I HUSKERS NOVEMBER 8, 1987 SUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR- Speedster Jones cruisin* 6 A little By tape Ken and a little Hambleton inspiration for Keith Jones was like a tuneup and a new set of tires for the Nebraska speedster. Two plays into the game with Iowa State, Jones looked like i he blew a tire as he limped to the sideline. Chief mechanic and Nebraska head trainer George Sullivan looked at Jones and shook his head. "When I went down on the first series, George said he wasn't going to talk to me anymore," Jones said. "That right there gave me encouragement. They retaped me and I went back in. I was revved up. I felt 100 percent healthy for the first time since the South Carolina game when I hurt my ankle. George had been giving me a hard time about that we didn't need any wimps on the field." By the time he left the game in third quarter, the senior I-back from Omaha Central cruised for a career-best 240 yards on 15 carries. His 890-yard 1 total this year is 60 better than his Big Eight rushing title year of 1986. Jones' rushing total was the fifth best by a Nebraska running back. It was good enough to move him into second place on the Big Eight 1987 1 rushing chart (averaging 111 per game) and 10th on the NU all-time career rushing list with 2,146 yards. 'Awesome... beautiful' "He ran so smooth, it was awesome to see," Nebraska defensive tackle Tim Rother said. "He handled his runs so beautifully. His cuts, his speed were something to watch," NU quarterback Steve Taylor said. "All those yards and only 15 carries," reserve offensive guard John Nelson said. "Those long runs come from the initial blocks and downfield blocks, but he did a lot of it on his own. "We didn't have any letdown in the line. We've got to get everything we can out of each play so it becomes a habit." It seemed to be a compulsion with the offensive line as Nebraska rolled up 604 yards rushing. Junior I-back Tyreese Knox filled in for Jones and finished with 120 yards on 14 carries. Taylor added 96 yards rushing, but said he took a back seat to Jones, Knox and the offensive line. "We saw two great running backs and one great offensive line out there," Taylor said. "Tyreese looked awful quick and Keith was excellent. We're going to need that." Jones needed assurance Jones said he needed some sign of assurance before the Oklahoma game. "I felt like it was about time to have a good game," Jones said. "Coach (Frank) Solich told me we'd be running the pitches so I should get ready for a big day. We all agreed I was due." Jones said the 240 yards didn't mean 104 147 after his early bruisin' A 190 To.m 106 Play of the game X ALTO X X X X X XXX X XX 60000 9 Taylor 48 Heibel 6 Jones The 49-pitch I-back Keith Jones played a big role as Nebraska gained more:: yards rushing (604) against lowa State than any team in Cyclone: football history. The previous best was 542 yards by Oklahoma in 1985. Two runs by Jones, which accounted for 133 of his 240% yards, came on the same play - tight right, 49 pitch. One gained* 64 yards, the other 69. First, quarterback Steve Taylor fakes the ball to fullback Micah Helbel, who dives into the line off left tackle. 3 That usually freezes the defensive end, making him easier for the tight end to block toward the middle. Jones then takes a pitchout. from Taylor and goes wide behind the block of pulling left guard. Andy Keeler, who clears the path downfield by blocking the nerback. 4 161 And along came Jones Nebraska senior 1-back Keith Jones (6) breaks loose around the left side - getting past ISU defensive end Tom Stawniak (88), a high school teammate at Omaha Central and goes 69 yards for a touchown on the second play of the third quarter. Jones also had a 64-yard run in the first quarter and scored on a 27-yard run in the second quarter. He finished with 240 yards rushing. Huskers have differing opinions about their per performance. By Ken Hambleton Reviews were mixed. The Nebraska defenders gave the Huskers' performance against Iowa State a solid thumbs down. "A little sloppy. Definitely not sharp. We should have been better," defensive tackle Tim Rother said. The NU offense differed. "I'd give it a thumbs up," quarterback Steve Taylor said. "We didn't peak, but we played OK. "We probably should have had 70 points without the physical mistakes," he said. "But it wasn't a problem of intensity. We wanted to win. We wanted to show improvement and we wanted to get ready for Oklahoma." Pre-game talk blamed Nebraska cornerback Lorenzo Hicks said that the Huskers' lackluster defensive