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