
! The Big 12 defensive player of
the week was senior nose tackle
Greg Schoon of Iowa State. Schoon
had 13 tackles, including three
sacks in the Cyclones’ 24-17 victo
ry over Baylor. It was ISU’s first
win of the year.
The Big 12 special teams play
er of the week was senior place
kicker Tony Rogers of Texas Tech.
Rogers hadn’t kicked a field goal
all season until he made three
against Texas A&M, including a
49-yarder that gave Tech a 16-13
victory.
■
The most controversial call of
the week came at OSU as Cowboys
Coach Bob Simmons decided to go
for the two-point conversion and
the win against Missouri in the sec
ond overtime. Simmons did not
have to go for two until the third
overtime, out tried and railed in
running the swinging gate play for
win as freshman QB Tony
Lindsay was stopped after a one
yard gain.
“We had the option we wanted
open, ^iit' we 'di^S^r seW if,”
Simmons said. “That’s a coaching
mistake, not the glayers.’”
With the 35-0 win over Kansas,
Nebraska moved to 7-0 and
secured its 36th straight winning
season, the best current streak and
third best all-time.
■
Kansas State has been nearly
perfect inside the opponent’s 20
yard line, as it has scored on 31 of
33 attempts inside the red zone this
season (23 touchdowns, eight field
goals). KSU Coach Bill Snyder
said offensive improvement is
behind the success.
“We’ve got a lot more confi
dence in the running game,”
Snyder said. “We’re not so one
dimensional inside the 20.”
ifl
Iowa State sophomore running
back Darren Davis signaled his
return from an early-season injury
With the sixth-best rushing day in
1FQTT Kicfnrv Hovio tVio \7Aiitinrar
brother of former ISU running
back and Heisman Candidate Troy
Davis, finished the day with 247.
yards rushing against Baylor. ISU
Coach Dan McCamey said Davis
has been a big addition to the
Cyclones.
“He’s still not 100 percent out
there,” McCamey said, “and he still
got almost 250 yards in the game.
That shows you how good he is.”
Colorado Coach jftijck*
Neuheisel had praise fofNU. Coach
Tom Osborne as he goes after his
250th win against Oklahoma this
weekend.
“Is that all he has?” Neuheisel
said. “It seems like he has 550. I’m
going far my 25th win this week
end, so I have achieved exactly
one-tenth what he has. To do what
he and Nebraska has done is not
only one of the great dynasties in
college football, but in all of
sports.”
Big 12 Notebook compiled by
staff reporter Sam McKewon.
I Wistrom warms to cold weather
By David Wilson
Senior Reporter
LAWRENCE, Kan. -r .Grant;
Wistrom thrives on playing in bad'
weather.
Bad weather along with the worst
offense in the Big 12 Conference
was what Nebraska faced Saturday
against Kansas.
“I love games like this,” Wistrom
said. “Unless it’s raining or it’s
muddy out or something, it’s just not
football to me. I’m really happy
when we can come out and play in
these bad weather games. I kind of
get off on it a little bit.”
Wistrom recorded a season-high
two sacks as the top-ranked
Comhuskers defeated the Jayhawks
35-0. The senior rush end recorded a
total of four tackles, which moved
him within one tackle of NU’s top
olLfimA IupHa art
A returning All-American and a
1997 Lombardi Award semifinalist,
Wistrom had recorded only one sack
prior to Saturday’s game.
“It’s about time,” Wistrom said.
“Those things are few and far
between, especially this year.
Hopefully we got a little something
started and I’ll be able to carry it on.”
With three sacks this season,
Wistrom ranks fifth on Nebraska’s
all-time sack chart - 8/4 behind
teada^Trev Alberts.’ 29,5 (1990^,3).
Though )Vistrom’s number^ftay
not indicate his performance this
season, NO: Rush Ends Coach
Nelson Barnes said Wistrom’s pres
ence has beeC^W^r each game.
“I’ve been pleased with Grant
every week,” Barnes said. “It’s more
important how he plays rather, than
9
;; Miller^
EVEN THOUGH GRANT WISTROM’S statistics may not be as high as they were last year, he is stilljlominating offe$
es by drawing double teams and pressuring the quarterbacks._~
just numbers that he puts up.
Numbers are not the most important
thing to our defense.”
But the'NU defense did put up
big numbers against Kansas.
The Blackshirts held Kansas to
48 yards on 48 plays - the lowest
amount of total offense allowed by
NU this season. The output was also
the lowest the Jayhawk offense has
produced in a game all season.
“They seemed out
from the start,” Wistrom said. “They
really didn’t try to get any type of
rhythm started at all. I don’t think
they got much started at all. They
didn’t know if they wanted to run it
or pass it. All in all, they really didn’t
try to establish anything consistent.”
Kansas only recorded four first
downs against the Huskers and never
crossed their own 45-yard line. But
the weather, Wistrom said, may have
affected the Jayhawks’ game plan.
