Gameday: Oklahol
Oklahoma had seven quarter
back changes during the course of
the game against Nebraska
Saturday. OU started sophomore
Justin Fuente, who played two dri
ves, and then alternated between
junior Eric Moore and Brandon
Daniels. Moore led OU to its only
touchdown.
■
With 105 yards on 18 carries,
junior I-back Ahman Green moved
into third place on Nebraska’s all
time rushing charts with 3,101
yards in his career, passing Ken
Clark, who had 3,037 yards. Green
is 152 yards behind No.2 rusher
Calvin Jones (3153 yards). Green
now has 1,098 yards this season,
becoming the seventh Husker to
get his second 1000-yard season.
■
Junior fullback Joel
Makovicka set a NU fullback sin
gle-game record with three touch
downs. The previous best was held
by several fullbacks - including
Makovicka - with two. The
record-breaker came late in third
quarter on a 32-yard gallop to the
end zone.
■
Junior place-kicker Kris
Brown not only has the career
record for field goals made with
34, but tied former kicker Dale
Klein with nine consecutive made
field goals aftef two successful
kicks Saturday. Brown tied the
record in the second quarter when
he made a 42-yarder against the
wind to put the Huskers up 13-0.
■
The 75,926 in attendance for
NU/OU game was the largest
cTowd in Memorial Stadium this
season, bettering the crowd at the
Kansas State contest.
■
Nebraska had a season-high 69
points against the Sooners, 10
points better than the previous
high of 59 against Akron.
Combined with the 37-0 win in
1995 and the 73-21 win last year,
NU has outscored Oklahoma 179
28 in the past three seasons.
Moore, a fourth-year junior,
has seen the Nebraska national
championship teams of 1994 and
’95 play the Sooners. So is the
1997 NU team, which handed OU
its worst loss in history, the best
he’s seen?
“No,” Moore said. “That team
with Tommie Frazier that shut us
out (in 1995) was the best that I’ve
ever seen. They’re a little better
than this team.”
■
Nebraska now travels to
Missouri on Saturday to face a
Tiger team which has produced
two upset victories over Oklahoma
State and Colorado the last two
weeks.
The game will be televised
regionally by ABC beginning at
2:30 p.m.
Gameday Notebook com
piled by Assignment Reporter
Jay Saunders and Staff
Reporter Sam McKewon.
Huskers hand
OU worst loss
Wistrom, Newcombe star
- > >
By Jay Saunders
Assignment Reporter
A picture-perfect rainbow hung
over Memorial Stadium Saturday
afternoon, but Nebraska’s 69-7 victo
ry over Oklahoma didn’t seem a pic
ture-perfect way to end one of college
football’s great rivalries.
The No. 1 Comhuskers (8-0 over
all and 5-0 in the Big 12 Conference)
used their normal dose of option foot
ball to rack up 552 yards of total
offense against the Sooners (3-6 and
1-4).
Oklahoma, which won’t play the
Huskers again until 2000, didn’t live
up to its end of the bargain. ©U’s
offense turned the ball over four
times and mustered just 154 yards of
total offense.
A crowd of 75,926 - the stadium’s
219th straight sellout - watched
Oklahoma Coach John Blake play
musical quarterbacks with sopho
more Justin Fuente, junior Eric
Moore and sophomore Brandon
Daniels. The Sooners switched quar
terbacks seven times.
Through a combination of
switching of quarterbacks and going
against the Blackshirts defense, the
OU offense never seemed to find a
rhythm.
Nebraska rush end Grant
Wistrom said the Huskers defense
had to adjust, depending on which
quarterback it faced.
“We played Moore and Daniels
the same,” Wistrom said. “We wanted
to attack them a little because they
were a threat to run. With Fuente, we
were able to counter a little and get up
the field a bit.”
Wistrom, a senior from Webb
City, Mo., led the defensive attack
with 10 total tackles, including nine
unassisted stops. Wistrom also
recorded two sacks, forced three fum
bles and recovered a fumble.
The Husker defense allowed 85
yards of rushing and sacked the
Sooner quarterbacks five times. OU’s
four lost fumbles led to 20 Husker
points.
“We were pleased, especially with
the turnovers,” Nebraska Defensive
Coordinator Charlie McBride said.
