Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1998)
[Nebraska 21 Texas A&M ends Huskers’ reign J By Andrew Strnad Staff writer COLLEGE STATION. Texas A game that was dubbed a "maroon-out" for Texas AAM fans proved to be iights out for Nebraska. The fans dressed themselves in maroon T-shirts m an attempt to wash out the red and white that opponents have gotten used to. It worked. And for the first time in six seasons. No. 2 Nebraska lost a regular-season conference game, ending a streak of4() consecutiv e w ms w ith a 2S-2 I loss to the Aggies at kv le 1 teld before a crowd ofbOTbS Saturday I he Aggies < 5-0 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12 Conference) pounded the ball at Nebraska, piling up 25l> cards rushing on a defense that allowed an average 83 c ards per game. "There wasn't am secret, thee just flat whipped us." Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride said. "Any time you can run the ball like that, that tells you something: The defense isn't v ery good." While the Huskers (5-1 and 1-1) struggled on the ground. NU's passing game gave them an opportunity to win the game. With two late touchdowns. NU had cut A&M's 28-7 lead to 28-21 with four minutes and seven seconds left to go in the game. But a Sedrick Cum interception preserv ed the victo r\ for the Aggies. Quarterback Bobby New combe's pass was intended for senior split end Bill) Haafke. but he ran the w rong route, and Currc stepped and picked off the toss near midfield "We had a couple of plays w here there was some miscommumcation. like the last plac." New combe said. "Not all 11 placers were on the same page." To the Buskers' credit, after trailing be 21 with 9:19 left in the fourth quarter, thee were able to score 14 points m dt i ces that took a total of 2:40 off'the clock combined. "I hec did a tremendous |ob of putting us m a situation to w m the game at the end." Coach I rank Solicit said. "But A&M deserces a lot of credit" Texas A&M earned the credit carle m the game w ith a punishing rushing attack that set the Aggies up for what A&M Coach R.C. Slocum called the biggest win of his career. The Aggies had two running backs with more than 100 c ards as Dante Hall ran 32 times for 113 cards, and fresh man fullback Ja'Mar Toombs added 110 c ards on 10 carries. "We deserved to get beat: thee just beat physically all game long." McBride said. * Texas A&M struck first on its sec ond drive of the game on an 81-yard pass from Randy McCown to Chris Taylor. Please see A&M on 11 Passing Passing Name Comp Att Yds TD Name Comp Art Yds TO Bobby Newcombe 15 27 204 0 Randy McCown 2 8 93 1 Game Stats itch - First downs 17 12 Fumbles lost 1 0 Rushing attempts 44 57 Interceptions 1 1 Rushing yards 141 259 Penalties / yards 5/67 8 60 Passing completions 15 2 Punt, returns / yards 5 50 4 31 Passing attempts 27 8 Kickoff returns / yards 4/69 1/13 Passing yards 204 93 Time of possession 28:39 3121 Total yards 345 352 Sacks / yards 4 /22 4 / 26 Scoring Summary Nebraska 0 7 0 14 21 Texas A&M 7 7 7 7 28 I Team Qtr Scoring play Plays - yards Score Nebraska TA&M TA&M 1 Chris Taylor 81 yd pass from Randy McCown 4- 66 0 7 NE 2 Correll Buckhalter 7 yd run 8 - 48 7 7 TA&M 2 Dante^all 1 yd run 4-80 7 14 TA&M 3 Warrick Holdman fumble recovery in end zone 7 21 TA&M 4 Ja’Mar Toombs 3 yd run 13 - 86 7 28 NE 4 Bobby Newcombe 11 yd run 6 - 76 14 28 NE 4 Joel Makovicka 9 yd run 10-66 21 28 Aggies punish NU with ground attack i By James Nicas Staff writer * ( COLLEGE STATION, Texas After a close victory over Oklahoma (State, Nebraska was expected to be the team to re-establish a power run ning game. When the game concluded against Texas A&M, it was the Aggies who had found their lost run ning game while the Cornhuskers were still searching. The Aggies’ 259 yards on the ground led an offensive attack that kept the No. 2 Huskers' defense off balance in their 28-21 victory Saturday. Although A&M's funning game > lacked the style and flair that Husker offenses are accustomed to, its results could not be questioned. “We didn't try to trick them; we just wanted to beat them by playing I good, sound football.” A&M Coach ) R.C. Slocum said. “I thought we would play well, but 1 knew it would \ be a pretty big hill to climb. “We knew we had to run the ball, and knew' we couldn't get all spread out and try this trick play or that trick play.” Slocum’s no-nonsense ground game was led by junior running back Dante Hall. Hall's 113 yards on 32 carries paced an Aggie running game that was almost exclusively used in A&M's game plan. Freshman fullback Ja'Mar Toombs added 110 yards on 10 car ries to complement Hall's load. Out of A&M's 65 offensive plays, 57 stayed on the ground, which kept the Nebraska offense off the field and seemed to wear dow n NU's defense. “As we were dnv ing the ball, we were picking 4 and 5 yards, and you could see in their eyes that they didn't know what to do.” A&M tight end Dan Campbell said. "We kept pound ing and pounding at them, and they didn't seem to be stopping us ” Entering the game, the Aggies' offense had often been criticized for its poor play. Many critics placed blame on an offensive line that had to replace three starters from last year's group that had 79 games of combined experience. Toombs said the play in the offen sive line was the biggest reason the Aggies were able to pull off the upset. “By far this was the best game we've had on the offensive line,” Toombs said. “The offensive line did a great job, and we were clicking on all cylinders.” a&m s Diggesi run or rne or me game was a 71 -yard jaunt by Toombs to set up the second touchdown. It was the longest A&M run this season and the 11th longest run in Aggie his tory. “There was some daylight, and l just kept running,” Toombs said. “1 didn't know (NU free safety Mike Brown) was behind me until 1 looked at the big screen and saw him." The last two weeks have been unfamiliar territory for the NU defense. Along with Oklahoma State running back Nathan Simmons' 114 yards last week, Hall's and Toombs' 100-yard games marked the first time Nebraska has given up back-to-back 100-yard games since the Texas and Virginia Tech games in 1996. “There was a lot of parallels between us and Oklahoma State,” Defensive Coordinator Mike Hankwitz said. "We didn't panic, and we just wanted to pound at them. It looked like some of their defensive players were getting tired. "Any time you can hav e 100-yard rushers, you don't know what to defend " Football game review £ Nebraska ^ - Texas ft&M jCfr Rushing Rushing &Kk Name Car Yds Avg TD Name Car Yds Avg TD Bobbv Newcombe 23 56 2.4 1 Dante Hall 32 113 3.5 1 Joel Makovicka 8 51 6 4 1 Ja'MarToombs 10 140 11.0 1 DeAngelo Evans 10 31 3.1 0 Randy McCown 12 26 2.2 0 Receiving Receiving Name Rec Yds Long TD Name Rec Yds Long TD Matt Davison 10 16 7 16.7 0 Chris Taylor 1 81 81.0 1 Billy Haafke 3 23 7.9 0 Chris Cole 1 12 12 0 0 DeAngelo Evans 19 9.0 0