Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 5

FINAL CHASER Sunday, September 25, 1988 The Arizona Republic D3 COLLEGE FOOTBALL ASU's best news: clash with Nebraska ended INCOLN, Neb. From Arizona State's standpoint, someone should have speeded up the clock or turned BOB HURT Republic Columnist ribs. Ford suffered strained ligaments in his throwing hand. Any other injuries? "Only a few bruised egos," said team physician Norman Fee. There was that.

But even ASU's young defensive line, dominated by the larger Huskers in the end, did not seem devastated. "They weren't as tough as I expected," said rcdshirt freshman Shane Collins. "I'm looking forward to next year. I sort of got my feet wet tonight." There won't be a next year for Sapolu. The senior and only returning starter in the defensive line played with enthusiasm.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "They were a good team. There was nothing much we could do about it. Hopefully, we'll learn from it." Dennis Brown, defensive coordinator, was asked if he could uncover any bright spots. "Well, I'm alive," he said.

"We've got a chance to get back and go to work. That's one thing about football. There's always the next game." Yeah, Dennis, especially when the next foe is Lamar. for 40 yards on a quarterback draw. It was bad news that he fumbled at the end of it.

It was good news that Mike Schuh punted for a 46.3 average. It was bad news that Dana lirinson returned one straight up the gut for 75 yards 'and a Nebraska touchdown. It was good news that ASU, led by Saute Sapolu and Nathan LaDuke, held off the Huskers after they gained a first down on ASU's 5. It was bad news that the stand was followed by a safety. It was good news that Chris Garrett latched onto a 54-yard pass for the first ASU touchdown.

It was bad news that he left because of a broken foot shortly thereafter and will be out a minimum of six weeks. Indeed, that might be the worst news. He is a senior, a leader. Garrett watched, leaning on crutches in front of the bench. He said he was injured on an incompletion.

"Someone just fell on me," he said. "I sat down on the bench, thinking I would go back in. But when I got up to go, I couldn't go" The good news was that other injuries were minor. Tony Johnson suffered bruised more pressure from the secondary. "We should have adjusted to it," said offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

Hey, Mike, that was just one of a dozen tiny things coaches would like to have back. There were delay penalties, penalties for too many men on the field, poor use of the clock at jialftime and so on, ad nauseam. Pick not the nits, Let this be faced: Nebraska, a 22-point favorite, was the better team. It has more players and experience. No need to hunt for reasons.

Chalk this one up as a learning experience. And it was an experience performing before Nebraska's 157th straight sellout crowd. The red-clad audience of 73,312 will be considerably more hostile than any ASU will encounter in its key midscason stretch of three straight road games at Stanford, Washington State and Oregon. It was strange how emotions ebbed and flowed. Quarterback Daniel Ford's first pass was intercepted, his second was dropped but his third went for 54 yards and his fifth for 46'.

That's how it went. The game was a huge good-news, bad-news joke. It was good news that Ford broke free down the lights. Or maybe even turned olT the life support system. This football game grew worse as it grew older.

Not since 1984 has Arizona State lost so badly. Still, the game was not as bad as the final result (Nebraska 47, Arizona State 16). A blowout though it was, the game was interesting. Not edge-of-thc-chair interesting, but enough action for quarters to keep ESPN customers from switching to Olympics coverage. It featured great runbacks of kicks, punts and interceptions, a gallant goal-line stand, reverses and fake reverses, big plays galore and more alignment changes than you'll find at the friendly budget tire company.

Alignments, ah yes. ASU seemed to freeze the secondary by using men in motion and three widcouts in the first half. It was surprising that ASU led in time of possession by a minute at halftimc, although the Huskers led, 30-16. It was a turnaround in the second half as ASU was frozen when Nebraska applied Arizona State At A Glance NEBRASKA ASU 1ST DOWNS 29 16 Rushing 28 6 Passing 1 7 Penalty 0 3 3RD DOWN CON. 511 2-9 Efficiency 45.5 22,2 4TH DOWN CON.

12 01 NET YARDS 470 302 Total plays 84 60 Avg, gain per play 5.6 5.0 NET YARDS RUSHING 441 116 Rushing plays 74 38 Avg. gain per rush 6.0 3,1 NET YARDS PASSING 29 186 Sacks yds lost 2-19 PASSES 3 101 922-2 Avg. gainpass play 13,0 20.7 PUNTS 239.5 TOTAL RET. YDS. 177 147 Punt returns 4 86 2-0 Kickoff returns 4 91 8147 Interception returns 2-55 1-0 PENALTY-YARDS 450 5 30 FUMBLESLOST 10 3-1 POSSESSION 34:11 25:49 Rushing NEBRASKA Att Yds.