Forty-nine-degree temperatures
and light rain blown by 25 mph
day for pass^^^^^^^^^^^^"
“The offensive line and the
defensive line came into play more
than usual,” NU senior quarterback
Scott Frost said.
Nebraska passed just 10 times,
while Kansas threw the ball 17
times. But the lack of offensive out
put didn’t take away from a job well
done by the Husker defense.
“The weather wasn’t really help
ful for an offensive game today, but
all-in-all, I feel we played pretty
epodrlefense” Wistrom said.
,.f j
'• KU has not been noted for mov
ing the ball real well,” Osborne said.
“But they’re not terrible.”
3 teams race for South Division title
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
There may not be any top ten
teams in the Big 12 South Division,
but it does have a flair for the dramat
ic.
For the second straight year, the
South Division is up for grabs
between several teams. Three - No.
19 Oklahoma State (6-1 overall and
3-1 in the Big 12 Conference),
unranked Texas Tech (5-3, 3-1) and
Texas A&M (5-2,2-2) - are current
ly leading the pack for the confer
ence crown.
“It looks like it’s going to be a
pretty dam good race,” Aggies Coach
R.C. Slocum said. “It will probably
come right down to the end.”
Barring two upsets in its last four
games, Nebraska (7-0, 4-0) will be
the Big 12’s North Division represen
tative for the Big 12 Championship
Game Dec. 6 in San Antonio. NU can
lose one game and would still have
the tie-breaker over Kansas State,
because of the Huskers’ 56-26 win
over the Wildcats.
But in the South, little can be
determined yet. OSU looked in total
control of the conference until its 51
50 double overtime loss to Missouri
on Saturday. The Red Raiders, who
lost to the Huskers 29-0 on Oct. 18,
jumped back into a tie for the confer
ence lead with a 16-13 upset win over
Texas A&M on Saturday.
One team that has been all but
eliminated from winning the South is
preseason favorite Texas. The
Longhorns fell to 1-3 in the Big 12
and 3-4 overall with a 47-30 loss to
Colorado on Saturday.
Texas Coach John Mackovic said
he is disappointed his team could not
do better in the conference race.
“It was certainly one of our goals
to get to be the champ again,” he said.
“We could have really got ourselves
back in it with a win over Colorado,
but we didn’t get it.”
That basically leaves three teams,
each of which will have to accom
plish different things to win the Big
12 South Division.
Oklahoma State is still is control
Please see SOUTH on 8
Osborne's first game was revenge
Nebraska Coach Tom
j Osborne goes for his 250th win
thjit Saturday against
Oklahoma. This week the
Daily Nebraskan highlights
Osborne's top five victories.
' k i £ *s • --■} ‘
i .5. *f> f • , *• ‘ %
| _ Tom Osb.orne’s first gammas
Nebraska’s coach was -a revenge
game for the Cornhuskers. V'
UCLA had halted Nebraska’s
32-game win streak with a 20-17
victory over top-ranked NU in
the opening game of the 1972
season, which prevented
Nebraska from competing for a
third straight national champi
onship.
So the Huskers’ 40-13 victo
ry in Osborne’s first game with
74,966 fans at Memorial
Stadium and a national ABC
television audience was revenge
for NU and a preview of what
fans would expect for Osborne’s
next 25 years.
Nebraska rushed for 305
yards and threw for 105 yards.
But more important was the
NU defense, which held UCLA’s
wishbone attack to 239 yards
rushing and 259 yards overall.
UCLA would also provide
Osborne with his 100th victory
when NU defeated the Bruins
42-10 on Sept. 24, 1983.
u^m
OU, NU’s relationship tenuous
After Saturday’s game against
Oklahoma the NU/OU rivalry will
take a two year hiatus. This week the
Daily Nebraskan looks back at the
top five games that have made this
an intriguing contest
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne had
to wait five years before he got his first
victory against Oklahoma as a head
coach, but when Nebraska finally beat
OU 17-14 in 1978, it was the biggest
win of Osborne’s tenure.
Eventual Heisman Trophy winner
Billy Sims and the top-ranked 9-0
Sooners strode into Lincoln expecting
their sixth straight win over the
Huskers, but were stopped by six film
bles, including one at the end of the
game that cost the Sooners the win.
NU went ahead 17-14 on a 24-yard
Billy Todd field goal early in the fourth
quarter and then watched Oklahoma
march down the field before Sims, who
had rushed for 153 yards and two
touchdowns, fumbled the ball at the NU
3-yard line as he was going into the end
zone, preserving the Husker victory.
With the win, the Huskers earned
their first trip to the Orange Bowl since
1973.
However, after the OU win, NU
lost the very next week to Missouri,
and was forced to play the Sooners
again in the bowl game, where the
Sooners won die rematoh 31 -24.
