Crouch romps in Huskers’ easy win
CROUCH from page 20
got to go ahead and do that.”
Crouch’s display was matched by
the Nebraska defense, which shut
down a less-than-scintillating offense
for the second week in a row. Cal
managed only nine first downs for the
game, and, after the first 15 minutes,
made little-to-no meaningful
yardage. Cal had 145 total yards for
the game, 72 over the last three quar
ters.
Along with a strong performance
from punter Dan Hadenfelt, the
defense gave the offense good field
position most of the day.
“They’ve done all we’ve asked
them to do,’* said NU Coach Frank
Solich of the Blackshirts, “and all
that’s been possible to do from a
defensive point of view. But they will
get tested.”
The Huskers got tested slightly on
Cal’s opening two drives, as the Bears
entered Nebraska territory but came
away with no points. On the second
drive, kicker Ignacio Brache hit the
left upright with his 35-yard field
goal attempt.
The Bears (1-1) threatened to
score only once more in the entire
game (Brache missed another field
goal) and starting quarterback
Samuel Clemons completed only 6 of
16 passes for 84 yards.
“There was some confusion out
there early on,” rover Mike Brown
said. “But once we got settled down
and got into a rhythm we were pretty
much dominant.”
Meanwhile, California’s defense
set in hard against the NU rushing
attack. After stuffing the Huskers on
the first two drives, Nebraska finally
broke through with a five-play, 51
yard touchdown drive, culminating
with a Newcombe 12-yard option
run.
Shortly afterward came Crouch’s
trio of scores.
At quarterback, he initially led
NU (2-0) on a nine-play, 80-yard
scoring drive, which ended in his 1
yard touchdown run.
After Newcombe’s next drive
stalled, Crouch was on at quarterback
again. On the series’ second play, he
popped back to pass and found tight
end Tracey Wistrom wide open - no
one was within 20 yards of him - and
Wistrom hoofed it to the end zone for
a 70-yard score. On the play, and sev
eral others during the game, Cal had
committed 10 players to stopping the
run.
That defense opened up the air
waves significantly. For the game,
NU had 187 passing yards and aver
aged 37.4 yards per completion.
“(Cal’s) style of defense, it makes
you look bad and can get you for a lot
of lost yardage, which I’m sure we
had today,” Solich said. “But it’s also
vulnerable for big plays.”
Said NU center Dominic Raiola
of the Cal defense: “I thought they
were bunch of cream puffs up front.
They brought nine guys up in the box,
and that’s what broke the big plays. If
you look at the film, their guys are
laying all over the ground.”
Crouch scored again a few min
utes later, lining up at split end, catch
ing a short inside screen pass from
Newcombe and weaving his way
through the defense for the score. The
play had been set up from last year’s
24-3 win over California, and Solich
said there was an opportunity for the
play to break.
“In a game, I’ve never caught a
pass before,” Crouch said, including
his time at Millard North High
66
I thought they were a
bunch of cream puffs
up front”
Dominic Raiola
NU center
School. “Everybody was in the right
place at the right time.”
Aside from those big plays, Cal’s
defense gave up very little in the first
half.
NU had 43 yards rushing. I-backs
DeAngelo Evans and Dan Alexander
were virtually nonexistent. But
Crouch supplied enough juice for
Nebraska to be comfortably ahead.
He was 2-2 passing for 102 yards and
had four touchdowns overall.
“I’ve found what my role is right
now,” Crouch said. “And I think it’s
good for me.”
NU padded its lead in the second
half with the aid of a Brian Shaw
blocked punt and a Ralph Brown
interception, which he returned to the
Cal 4-yard line. Those turnovers led
to 10 points.
Instead of progressing after the
first quarter, the Bears’ offense
regressed in the second half, gaining
only 33 yards. In the third quarter,
Clemons gave way to true freshman
Kyle Boiler, who resorted to heaving
the ball 40 yards down field to avoid
oncoming rushes.