Avg. TP Taylor 17 116 6,8 1 Carpenter 7 26 3,7 0 Clark 22 122 5,5 1 Brlnion 2 (-7) 0 Knox 4 26 6,5 0 Rodgers 13 113 8.7 1 Joseph 2 15 7.5 1 Lewis 2 1 0.5 0 Flowers 2 14 7.0 0 Gdowskl 1 -2 0 Coleman 1 9 9.0 0 Dunlap 1 8 8.0 0 ASU Ford 6 37 0.0 0 Wendorf 4 22 5,5 0 Cahoon 7 9 1.3 0 Fisher 2 12 6.0 0 Perkins 8 15 1,9 0 Winsley 9 28 3,1 0 Justin 2 -7 0 Passing NEBRASKA PA PCYdi. TP Int. Taylor 10 1 29 11 ASU Ford 18 8 176 1 2 Justin 4 1 10 0 0 Receiving NEBRASKA Rec. Yds.

Avg. TP Gregory 3 29 13,0 1 ASU Garrett 1 54 54,0 1 Adams 4 101 25.3 0 Johnson 1 8 8.0 0 Wendorf 1 2 2,0 0 James 2 21 10.5 0 (J )) Yf; ''-t: Wt )L i' I Sun Devils trampled by Huskers SUN DEVILS, from page Dl up with a top 10 team. Even after trailing, 30-16, at halftimc, the Devils said they believed -they could win. i think we were definitely in the ball game going into the second half," said defensive tackle Shane Collins. i'Then you could feel the momentum shift." Said strong safety Robby Boyd: "We were doing the things we needed to do, but we self-destructed." ASU quarterback Daniel Ford had some big-play success in the first half.

He completed only 5 of 13 for 143 yards. He finished 8 of 18 for 176 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. "I think we stopped ourselves," Ford said. "We felt like we were in it at halftime. We were down two touchdowns, but we were having success moving the ball." ASU took the second-half kickoff and quickly threatened when Ford took off on a quarterback draw and rati 40 yards.

"I was running down the field thinking about holding onto the ball," Ford said. He didn't. He was stripped from behind by Lorenzo Hicks, and Reggie Cooper recovered at the Nebraska 43. The Devils mounted another drive late in the scoreless third quarter, marching to, the Nebraska 26. But David Winsley lost 7 yards, ASU was penalized for delay of game a play on which Ford took a vicious hit after the whistle then Ford threw a deep post pass for Lcland Adams, who ran a deep corner route.

Jackson intercepted and returned it 55 yards. The Huskers drove again and ASU stopped them with a goal-line stand. But after ASU took over on downs at the tailback Bruce Perkins was trapped in the end zone fof a safety. That started a 16-0 fourth quarter for Nebraska. The crowd relaxed when the took a 9-0 lead in the first quarter on Chris Drennan's 40-yard field goal and Taylor's 11 -yard scoring scramble.

But the Devils made a stunning and quick comeback. Wide receiver Chris Garrett went into motion and was isolated on inside linebacker LeRoy Etienne. It was a mismatch, and Ford exploited it. Ford hit Garrett in stride at the 10. Garrett, who later suffered a broken boiie in his right foot and is out for at David PetkiewiczThe Arizona Republic ASU quarterback Daniel Ford eludes Broderick Thomas.

Ford completed 8 of 18 for 176 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Cornhuskers did what they do best: run Miscellaneous INTERCEPTIONS RETURNEO Nebraska Jackson 2-55. ASU LaDuke 1-0. PUNT RETURN YARPAGE Nebraska Brinson 3-80, Bell 1-6. ASU LaDuke 2-0.

KICKOFF RETURN YARPAGE Nebraska Brinson 3-69, Kitrell 1-22. ASU Winsley 6-126, Cahoon 2-2 1 OPPONENT FUMBLES RECOVEREP Nebraska Cooper. How they scored Arizona State 13 3 0 0 16 Nebraska 9 21 0 17 47 First quarter CORNHUSKERS: Chris Drennan 40-yard field goal. Huskers drove 49 yardsin 13 plays. Time remaining: 9:53.

Nebraska 3, ASU 0. CORNHUSKERS: Steve Taylor 11-yard run. Huskers drove 48 yards after Tim Jackson interception. Drennan kick failed. Time remaining: 6:54.

Nebraska 9, ASU 0. SUN OEVILS: Chris Garrett 54-yard pass from Daniel Ford. Drive took one play. Alan Zendejas kick. Time remaining: 4:04.

Nebraska 9, ASU 7. SUN PEVILS: Bruce Perkins 2-yard run. ASU drove 59 yards in seven plays. Key play was Ford's 43-yard pass to eland Adams. Pass failed.

Time remaining 0:16. ASU 13, Nebraska 9. Second quarter CORNHUSKERS: Ken Clark 31 yard run. Huskers drove 73 yards in seven plays. Gregg Barrios kick.

Time remaining: 1 3:04. Nebraska 1 6, ASU 1 3. CORNHUSKERS: Dana Brinson 75 yard punt return. Up the middle, untouched. Barrios kick.