performance was influenced by pre-game talk about woeful Iowa State. "I could tell on that first series. They ran the ball up the middle and got the yards and right then I knew we were not into this game," Hicks said. "Today, I don't think we played that great. It was hard to get pumped. I think we're a better team than we showed. We felt we'd win if we went out and played. "But we didn't shut everything down the way we should," he said. "Some of us figured it'd be an easy game and it wasn't as easy as the score showed. "After they got inside our 20, we got the feeling we didn't want them in our end zone and we got pumped up then," he said. Fumble halted drive •Nebraska linebacker Randall Jobman recovered a fumble at the Husker 1-yard line to stop the Cyclones' first drive of the game. "The goal-line stand helped get the adrenaline going," said Jobman, who started in place of LeRoy Etienne, who was held out early in the game for disciplinary reasons. "We still page 1D From Huskers "It's showtime." Thomas was asked if Nebraska-Oklahoma would be like two cars colliding head-on, at full speed. His penchant for exaggeration showed in his response. It'll be more like "an 18-wheeler and a car (colliding)," he said. *"It'll be something like unreal." Given the fact that the Cornhuskers led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 28-0 at halftime, Saturday's game quickly became something like dull. Even though his team won handily, "I really was not too pleased with some of the execution," Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said. "At times, we played sloppy football and, at times, we didn't intelligent football. "Physically, we played hard. We really weren't flat emotionally, although I don't think we were real sharp. But I think we played a little fat-headed from as much as just having a good game. "The 200 yards doesn't make me a great back. I'm not greater because I had the day. But the opportunity was there because the offensive line was so intense, and I didn't want to back off," he said. After his early sideline visit, Jones returned to the field on Nebraska's second series. On the second play of the drive, he raced 64 yards round the left end on a pitch play before Iowa State's Marcus Robertson dragged him down. "I saw a guy coming at me from the side and I turned to look. I shouldn't have done that because that's how he brought me down," Jones said. It didn't matter. Nebraska scored. After a short ISU punt, Jones carried twice for 34 yards and another Nebraska touchdown. Jones had 163 yards at halftime and still had plenty of gas left. Another long one After the kickoff, he ran through the middle for two yards. On the next play, he broke around the left on a 69-yard. scoring run that was nearly identical to. his first long run in the first quarter, he said. "Morgan Gregory had a big downfield block and the line made the hole so big I was able to get a big jump on their defense," Jones said. Jones only carried once more, but it' didn't bother him that he was denied a shot at the school record of 275 yards set* by Mike Rozier in 1983. "It would have™ been selfish for me to go back in just for a record," he said. "It wasn't needed, and we were getting good : yards from the other guys. FENTY "Besides, by then the holes were get-* ting bigger and bigger and the runs were b getting longer and longer because our line was really blowing them out of there." "This was a great tuneup for me and the team," Jones said, referring to the Oklahoma game in two weeks. "We're running the way we should." learned today that we have to improve a lot in the next two weeks." Rother, who boosted his Big Eight-leading quarterback sack total to 10, said the defense lacked enthusiasm. "We should have been better. We kept them out of the end zone, but we have to forget this game," ! he said. "This is not a team that worries. We decided to stop them and we did. We won, and we've got a big game ahead of us to get ready for." Turnovers the problem Nebraska offensive guard John McCormick was a little more impressed. "The only blemish on the team was the turnovers," he said. "I thought we played well defensively and offensively. "We try to get better every week and I felt we played hard. Look at the 600-plus yards rushing, that's a great game for us," he said. "Give the backs credit and our quarterbacks credit, too. We blocked hard, Keith (Jones) and Tyreese (Knox) ran hard and we got extra downfield blocking from the receivers, too." Improved blocking showed John Nelson, who backed up both of Nebraska's