The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 39

Des Moines Sunday Register FINAL Sunday, September 23, 2007 Page 5C BIG 12 REPORT STANDINGS NEBRASKA'S NEAR UPSET SATURDAY AT LINCOLN: Cornhuskers 41, Ball State 40 CONF. ALL WL NORTH PF PA Nebraska rallies for 2 scores in 10 minutes to secure win KANSAS 0 0 4 0 214 23 MISSOURI 0 0 4 0 168100 NEBRASKA 0 0 3 1 144 116 KANSAS STATE 0 0 2 1 108 47 COLORADO 0 0 2 2 93 77 IOWA STATE 0 0 1 3 77 96 SOUTH PF PA OKLAHOMAST. 1 0 2 2 128127 OKLAHOMA 0 0 4 0 246 47 TEXAS 0 0 4 0 148 72 BAYLOR 0 0 3 1 110 89 TEXAS 0 0 3 1 156100 TEXAS TECH 0 13 1 198113 mmmmmmmm X' Sir -to be 48-17." Keller called a 34-yard fourth-quarter interception for a touchdown by senior linebacker Bo Ruud the key play. Nebraska was trailing 37-28 at the time. Until that point, the Nebraska defense looked slow and inept against a passing attack led by sophomore quarterback Nate Davis, who completed 26-of-43 passes for 422 yards and three touchdowns.

After several of the Ball State touchdowns, including a stunning 58-yard catch by wide receiver Dante Love between two defenders, loud boos could be heard throughout the stands. Ruud said the interception occurred mostly because Davis had floated a pass over halfback MiQuale Lewis' head and it landed in his hands. "I bobbled it at first, but when I got control of it, I just went for the end zone," he said. Ruud said he didn't hear the booing fans, but didn't have a problem with them expressing their dissatisfaction. "The fans here are well-informed about Nebraska football," he said.

"They see that we are not coming up to our standards. That's not an insult. It is something that happens. We don't worry about it. We are concerned with getting it right and getting better." Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller passed for a school-record 438 yards, and Nebraska (3-1) needed every one of them against 23-point underdog Ball State (2-2).

OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS 49 TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS 45 Oklahoma State withstands assault by Texas Tech QB Stillwater, Okla. Brandon Pettigrew had run more than 50 yards toward the winning score in a wild shootout for the ages. Without knowing who might be tracking him down from behind, the Oklahoma State tight end wasn't about to take any chances. He dove for the pylon, and the result was the decisive touchdown in a 49-45 win against Texas Tech on Saturday. "That was my Superman," Pettigrew said.

Harrell It took that kind of effort to beat Texas Tech's Graham Harrell, who had the fourth-best passing game in major college football history with 646 yards. Pettigrew caught a short pass from Zac Robinson and rumbled down the right sideline for the score with 1 :37 left. "That was a pretty incredible play for a tight end," offensive coordinator Larry Fedora said. "It was pretty unbelievable for a guy that's 6-6, 260 (pounds) to do what he did with the ball after the catch. He made some people miss and then he took it to the house." Another Red Raider in the record book Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell threw for 646 yards in a losing effort, the second-highest total in Big 12 Conference history.

In fact, the top 12 single-game passing marks in league history belong to Red Raider quarterbacks. A look at the top five: Date Player Yards Sept. 27, 2003 B.J. Symons 66T Sept. 22, 2007 Graham Harrell 646 Oct.

15, 2005 Cody Hodges 643 Sept. 20, 2003 B.J. Symons 586 Oct. 18, 2003 B.J. Symons 552 is Hope! check it out, 1 1 DAVE WEAVERASSOCIATED PRESS Keller, who set a school record with 438 passing yards, said Ball State forced the Nebraska offense and defense to overcome a level of adversity that should serve them well through the rest of the season.

"We had to claw back three or four times," Keller said. "Our defense was down and out and had things go wrong, but they made the plays that had to be made. A win against Ball State is a good thing even though it might have been scripted by some people to FRIDAY'S RESULT Oklahoma 62, Tulsa 21 SATURDAY'S RESULTS Nebraska 41, Ball State 40 Missouri 38, Illinois State 17 Colorado 42, Miami (Ohio) 0 Oklahoma State 49, Texas Tech 45 Baylor 34, Buffalo 21 Toledo 36, Iowa State 35 Kansas 55, Florida International 3 Texas 58, Rice 14 SATURDAY, SEPT. 29 11:30 a.m. Baylor at Texas 12:30 Oklahoma at Colorado 1:00 Iowa State at Nebraska 2:30 Kansas State at Texas 6:00 Northwestern St.

at Texas Tech 6:00 Sam Houston St. at Oklahoma St. SATURDAY'S BEST PASSING C-A Yds TD Harrell, Texas Tech 46-67 646 5 Keller, Nebraska 29-37 438 3 Reesing, Kansas 23-37 368 1 McCoy, Texas 20-29 333 3 Daniel, Missouri 21-34 294 3 RUSHING Att. Yds TD Bass, ISU 34 Savage, OSU 25 Charles, Colorado 17 Robinson, OSU 13 134 2 130 1 123 1 116 2 Hunter, OSU RECEIVING 14 113 1 No. Yds TD Crabtree, Texas Tech 14 237 3 Amendola.TT 14 233 1 Sweed, Texas 5 139 2 Hill, Nebraska 3 129 1 Purify, Nebraska 6 122 1 HE SAID IT "Its not a dream anymore.