Time remaining: 1 1 :00. Nebraska 23, ASU 1 3. SUN DEVILS: Zendejas 22-yard field goal. ASU's 15-play, 76-yard drive stalled at the 4. Time remaining: 4:13.

Nebraska 23, ASU 16. CORNHUSKERS: Morgan Gregory 9 pass from Taylor. Nebraska drove 58 yards in 11 plays. Barrios kick. Nebraska 30, ASU 16.

Fourth Quarter CORNHUSKERS: Safety. Perkins tackled in end zone. Time remaining: 14:05. Nebraska 32, ASU 16. CORNHUSKERS: Terry Rodgers 3-yard run.

Rodgers run. Time remaining: 11:11. Nebraska 40, ASU 16. CORNHUSKERS: Mickey Joseph 6-yard run. Nebraska drove 63 yards in eight plays.

Barrios kick. Time remaining: 5:42. Nebraska 47, ASU 1 6. ATTENDANCE 12. By Bob Young The Arizona Republic LINCOLN, Neb.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers had one simple objective Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Run. And while rolling to a' 47-16 victory over Arizona State, the Huskers ran. And ran. And ran.

Quarterback Steve Taylor and I-backs Ken Clark and Terry Rodgers all surpassed 100 yards, and the Cornhuskers amassed 441 of their 470 total yards rushing. No Nebraska back had carried for 100 yards in a game this season. "We knew we had to go out and run the ball," said Rodgers, the son of Johnny Nebraska's 1972 Heisman Trophy winner. "We had to establish that. We hadn't done that against UCLA and we lost (41-28).

"The I-backs only got something like 17 total plays in that game. That's not Nebraska football. We always have somebody with 100 yards. This is what Nebraska is all about power football." Clark, who had a team-high 122 yards, said head coach Tom Osborne pounded the running game into the Cornhuskers' heads just as they pounded it into the Sun Devils. "He kept talking to us about the fact we hadn't made the running game work," Clark said.

"And I had a lot of talks with myself about it. I ran better than I've been running. I think we impressed (Osborne). "When we went out to UCLA, we thought we were on vacation," he said. "We thought we'd just show up and win, and next thing we know, it's 28-0 in the first quarter.

There wasn't a lot of joking around the last two weeks after that." The Devils didn't score in the second half and haven't scored in the fourth quarter this season. Part of that is because the offense can't get the ball. "We tend to wear them (opponents) out," said Rodgers, who had 113 yards. "Once we establish our nower game and keep running the mm David PetkiewiczThe Arizona Republic Arizona State's Shane Collins can't get a grip on Nebraska's Ken Clark, who ran 22 times for 1 22 yards. east six weeks, bobbled the ball but pulled it in for a 54-yard touchdown.

Alan Zendcjas' kick trimmed Nebraska's lead to 9-7. The Devils took their only lead of the game with 16 seconds to play in the first quarter when Perkins ran 2 yards to cap a 59-yard drive. jf, Perkins' touchdown was set up when Ford hit Adams across the middle, splitting Nebraska's zone coverage, for 43 yards to the 3. The Devils went for two points, but Ford's pass to fullback Kelvin Fisher was off the mark. ASU led, 13-9.

Then the Cornhuskers took off. fourth and 2 at the ASU 31, Clark burst up the middle and scored. About two minutes later, the Huskers hit again. This time, ASU's Mike Schuh lofted a 48-yard punt into the, wind. Dana Brinson returned it 75 yards for a score.

Gregg Barrios' kick gave the Huskers a 23-1 3 lead. Said Marmie: "They have a good Sideline return, and our players fanned out to cover the field. They punched us out in the middle." Nebraska dampened any hope of an ASU rally when Taylor threw his only scoring pass 37 seconds before I know we sure didn't show it, but we can play with Nebraska better than what happened. We didn't lay down and die, things just didn't go our way." About the only time the Nebraska running game failed was in the third quarter, when ASU stopped the Huskers at the 1 on fourth and goal. "There is always room for improvement.

That's an area we can improve on," said Nebraska center Jake Young. "You shouldn't get stopped at the 1, but our defense turned around, and got a safety." "We had a lot of missed tackles. I missed some tackles. It just seemed like one of those games where everything that can go wrong, went wrong." ASU tackle Shane Collins said the whole defense takes the blame. "It wasn't any one guy or one group of guys," he said.

"All 11 of us have to take responsibility, "We made some mental errors and missed some assignments. You can't do that and beat a team like Nebraska. "I think we learned from this game. tired. "But we also had some great, downfield blocking from the receivers.

That's where you get the big yardage, when those guys on the line give you a seam and the receivers knock somebody out of the way in the secondary." ASU safety Robby Boyd agreed. "They did wear on us some," he said. "But mostly their backs just had a lot of good holes to run through, and when they got in the secondary they made some great moves. They're talented backs. ball, we 'know they're going to get.