“We had certain things we wanted to
do. We were disappointed about giv
ing up a touchdown though.”
Nebraska had no problem at quar
terback with senior Scott Frost rush
ing for 66 yards on eight attempts and
a touchdown. Frost was also 6 of 10 1
passing for 107 yards, including a 40
yard touchdown pass to freshman
wingback Bobby Newcombe.
•t
Everyone is used
to Makovicka and
Green. It s fun to put
someone else in
there ...”
Lance Brown
Nebraska wingback
NU, which led 34-0 at halftime
and 55-0 before Oklahoma scored
late in the third quarter, still relied on
its rushing attack to hand the Sooners
the worst loss in the history of their
storied program. For the game, 11
Huskers ran the ball, led by juniors
Ahman Green and Joel Makovicka.
Green rushed for 105 yards on 18
carries. It was his seventh straight
100-yard game. Green was held out
of the end zone for the first time in six
games.
Makovicka picked up Green s
slack, scoring three times while rush
ing for 101 yards on 10 carries.
“Scott really played well and so
did Joel Makovicka,” Osborne said.
“When they’re playing well, then the
offensive line is playing well, too.”
~Tfie offense also ran a variation of
the wishbone - ironically a weapon in
past years used repeatedly by
Oklahoma to torment Osborne - sev
eral times Saturday. The “wingbone,”
which features two wingbacks in the
game at the same time, gave many
rushers an opportunity to carry the
ball, including junior wingback
Lance Brown.
Brown had a 9-yard touchdown
run in the third quarter, his first colle
giate rushing touchdown. The junior
from Papillion said he hopes the
touchdown wasn’t his last.
“Everyone is used to Makovicka
and Green,” Brown said. “It’s fun to
put someone else in there. It’s great.
(Rushing the ball) is something dif
ferent that I’m not used to.”
Even though the game ended up
as a lopsided win for the Huskers,
Osborne said he felt a little nervous
before the game. Saturday also
marked Osborne’s 250th victory as
Nebraska’s coach. In his 25th year, he
reached 250 faster than any other
coach in history.
“I felt a little on edge going in,”
, Osborne said. “I was kind of sur
prised at the outcome. After a few bad
things they may have lost a little heart
and we began to generate some
offense.”
Scoring Summary Oklahoma 0 0 7 0 7
Nebraska 20 14 21 14 69
NU 1 J Makovicka5ydrun K. Brown kick 10 0
^W^1^^^^dTalter15ydrun K. Brown kick 20 0
NU 2 S. Frost 12 yd run K. Brown kick 34 0
NU 3 J. Makovicka 37 yd run K. Brown kick 48 0
OU 3 S. Littrell 2 yd run J. Alexander kick 55 7
iistsis wmmmmmmmmmmmm
NU 4 W. Miller 7 yd run D. Hadenfeldt kick 69 7
■■ ^———
\firUA1TT WADDl?1j/nhJ
l-BACK AMMAN GREEN runs downfleld and is forced out of bounds by;
Oklahoma safety Terry White. 6re«n rushed for 105 yards Saturday, his sot-;
enth straight game with more than 100 yards.
football Top 25
Below are the USA TODAY Top 25 Coaches Poll and The Associated ■'SMJRH
Press Top 25 Poll for college football .
AFTOP25 BSA TBBAY/Coicbot Top 25 " Tl
Rank School Record Pve Rank School Record Re
mmmmmmMBMmmummmm mmmmmmmmtsmammmmm.
2 Penn St. (16) 7-0 2 2 Florida St (2) 8-0 3
4 Mich^an(l)^ ^ 8-0 4
8 Tennessee 6-18 8 Ohio St ^ 8-1 9
10 UCLA 7-2 12
12 Iowa 6-2 15 12 LSU 6-2 14
14 ^ 6-2 i6 M^towa___^6^^i6
16 Washington St. 7-1 10 16 Arizona St. 6-2 21
tsoramHRmiigiii^mgMmi mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
18 Toledo 8-0 22 18 Virginia Tech 6-2 22
msmmmmwmmmmmmmmm
20 Virginia Tech 6-2 23 20 Toledo 8-0 -.23
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wmmmmmmmmmmmsmmm
22 Syracuse 6-3 - 22 West Virginia 6-2 t7'
m msmmmrnmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
24 Purdue 6-2 18