|ma vs. Nebraska
I . >
• SandySummers/DI^F
9M&B0H HARRISON, who had one punt return for 17 yards, Is tackled by Oklahoma's Rodney Rldeau.
Football Game Review &&£ "7 First downs 27 11 l
gir^ Rushing attempts 61 50
NGkraika Rushing yards 409 85
nmn Passing attempts 12 9
Tin. ™*Yd, Avg TD No. Name Yd. Avg TO ^2“ L l
mMzmmem mrnmmm sm & 35 Total plays 73 59
45 J.Makovicka 101 10.1 3 28 J.T. Thatcher 26 2.9 0 Total vards aha
3.0 ®” Avg. yards per play 7.6 2.6
RiCiMWI BOCOMai Fumbles 2 7
No. Name No Yds Long TO No. Name No Yd. Long TD Interceptions 0 0
L Brown 1 26 26 0 18 M.Littlek 1 11 11 0 Punt returns/yards 3-77 0-0
Pftftht PlSSiM Time of possession 29:49 30:11
No. Name Att Cmp Int Yd* TD No. Name Att Cmp Int Yds TD 3m-down conversion 8 of 14 3 of 13
4th-down conversion 2 of 3 1 of 1
1 F. London 2 1 0 36 0 12 J. Fuente 3 0 0 0 0 5-36 0-0
Michael Warren/DN
ABOVE: TONY ORTIZ sacks Oklahoma quarterback Eric Moore for a 9-yard
loss in the second quarter. The Husker defense limited the Sooners to 154
total yards.
Sandy Summers/DN
LEFT: SCOTT FROST is tackled by Oklahoma right cornerback Corey T. Ivy.
Frost finished the game rushing for 66 yards on eight carries and had one
touchdown.
First-half miscues
prove costly for OU
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
The first commandment in
upsetting a top-ranked team in col
lege football: Thou shall not turn
over the ball.
Oklahoma sinned time and time
again in the first half Saturday, fum
bling the ball away on four of its
first five drives, helping No. 1
Nebraska to 34 first-half points en
route to a 69-7 Husker victory, the
worst defeat in Sooner history.
“You can’t cause yourself to
make mistakes and turnovers and
expect to have any chance,” said OU
Coach John Blake, who dropped to
6-14 in his brief career. “We hurt
ourselves.”
Oklahoma and Nebraska both
ran 20 plays in the first quarter, but
the Sooners faced a 20-0 deficit
going into the second quarter
because of the miscues.
Oklahoma s fumbling problems
started on the Sooners third offen
sive play when OU quarterback
Justin Fuente fumbled after a sack
by Grant Wistrom. NU senior line
backer Octavious McFarlin returned
the ball 43 yards to the OU 8, setting
up Kris Brown’s 24-yard field goal.
Two drives later, Sooner sopho
more Brandon Daniels fumbled on
his own 23, setting up another
Brown field goal. Daniels fumbled
again on the ensuing drive, resulting
in an NU touchdown from freshman
I-back Correll Buckhalter.
OU committed its final - and
fatal - turnover early in the second
quarter, when Wistrom forced his
third fumble on a sack of junior
quarterback Eric Moore at the OU
40-yard line. Wistrom also recov
ered the ball.
NU scored a touchdown on the
next play, a 40-yard pass from senior
Scott Frost to freshman wingback
Bobby Newcombe, giving the
Huskers a 27-0 cushion.
Blake said the Sooners had seri
ous problems holding onto the foot
ball, especially Daniels, who had
three fumbles.
“Brandon needs to learn how to
66
There s a
difference between
how you daffy thdZ
ball in high school
and how you carry
in college.
John Blake
Oklahoma football coach
hold onto the football right,” he said.
“There’s a difference between how
you carry the ball in high school and
how you carry in college.”
Oklahoma struggled offensively
the rest of the day. Playing without
its top three running backs, includ
ing All-America candidate
De’Mond Parker, OU managed only
seven points and 154 total yards.
Many of the Sooner troubles
came at tne nanas wistrom, wno
was a menace in the Sooner back
field the entire game.
“I feel like he’s the leader of the
defense,” Moore said. “I really think
he’s the best player that we’ve faced
this year.”
Oklahoma fared as bad' on
defense. After holding NU to 147
rushing yards in the first half, the
flood gates opened in the second, as
OU allowed 184 rushing yards in the
third quarter alone. Nebraska had
409 rushing yards and 552 total
yards for the game.
Blake said NU offense is simple
and effective.
“What they do on offense is pret
ty basic, and it works,” he said.
“They hurt us up the middle a lot in
the second half.”
One of the few bright spots for
Oklahoma was freshman tailback
Seth Littrell. Littrell had 88 yards on
21 carries, the best rushing perfor
mance against the Nebraska defense
this season. He also scored OU’s
only touchdown, a two-yard run
after a 40-yard Moore pass to tight
end Stephen Alexander.