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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2000)
r L dtp_Suae_ZIP_ Phone (l__ Home Address,____ °iD| Cord Mother_Exp. Due_ %**»*___ SLCtlep KT.CO Internet Nebraska $9.9 5/month Flat-rate dial-up Mention this ad when you call and tjet your first 12 months of flat-rate dial-up access for $9.95/mo. good tt -u s*.pt.-mber K». 2*Wt Call 434-8680 www.adcbe.com/education VISIT YOUR CAMPUS RESELLER FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION PRICING ON ADOBE* PRODUCTS! Adobe Web Collection, Adobe FTxxoshnp, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe GoLive, and Adobe LiveMocion are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Kevin "Fuzzy" Lierman and Scott Haber cheer for Nebraska at the Round the Bend tavern in South Bend, Neb., on Saturday afternoon; they couldn't get tickets to the game. A group of about ten people came from Beemer to watch the game in "South Bend." GAME from 9 "Standing on the sideline, it looked like a complete collapse," NU Coach Frank Solich said. "Their ball carrier was going almost virtually untouched on both of those to put points on the board. My feeling was, I don’t know if you’re ever getting control of a game like this, but if we could have stopped them on the next drive and... if we could keep going and get another drive going and put a touchdown on the board, then you might be dealing with a whole dif ferent ball game." Considering the near-calami ty, the final statistics surely made Solich and Kicking Coach Dan Young’s stomachs turn: Nebraska outgained Notre Dame by 153 yards, ran 19 more plays, had twice as many first downs and held onto the ball an ungodly 12:08 longer and almost lost The most irritating number was kick return yardage: Notre Dame317,NU61. "We will take a very strong look at our special teams,” Solich said. "We’ll look at personnel on it, we’ll look at schemes, we’ll look at how we coach it” Said Young: “That was as bad as our kicking game has ever been -ever.” The two huge plays almost overshadowed a delicious battle between two revved-up, power option offenses and defenses stingy enough not to let the other team run away. The teams com bined for 458yards and three play ers rushed for 80 or more yards - Alexander (112), Irish QB Amaz Battle (107) and Crouch (80). Crouch was brilliant with the exception of one costly intercep tion, and for two-and-a-half quar ters, the NU attack did its job, slow ly but surely. The Huskers couldn’t muster prolonged scoring drives on their first three possessions and didn’t need to on the fourth. Crouch charged 62 yards for the first score of the game, putting NU up 7-0 with 2:38 left in the opening quarter. Countering the cagey veteran Crouch was the ripe Battle, starting his second career game. Battle never flowed when trying to throw - he finished 3 of 15 passing for 40 yards and an interception - and had jitters early, but answered Crouch’s score by leading the Irish on an all-rushing, 11 -play, 82-yard, 5:26 scoring drive of Big Red pro portions. With the score tied 7-7, Crouch and Co. kept cool and answered with a 15-play, 65-yard drive that chewed up over eight minutes and saw but one pass. The Huskers took a 14-7 lead to the locker room. Alexander’s score at the 8:47 mark in the third signaled the expected Husker takeover. That’s when momentum carried the 14 point underdog Irish back into the game. Jones returned the ensuing kickoff, and the stadium awoke. Four-and-a-half minutes later, Crouch threw a pass off freshman fullback Judd Davies’ hands that landed in ND comerback Shane Walton’s. On NU’s next possession, Getherall took Hadenfelt’s punt to the house to tie the game at 21 with 12:48 left. “From that point on, I don’t think there was any doubt from this team that we were going to win,” said embatded fourth-year ND Coach Bob Davie, who despite a couple of unpopular calls he later regretted, surely became more popular after the near-victory. From that point on, both offenses made threats, but not serious ones. Notre Dame had its chances. On fourth-and-one at the NU 30 with 6:48 left, Davie gam bled and called for a pass, which Battle threw incomplete to tight end Dan O’l^eary. The Irish could have made a drive for the win with 1:07 left and the ball at their own 30, but Davie Scott McClurg/DN Husker fullback Judd Davies brings down Notre Dame comerback Shane Walton after and interception in the third quarter. was not about to take chances with Alexander draw. Rattle Two nlavs later. Crouch took Notre Dame sat on the ball and sent the game into overtime. Nebraska won the coin toss and made Notre Dame attempt to score from the 25-yard-line first. A 15-yard Batde scramble gave the Irish a first down only 8 yards from the end zone. But Jones went prac tically nowhere on two rushes, then NU defensive tackle Jeremy Slechta made the sack of his life on Battle on third-and-goal. Nick Setta booted a 29-yard field goal to put the Irish up 24-21, and the Huskers walked onto the field to go against the deafening ND student body chanting “kill.” “I went over to (the offense) before the overtime and told them, you know, you never want to look back and say you would have, you never want to have any regrets,” Crouch said. “I think I saw the look in every one’s eyes, and they didn’t want to have any regrets, either.” But the job almost didn’t get done. Then Crouch connected Wistrom on what Crouch consid ered the play of the game and fooled Davie, who thought the Huskers would run an option or the option left into daylight, assist ed by a world-beating block by Alexander, to complete one of the more exciting regular season games since NU’s Miracle in Missouri three years ago. Afterward, none of the Huskers were thrilled with their performance or with giving the Irish a chance of victory. To overcome the luck of the Irish on a day when it seemed like there was no better time for the Notre Dame mystique to over whelm Husker powerheld some clout in post-game emotion. Even the stoic Solich, who looked like he had escaped a few ghosts after the game, held strong. "If you’re involved in athletics and you win a game like that,” Solich said, “if there’s no elation, then something’s wrong. “If there’s no relief, then some thing's wrong. So, I think there was probably a bit of both, and for good reason. They do believe in themselves, and I want to press that again. And there was never a moment that they doubted that they were ever going to get it done.” SPECIAL $11,97 DISCOUNTED STUDENT RATE MAIL CARD BELOW TODAY OR CALL 8UttCR»E ONLINE: WWW.BUS3.E8PNMA6.COM ESPN THE MAGAZINE SOJBMA GET 23 JUST ESPN THE MAGAZINE FOR $11.97. . 82% SAVINGS OFF THE NEWSSTAND PRICE! m ONE YEAR. CANADA AND FOREIGN ADO *19 • ESPN. INC. A great score on the GMAT computer adaptive test—the CAT—is critical to your application. So get the Kaplan edge—content, methods, and the most authentic practice there is. On computer, with Kaplan teachers at hand. Classes are filling fast, so call today to find out more. <©> <32^ <2S> <©>' 1-S00-KAP-TEST *Gmw name art ragtolvtd WWW.k«plll.BO«l Kaplan. The leader in GMAT CAT preparation. New (and not so new) Faculty Reception The UNL chapter of the AAUP invites all faculty too Reception on Wednesday, Sept. 13 from 3- 5 pm at the Gty Campos Union. 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