I expect to make plays. Everybody else expects me to make plays. That's what 1 do." Jeremy Maclin, a redshirt freshman who returned a punt for a touchdown Saturday, his second of the season irpgt 1 If A 1' 1 2007 F0R0 MUSTANG ByTOM WITOSKY REGISTER STAFF WRITER Lincoln, Neb. Nebraska fans learned Saturday that a one-point victory is much better than a two-point loss, even if the opponent is Ball State. The No.

24 Cornhuskers needed two touchdowns in the last 10 minutes to escape with a dramatic 41-40 victory over the Mid-American Conference team before 84,294 fans. Those fans watched a Nebraska defense so leaky that the team gave up 40 points for the second time in as many weeks the first time that has happened in 17 years and more than 600 total yards the first time that has happened in 16 years and only the fourth time in Nebraska history. But while the fans left the stadium grumbling about the Cornhuskers' chances when Big 12 Conference play begins next week against Iowa State, Nebraska coaches and players were simply glad that a 55-yard field-goal try with 17 seconds left by Cardinal kicker Jake Hogue had sailed well wide of the left upright. Hogue's failed field goal plus a missed extra point earlier in the fourth quarter allowed the Cornhuskers to begin their conference schedule with a 3-1 record. Ball State fell to 2-2.

No one was denying that a little luck might have been OTHER GAMES MISSOURI 38, ILLINOIS STATE 17 Columbia, Mo. For No. 25 Missouri, every possession is a 2-minute offense. The Tigers used their no-huddle spread offense to beat Illinois State 38-17 going into an off week before the Tigers' Big 12 opener against Nebraska. Chase Daniel threw three touchdown passes for Missouri, which had 581 total yards and 38 first downs.

The Tigers scored on drives lasting 17 seconds, 3:11, 2:40, 3:33 and 2:04, and on Maclin's punt return. On 24 scoring drives this season, the Tigers' average time of possession is 2:08. "I want to score I'm not worried about grinding it out," said coach Gary Pinkel, who became the first-ever Missouri coach to start 4-0 in three different seasons. "Our offense is not milk the clock." TEXAS 58, RICE 14 Austin, Texas Colt McCoy passed for 333 yards and three touchdowns to lead No. 7 Texas.

Limas Sweed caught five passes for 139 yards with touchdowns of 52 and 24 yards as the Longhorns pounded out any lingering frustrations after three close wins and a wave of bad publicity surrounding player arrests and suspensions in recent weeks. Texas led the Owls 41-0 in the second quarter. The final score could have been much higher but McCoy and most of Texas' starters were on the bench after the first series of the third. Even then, freshman quarterback John Chiles quickly drove the Longhorns to another touchdown, rushing for 49 yards on an eight-play scoring drive in his first action of the season. COLORADO 42, MIAMI (OHIO) 0 Boulder, Colo.

Cody Hawkins threw two touchdown passes and ran for another as the Buffaloes broke a two-game skid. Hawkins finished 19-of-30 for 275 yards as the Buffaloes racked up 634 yards of total offense. BAYLOR 34, BUFFALO 21 Amherst, N.Y. Blake Szymanski passed for three touchdowns and ran for another. Szymanski was 21 -of-45 for 172 passing yards, shaking off a sluggish first half in which he completed just eight of 25.

He also added 91 yards rushing, including a career-long 39-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter for the Bears, who have won three straight. Buffalo's Drew Willy was intercepted three times and sacked three times. KANSAS 55, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 3 Lawrence, Kan. Todd Reesing threw for 368 yards and Aqib Talib set a team record with a 100-yard interception return, leading unbeaten Kansas to a win and handing the Golden Panthers their 16th loss in a row. Reesing tossed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Derek Fine and also scored on a 9-yard run as the Jayhawks, with four straight blowouts, got off to just their second 4-0 start in 26 years.

The only Big 12 team to play all four nonconference games at home, Kansas has outscored Central Michigan, Southeastern Louisiana, Toledo and Florida International 182-23. ruvji an-- "win a- rm wrm wm r- Altesco? Altesco involved. "You need good fortune in life with anything you do," Nebraska coach Bill Callahan, said. Meanwhile, Ball State coach Brady Hoke knew his team had come as close to defeating Nebraska this year as they did last year against Michigan. Still, the loss was a bitter pill to swallow.

"We work too hard and our kids work too hard 12 months a year, so there are no moral victories," Hoke said. Nebraska quarterback Sam 1 Address a fexf message to 4INFO (44636). 2. In the message, type: For Sports Scores, type a team name (ex: cubs). For Daily Weather, type zip code (ex: 50322).

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Mount and QUICK SNAPS Fight causes Buffs to lose linebacker Michael Sipili was going to figure heavily in the Colorado Buffaloes' game plans Saturday. Those plans had to be altered. The Buffaloes found out Friday that Sipili, a sophomore linebacker, was suspended from school for the fall semester for his role in a fight over the summer. Sipili hadn't played in the team's first three games because of a suspension stemming from the fight. Coach Dan Hawkins was planning to use him in Colorado's 42-0 win over Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.

However, Hawkins received word from athletic director Mike Bohn on Friday of the university's ruling. "It did surprise me. But that's life," Hawkins said. Bohn was surprised by the timing. "But we don't control the timing process.

The university handles that," Bohn said. Defensive tackle Chris Perri, who served a three-game suspension for his role in the fight that cost Sipili his season, returned to the field against the RedHawks and had three tackles. Perri said he received a call from Sipili after the game, asking him how the team did. Perri wished his friend could've been out there on the field. "It brought tears to my eyes," Perri said of the suspension.

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