By Andrew Strnad
Staff writer
Dietitians strongly recommend a
balanced diet to maintain health.
Despite the absence of several
key starters, Nebraska was able to
feast on a balance of passing and run
ning with a 38-7 win over the
University of Alabama-Birmingham
at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
For the second week in a row, the
historically run-happy Comhuskers,
now 2-0, have resorted to usingtfrje
pass.
And this time it was redshirt
freshman quarterback Eric Crouch at
the helm, starting in place of the
injured Bobby Newcombe.
“I think my contribution helped
out a lot, considering Bobby was
out,” Crouch said.
Crouch finished the game com
pleting 11 of 17 passes for 126 yards
and a touchdown.
In addition, Crouch ran the ball
seven times for 69 yards and two
scores, one of which took the 75,921
fans on hand by surprise.
Right before halftime, the
Huskers were faced with a first and
10 at the UAB 11-yard line, with just
over 10 seconds remaining and no
timeouts. . .. ...
NU Head Coach Frank SoTich
called a 39 sprint, and if the Huskers
-didn’t convert, the score would
remain 14-7 at the half.
Crouch did convert, and the
Huskers went into the locker room
with a 21-7 lead.
“We were in a hurry-up situa
tion,” Crouch said. “And the guy who
I was supposed to option off took the
running back, and I decided to cut up
the field.”
However, things didn’t start off so
well for Crouch and the Huskers from
the opening kickoff.
The Blazers, 0-1, forced the
Huskers to punt on their first two
series of the game, before senior
Shevin Wiggins returned a UAB punt
35 yards to the Blazer 33-yard line.
NU quickly went to work and
scored in six plays, capped by a three
yard run by fallback Joel Makovicka.
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Football Game Review «*> »»>«*7
Nebraska |
1 Rushing N Car Yds Avg TD
Mama Car Yds Avg TD Name^ )6 50 3.1 0
CorreB Bucknalter 19 ■ Ortavious Miles 8 33 41 1
SSSoke s % 3.4 1 Bernard Anderson 7 30 4.3 0
Receiving RK Yds ^ TD *^r9 *« Yds Long TD
Name a 37 16 0 Quentin Troupe 2 2) 12 0
Kenny Cheafcai*^ 4 37 6 Bernard Anderson 1 15 15 0
Sheldon Jackson 3 33 15 q DafylJohnson 1
l _ __ r-.. Passing
Passing Yds TD Name comp Att
Name OanielDixon 8 15
Eric Crouch • 11 17 ™ LeeJolly 0 3
Monte Chnsto 4 4 0
Game Slats Re&rasKa ill
_....... oo 16 Fumbles tost
First downs 43 46 Interceptions
Rushing attempts ^ Penalties / yards
Rushmg yards 18 Punt retums / yards
1S 8 Kickoff retums / yards
Passing completions &6 Time 0f possession
Pass'ngyards Sacks /yards
Total yards_w _.
Scoring Summary Alabama^ Burmingham 0 7 0 0 7 I
Nebraska 7 14 0 17 38
Team Qtr Scoring play
>. Makovicka 3 yd run
NU 2 S. Jackson 15 yd from E. Crouch
UAB 2 0. Mflas 2 yd run
NU 2 E. Crouch 11 yd run
NU 4 K. Brown 27 yd field goal
NU 4 E. Crouch 59 yd run
NU 4 T. Wistrom 63 yd pass from M. Christo
Plays-yards
6-33
13- 71
1 16-80 •
12-70
14- 77
4-76
1-58
Score
Nebraska UAB
7 0
14 0
a 14 7
21 7
24 7
31 7
38 7
“That first series the offense was
a little flat, and not motivated maybe,
but that second series, we knew we
had to move the ball,” Crouch said.
The next time the Huskers
touched the ball, it was a vintage
Nebraska drive with an unfamiliar
ending.
Starting at their own 29, the
Huskers marched down the field
before being forced with third and 11
at the UAB 15. Crouch then threw a
screen pass to I-back Correll
Buckhalter, who managed to avoid a
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JON r KANK/ U1N
loss by breaking the tackle from UAB
safety Wes Foss.
Eventually Buckhalter motored to
the UAB 11-yard line, leaving NU
with a fourth and one.
Solich called for a pass to tight
end Sheldon Jackson, a play that
might not have been called in years
past.
“We really waited for the right
time,” NU Head Coach Frank Solich
said. “They had one guy fall off and
Please see UAB on 11