D-2 Honolulu Star-Bulletin Monday, Dec. 6, 1971 Star-Bulletin's. GAME OF THE WEEK didn't show in our kids' performance They continued to battle. 1 It was a good effort. We had some fine hitting. We made some pretty good pops." The biggest hits, however, belonged to Nebraska's Glover, a 235-pound terror in the middle of the Huskers' front five. "We couldn't handle Glover," Holmes said. "We were practically limited to running plays with double-team blocking on him. Our centers are pretty good boys, but it takes an All-American to handle him. His pursuit is tremendous." Against No. 1... Playing Well Is Not Quite Enough By Dick Couch didn't show in our kids' performance Bob Devaney had a plane to catch,: SO his aloha address was short and sweet. "We're happy with everything," the Nebraska coach said. "It was a great ball game a ball game. Hawaii played inspired football. We feel very fortunate." Then he was gone, amid a flying wedge of red-shirted aides, making tracks for the airport and a late-night flight to Miami ... and stepping almost as smartly as his all-conquering Cornhuskers had just done at jam-packed Honolulu Stadium. THE HUSKERS will be back . perhaps as early as 1976 for another scrap with the up-and-coming University of Hawaii football forces. By that time, the Rainbows just might be ready for them. But Saturday night, all the inspiration and desire in the UH adrenalin bank couldn't keep the nation's No. 1 major-college colossus from its appointed rounds. Nebraska, playing nearflawless football and cashing in quickly on virtually every Hawaii mistake, whipped the Rainbows, 45-3. 'Bows played well. Their offense controlled the ball for 29½ minutes and gave the Huskers a pass if not a run for it between the 20-yard lines. The UH defense made the visitors earn their yards on the ground but couldn't cope with the big-play firepower of quarterback Jerry Tagge, who passed for three Star-Bulletin Writer touchdowns and ran for another. TAGGE, MERCURIAL Johnny Rodgers and their cohorts ripped off 481 yards in total offense. The Nebraska defensive unit, spearheaded by -ranging middle guard Rich Glover, limited the 'Bows to 47 rushing yards. .. including just 15 in 14 carries by Larry Sherrer. The Huskers recovered a fumble and intercepted three passes, turning the recovery and one of the thefts into lightning scores. The 'Bows averted a shutout on a 29-yard first-quarter field goal by tight end Henry Sovio. They had three scoring shots inside the Nebraska 30 but came away empty-handed each time. "It could have been closer," said Sovio, who, in his last game, also set a UH career record of 79 pass receptions by snaring seven in the seams of Nebraska's "*bend-but-never-break" secondary zone. "I think our defense did a very good job, but we (the offense) gave them two touchdowns." "They're awfully tough and quick, though. They deserve to be No. 1." "I DON'T LIKE to use the word 'perfect' because, obviously, they're not perfect nobody is," said UH Coach Dave Holmes, who wound up his fourth season here with a creditable 7-4 mark against high-caliber opposition. "But they don't make any mistakes that hurt them." It seemed that each of the UH mistakes . . an errant Elroy Chong pass, two mixups in pass coverage, a Don Mahi fumble . resulted in clusters of points for the Huskers. Dave Mason zipped 25 yards for a touchdown on the interception. Tagge hit tight end Jerry List for an 80-yard scoring play on the first coverage foulup, passed 33 yards to Rodgers for a score on the second and connected with reserve split Frosty Anderson for a end. yard touchdown two plays after the fumble recovery. "They capitalized on our errors." said UH linebacker Dave Dworsky. "'We all ended up trying to compensate for other peoples' mistakes. They executed to perfection. They're not 11 players. They play as a team and they're a great team. "BUT THE SCORE wasn't indicative of how we played. We played our hearts out.' "Any team is going to get discouraged at. a certain point," Holmes said. "But it "WE MED him most of the night,' said Tom Fruechtel, the 'Bows' offensive captain. "He's awfully hard to knock down. I didn't see him off his feet all night!" "Their pursuit killed all the wide stuff," said Sherrer, who bowed out with 1,129 rushing yards in his senior season--an all-time school record. "The kind of plays Sherrer runs well ,. . off-tackle plays and sweeps were the plays we couldn't run," Holmes said. "It's the first time all year we've been utterly unable to run. It was like wasting a down every time we tried.' "God, are they quick" said quarterback Mike Biscotti, who hit on 11 of 18 passes for 171 yards but was swarmed under, along with his backfield mates, each time he put the 'Bows within striking distance. "Down near the goal line, they really stiffened up. We couldn't find anything that would go down there." FAILED TO GET MESSAGE capacity crowd of 23,002 get the point across to the FOR THE BATTLING 'Bows, it was the end of the beginning. Despite the loss of Sherrer, Sovio, Randy Ingraham, Dworsky, Fruechtel and other blue-chippers, their future appeared bright as Holmes and his aides departed last night on their annual Mainland recruiting caravan. For the Cornhuskers,: and their thousands of crimsoncloaked followers, it's on to the Orange Bowl for a New Year's Night date with similarly unbeaten Alabama, the nation's No. 2 team. "You've got a real aggressive football team said Bill "Thunder" Thornton, the former All-American running back at Nebraska who's now one of Devaney's assistant coaches. "You played a fine game. But we'll have to play better than we did tonight to beat Alabama." That, apparently, is the price a team must pay for being almost perfect. * * *