Nebraska also benefited from 14
California penalties, some of them
personal fouls. Several times, the
Bears didn’t have the proper substitu
tion methods or the required six men
Football Game Review s f
Nebraska California
Rushing Rushing
No. Name Yds Avg TD No. Name Yds Avg TD
30 Di Diedriek 30 5.8 0 4 M. Fields 32 2.1 0
38 Dan Alexander 27 4.3 1 29 J. Igber 17 4.3 0
7 Eric Crouch 26 2.3 2 34 S. Muhammad 13 3.3 0
Receiving Receiving
No. Name No Yds TD No. Name No Yds TD
67 Tracey Wfirtrom 2 102 1 3 M. Ainsworth 4 53 0
7 Eric Crouch 1 60 1 4 M. Fields 1 24 0
3 MaO Davison 1 18 0 87 B. Surgener T 14 0
Passing Passing
No. Name Att Cmp Int Yds TD No. Name Att Cmp Int Yds TD
12 BobbyNeweombe7 3 0 85 1 5 S. Clemons 16 6 1 84 0
7 Eric Crouch 2 2 0 102 1 7 K. Boiler 10 2 1 21 0
Game Stats mmka m mmm m
First downs 15 9 Funnies lost T 1
Rushing attempts 48 35 Interceptions 2 0
Rushing yards 114 40 Penalties/yards 6/65 14/140
Passing attempts 9 26 Punt returns /yards 4/41 2/9
Passing completions 5 8 Kickoff returns /yards 1/25 3/77
Passing yards 187 105 Time of possession 29:07 30:53
Total plays 57 61 Third-down conversion 5 of 13 4 of 17
Total yards 301 145 Fourth-down conversion 0of1 OofO
Average yards per play 5.3 2.4 Sacks/yards 5/37 4735
Matt Haney/DN
on the line of scrimmage, leading to controversy, which heated up again
more penalties. In all, Cal lost 110 with Crouch’s - success and
yards in penalties and turned the ball Newcombe’s relatively slow start,
over three times. But, at this pomtf it’s a win he will
“They didn’t get too many calls,” take. Even if, in some ways, the 45
said middleTinebacker Carlos Polk, point margin didn’t necessarily fit the
who had seven tackles and one sack, game on the field.
“As a defense,, we try to go out there “It was a surprising game,” Solich
and cause mistakes — and we did.” said. “Throughout the whole week, as
For the game, Nebraska had 301 we prepared, we thought it was going
total yards - 242 less than last week, to be a lot closer game than it turned
which Solich said was some cause for out to be score-wise,
concern. > “We did enough things to make it
The coach also deflected any work. I think we contributed in all
questions to the ongoing quarterback three areas.”
r* '1 ' ~ r*
Big plays thwart
Cal’s upset bid
CAL from page 20
touchdown and two field goals in the
first half,” Holmoe said. “It’s hard
because you work for those points.
They aren’t going to give them to you
very much. If you don’t come away
with points when you get an opportu
nity, you might not get another one.”
As disheartening as the little mis
takes were for the Bear offense, they
were particularly difficult to swallow
for the defense, which held NU to 114
rushing yards, 15 first downs (four by
penalty) and 187 yards passing.
Holmoe said he was proud of his
defense’s effort against the run but
said a couple mistakes contributed to
NU’s points.
“The idea wasn’t that we were
going to give away the pass,” Holmoe
said in reference to Tracey Wistrom’s
70-yard touchdown reception and
Eric CroiK?f?V60-yard touchdown
catch. “We just had a couple of break
downs. That’s too bad because we
were playing them pretty tough on the
line of scrimmage. Things could have
been a little different.
“The difference was the big play.
You can’t be satisfied with holding
Nebraska’s rushing yards down. We
didn’t come in here to do that. We
came in here to win the game.”
Another thing that might have
made a difference was the loss of
inside linebacker Matt Beck, one of
the defense’s leaders, to a sprained
foot in the first quarter of the game.
But Holmoe said Beck’s loss wasn’t a
major factor.
“It was hard to lose Matt,”
Holmoe said. “Juan Jimenez came in
and did a great job. He played super. I
don’t think Juan Jimenez had any
thing to do with the big plays. I know
he didn’t."
66
We just had a couple
of breakdowns. Thats
too bad because we
were playing them
pretty tough on the
line of scrimmage
Tom Holmoe
California coach
“Twelve bad plays - four really
bad ones,” said senior inside line
backer Keith Miller shaking his head.
“It’s tough to play a perfect game
but that is what we strive for. You have
to play a perfect game against these
guys. Those four big plays killed us.”
As for whom the Bears felt was
the better NU quarterback, they
wouldn’t pick one. However, Miller
did offer his opinion about the situa
tion.
“I am seeing more and more
teams go with two quarterbacks, and
it is working for them,” said Miller,
who made six tackles. “It is working
for these guys so far, and I would con
tinue it. They both play very hard.
“They are a running team and if
they are going to run the ball, keep
Newcombe in there and teach him
how to pitch every once in a while.
“If Newcombe were in the game,
we knew he was going to keep it and if
Crouch was in, he probably was going
to pitch it. Newcombe likes to keep it,
and you key on that. Crouch runs very
hard. I will give him that. He is a very
hard runner and I respect that.”
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