starting guards, said the improvement in the blocking showed. "We've come a long ways since the season opener," he said. "We played as hard as we practiced and that's why we practiced so hard for every game. Even Iowa State. You work to improve so when you get to the big end of the season games, playing your best comes naturally - like in two weeks against Oklahoma." That attitude created some problems, Taylor said. "It's hard to play when the offensive line is blowing people out like they were today. You have so much to choose from, that sometimes you lose your concentration," he said. "I like the games where you have no time to think about what hole to hit and how to hit it. Maybe our line was too intense today," he joked. the mental standpoint. We made a few mistakes, and obviously, we can't make those against a real good team." Iowa State doesn't qualify on that count. Oklahoma, of course, does. Nebraska's mistakes included five fumbles, three of them lost, and an intercepted pass at the Cyclone goal line. "We probably should've had another 21 to 28 points," said Osborne. "I'm personally glad the score was 42- 3 instead of 60-some to three. I didn't want anyone to feel like we were running it up on them, particularly Jim Walden," the former Cornhusker assistant who's now Iowa State's head coach. "On the other hand, I'd really like to see our people execute," Osborne said. If Nebraska had executed the way Osborne wanted from beginning to end, the Cornhuskers probably would have scored more than 60-some. NU's Jon Marco (93) and Tim Rother (78) combine to turn ISU quarterback Derek DeGennaro upside., down in the second quarter. As it was, they gained a season-high 666 yards of offense, including 604 on the ground, the second single-game rushing total in school history. I-back Keith Jones ran for 240 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 carries, and his back-up, Tyreese Knox, rushed for 118 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Steve Taylor, who put Nebraska on the scoreboard with a 9-yard touchdown run four minutes into the game, left in the third quarter with 96 yards on nine carries. The Cornhuskers had touchdown drives of 80, 99 and 97 yards. The line may have blocked too well, according to Taylor. "The holes in the line were so big, sometimes you got lost because you had time to think, and that's when you get in trouble," he said. After a slow start, Nebraska's defensive line also controlled play, limiting Iowa hall will induct ex-Husker McWhirter: Iowa State to Jeff Shudak's school eight, six of them unassisted. record-tying 15th field goal of the sea- Mike Murray, a back-up middle son, a 44-yarder in the third quarter. guard, was credited with seven tackles. of Shudak, a freshman from Council The 5-foot-10, 240-pound sophomore the Bluffs, Iowa, has kicked at least one from Chicago "showed some quickness field in every game this season. and some things that gave me a little He missed an earlier field goal at- more confidence in playing him," Ne- night. tempt from 39 yards away, after the Cy- braska defensive coordinator Charlie clones recovered a fumbled punt at the McBride said. "Mike Murray is a good the Nebraska 27-yard line. player against option teams. be The closest Iowa State was to a touch- "He's hard to get under because he's down came on its first possession, when so short, and yet he's so strong. Mike's it drove to the Nebraska 1, where Corn- probably going to see a lot of action in husker linebacker Randall Jobman re- the Oklahoma game," said McBride. covered a third -down fumble. At last, talk turned to the Sooners. Nebraska's defense was without "I think we can play with anybody i in tackle Neil Smith for all but the first few the country," Osborne said. plays. Smith, who suffered a lower might win big. They might win injury on Wednesday, tried to play but big. I don't know what's going to happen. couldn't and took himself out. But I don't feel it's a deal where we've Senior linebacker Steve Forch was got to go out and play the best game the Cornhuskers' leading tackler with we've ever played in our lives to win." BOONE, Iowa (AP) - Former Nebraska player Steve McWhirter, a native Fairfield, Iowa, will be inducted into Iowa High School Football Hall ofFame at the state playoff finals Friday McWhirter was an all-state linebacker in 1976 and '77 and later played same position at Nebraska. He will one of four former players and five coaches inducted into the hall. Journal -Star photos by Robert Becker, Ted Kirk, Dan Dulaney, Gail Folda and Harald Dreimanis