Nebraska's Broken Play Aids Final-Quarter Rally B FROM PAGE ONE Huskers a 14-3 lead, Nebraska frittered away its time attempting to pass. Monotonously, Tagge went to first down passes five consecutive times and hit only one of them. As a result, Nebraska could not establish ball control. . "That wasn't our kind of football at all," said Kinney afterward. "We were trying to throw the ball and try a lot of trick plays. In the second half, we went right at them." Tagge butted in here to explain: "But I told you why. If we planned to pass at all, we had to do it on first or second down when their backs were up tight. In the second half, I don't think we threw more than three times." He threw twice and completed both. Tagge said that coach Bob Devaney left the game mostly to him, sending in "maybe three or four plays in the first half and none at all in the second." He said Kinney's great success running off tackle resulted from audibles. "They would come up to the line of scrimmage with their strong safety (Larry Roach) practically lined up with the end. So I would audible the play to the other side. I must have called 30 audibles," said Tagge. Everybody in the Cornhusker dressing room was happy but there was a little hurt mixed with the joy in the eyes of all-conference safety BillKosch. Kosch was the victim of both of Harrison's TD catches and also was the guilty party on a long Mildren-to-Harrison completion that set up Oklahoma's second TD. "We tried to play Oklahoma like Missouri did and that meant man-to-man coverage on Harrison," said Devaney. "Our defense has always been zone and none of our backs has ever played man-to-man. We chose Kosch because he's a good one and because he Is always deep-conscious. "But if I had it to do over again, I'd sure try something else." In all, Harrison caught four passes from Mildren, his old Abilene, Tex., high school teammate, and all came at the expense of Kosch. Kosch was the goat of the most spectacular sequence of the game. Oklahoma, trailing 14-10 with only 1: 10 remaining in the half, moved 78 yards to score in four plays. There were two runs for short yardage and then a 43-yard bomb to Harrison followed by a 24-yard TD heave to Harrison as Kosch floundered about. If Devaney wished he had his pass defense to do over, Oklahoma coach Chuck Fairbanks wished that he had the three Sooner fumbles back. The Huskers marched 54 yards to score with the first fumble and 40 yards with the second. Still, Fairbanks said, "I'm not disappointed in our team. We played our hearts out but we just came up short." Said Devaney: "This was the greatest victory of my career." President Nixon called Devaney immediately after the game but after hanging on for half an hour, gave up and Devaney called him (collect) back at the Western White House in San Clemente, Calif. Devaney said he received the customary presidential congratulation. Nixon then called Fairbanks and may have put his foot in it with his Nebraska constituents. "He told me that if these two teams played again tomorrow, Oklahoma would probably win," said Fairbanks, smiling. So the talk went on about the President, Kinney's four touchdowns and the bowl games coming up until Tagge was asked what would have happened if his pass play to Rodgers in the fourth quarter hadn't worked. "Good Lord," gasped Tagge. "Don't even bring that up."
