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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1998)
Gameday Nebraska rover Joe Walker became the fifth player in NCAA history to score a touchdown on a punt return, interception return and kick return when he grabbed a Todd Bandhauer pass at the NU 42-yard line and ran it back for a 65-yard score. Walker, a sophomore from Arlington, Texas, scored on a 99-yard kickoff return against Louisiana Tech and a 73-yard punt return against Oklahoma State. “It was a great feeling,” Walker said of his interception return. “Once you see daylight, you know it’s your show.” The Blackshirts held Iowa State to 103 yards rushing. The Cyclones had 20 carries for zero yards after three quarters. Sophomore I-back Darren Davis, who averages 107 yards per game, rushed 18 times for 48 yards. ■ The Huskers’ punting team strug gled Saturday. With three minutes remaining in the first quarter and Nebraska facing fourth and five at their own 44, NU punter Bill Lafleur hobbled the snap and had his first punt blocked this season. ISU’s Jamarcus Powers deflected the ball, . which traveled 14 yards before Jarrott Lollis grabbed it. Lollis then fumbled, and NU’s Josh Kohl recov ered. Later in the second quarter, deep snapper Dominic Raoila snapped the ball too high. Lafleur jumped to catch it and had to run three steps to avoid an ISU defender. He quickly kicked the ball, but defensive line man Ryan Harklau got a hand on it and the punt fell after 14 yards. Neither punt was charged to Lafleur’s average. Lafleur ranks 10th in the nation with a 44.38 yards per punt. ■ With the eighth victory of his head coaching career Saturday against ISU, NU Coach Frank Solich tied Cyclone Coach Dan McCarney in career victories. McCarney has been at Iowa State for four years. ■ Three Huskers started for the first time in their careers Saturday. Russ Hochstem started at right guard and Tracey Wistrom started at tight end for the Huskers, who opened the game in a two-tight end set. Dan Alexander, the No. 3 I-back at the beginning of the year, had good success in his first start. Alexander rushed 22 times for 110 yards. Said Iowa State coach Dan McCarney of Alexander: “Dan Alexander is a load. He is a fine Division I-back, and he had a good day.” Iowa State quarterback Todd Bandhauer passed for 118 yards against the Huskers. He needs 333 passing yards in the Cyclones' final two games to break the ISU all-time career passing yardage mark. Bandhauer now has 4,975 yards in two years at Iowa State. Gameday notebook compiled by senior staff writer Shannon Heffelfinger. NU bounces back m from Texas loss M to pummel ISU fl By Shannon Heffelfinger Senior staff writer Snow clouds rolled into Ames, Iowa, minutes before kickoff at Jack Trice Stadium Saturday, threatening to hinder the Nebraska football team’s option attack and turn a much-needed opportunity for a con fidence-building blowout into a close, sloppy game. But by the end of the contest, a white blanket had covered the field, and the Cornhuskers had buried Iowa State. No traces of the friction and low team morale rumored to exist among the Huskers since their loss to Texas Oct. 31 surfaced as NU dominated the Cyclones in an important game. With thoughts of this week’s battle with Kansas State in the back of their minds, Nebraska out-rushed, out-passed and out played the Cyclones for a 42-7 win in front of 45,817 fans. And the Huskers left Ames ready for Manhattan. “It was very important for us to come ouTand play hard,” said NU quarterback Eric Crouch, who rushed 15 times for 91 yards in his third start of the season. “We were pumped up for this. We wanted to play a very physical game. I’m just glad we can bounce back. There are a lot of guys on this team who aren’t used to losing one game in a season, let alone two.” The 1 lth-ranked Huskers (8-2 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference) bounced back so well that Nebraska Coach Frank Solich labeled the contest as perhaps their best overall performance of the year. The offense rolled up 359 yards rushing, behind 110 from first-time starter Dan Alexander and perhaps the best performance by the offen sive line all season. And the Blackshirts held ISU scoreless until the last five minutes of the game and just missed nailing their second shutout of the season. “There’s no question that the « I’m just glad we can bounce back. There are a lot of guys on this team who arerft used to losing one . game in a season, let alone two.” Eric Crouch NU quarterback Texas loss was a difficult one to come off of,” Solich said. “When you lose a game that you could have won, everyone suffers, and we suf fered for a few days. “But last Monday, I could see that we were ready to move forward. I thought we played very well today. I was pleased with our defense and offensively, we moved the ball much better.” Solich praised Nebraska’s first half execution. After failing to score a touchdown in the first half against Texas last Saturday, the Huskers struck on their second and third pos sessions against Iowa State (2-7 and 0-6). - Alexander scored the Huskers’ first touchdown on a 9-yard run with 28 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Iowa State threatened to answer after quarterback Todd Bandhauer completed a 37-yard pass to Damien Groce on the Nebraska 32-yard line. But NU free safety Clint Finley intercepted Bandhauer at the goal line two plays later. Finley returned the first pick-off of his career 21 yards to set up the Huskers’ second scoring drive of the half. “I was playing deep in the mid dle and when I saw that it was a Please see HUSKERS on 11