The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 36

Des Moines Sunday Register DM Nebraska 48 Iowa State 14 "Eric Crouch is as good as there is in Vvv college football. He is a legitimate lvm Cyclone Playback Heisman candidate. Iowa State coach Dan McCarney Scoring Summary Extra Points ISU 0 0 14 0 14 Register staff writer Randy Peterson evaluates the Cyclones on a scale of one to three footballs. Neb. 20 21 0 7 48 Page 6C Sunday, October 7, 2001 i I Worth the hype Whether it was running, throwing or changing plays at the line of scrimmage, Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch was everything he was touted to be.

His first 11 rushes resulted in 100 yards and four touchdowns. The four touchdowns gave him 51 rushing touchdowns for his career, an NCAA record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. FIRST QUARTER Craver 57 interception return (Brown kick). 13:04. Oiednck 2 run (Brown kick), 8 49.

Crouch 1 run (kick failed), 1:20. SECOND QUARTER Crouch 4 run (Brown kick), 9 32. Crouch 25 run (Brown kick), 2:38. Crouch 1 run (Brown kick), :30. THIRD QUARTER I Wallace 17run (Yelk kick), 7:28.

I Young 13 pass from Wallace (Yelk kick), 1:44. FOURTH QUARTER Miller 1 run (DeAngelis kick), 1:08. A 78.002. it Defenseless Nebraska exceeded 300 yards of offense by the fourth play of the third quarter. Team Stats IOWA STATE NEBRASKA KEY: A 2 I Wallace ran well Iowa State quarterback Seneca Wallace had some nice scampers, especially a touchdown run in the third quarter that was considerably longer than the 17 yards for which he was credited.

He faked a handoff, then ran left. Finding nothing, he reversed his field, then cut left for the first touchdown against Nebraska since Sept. 8. Total yards 336 M. 3 476 Rushing yards 122 3 And he made mistakes 3 359 0 One week after setting a conference record with completions in a row, Wallace threw two first-quarter interceptions.

One was returned 57 yards for a touchdown. The other led to a Nebraska touchdown. He completed only one of his first eight passes. Passing yards 214 EZ3 117 2f3 Time Of 30:29 possession 29:31 -4I HODNEY WHITETHE REGISTER Heisman candidate: Nebraska's Eric Crouch runs around Iowa State's Adam Runk for a touchdown in the first half Saturday. Crouch set an NCAA Division I-A record for career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 51.

ISU NEBRASKA 3 Cyclones annihilated' Never give up Iowa State's defense held on Nebraska's first two possessions of the third quarter. The Cornhuskers failed on a fourth-down attempt on their first possession of the third quarter, then punted on fourth down on their second possession. 20 Total first downs 25 10 18 Rushing first downs Passing first downs 2 Penalty first downs 2 in first half, coach says 0 Yards gained Poor punt coverage Nebraska's DeJuan Groce returned Tony Yelk's first punt 34 yards to the Iowa State 49-yard line. The punt wasn't Yelk's best effort, either, going only 31 yards. 57 Yards lost 12 CYCLONES, from Page 1C 359 122 Rushing yards 2 14 yards of offense 1 10 passing yards on 10 completions and 104 rushing yards on 15 carries.

He had 302 total yards 117 214 Passing yards 13-29 Complete-attempts 11-16 Poor punt blocking against Iowa State last season. He ran the option to near perfection 0 1 2 Interceptions with speedy dashes around both ends. He had shifty runs in the middle of the field. It's bad enough punting deep in your territory. It's worse to have the punt blocked.

That's what happened to Yelk at the Cyclone 24-yard line in the second quarter. Four plays later, Nebraska led, 41-0. Eric Crouch is as good as there is in Return yards 0-0 Fumbles-lost 0-0 college football," Iowa State coach Dan McCarney said. "He's as good as I've coached against. Just look what he did in it.

3-40 6-55 Penalties-yards 2-390 6-320 Punts-average the first half." 9-16 Third-down efficiency 6-12 He did in the first half what good Looking Ahead players do in a game, while helping Nebraska to a 41-0 lead. Individual Stats 1 "I was surprised by their start," 2-2 McCarney said "I thought the first half would be a good, tough competitive game, much like it was in the second half. But they just absolutely annihilated us in the first half. We didn't finish blocks, we LL 11,1 ml BILL NEIBERGALiTHE REGISTER were not crisp and our routes, passes and protection was not good. Punt problem: Nebraska's Troy Hassebroek blocks a punt by Iowa State's Tony Yelk in the first half of Saturday's game at Memorial Stadium.

Iowa States exciting quarterback. KICK0FF: 1 p.m.; Memorial Stadium, Columbia, Mo. TV: None. RADIO: KXNO-AM 1460 and Cyclone Network. SERIES: Missouri leads, 53-31-9.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: Iowa State will be in search of its third victory against the Tigers in a row. That would equal the Cyclones' longest active winning streak against a Big 12 Conference opponent. Iowa State has defeated Baylor three times in a row. PLAYER TO WATCH: Cyclone tailback Ennis Haywood rushed 23 times for 214 yards and two touchdowns in last season's 39-20 victory against Missouri. Seneca Wallace, had some entertaining runs against a defense annually among 5.

1 the nation's best. His best was a 17- yarder for a touchdown in the third quarter. He ran left, then reversed his Haywood direction when he saw Cornhusker red. He veered left again, then scored easily. didn play well in the first half, no one did," said Wallace, who threw two first-half interceptions.

"We made amends a little in the second half." DATE OPPONENT SCORETIME KEY STAT Wallace passed 13 yards to Lance much throughout the first half." Crouch had four first-half rushing touchdowns, and by intermission became the NCAA career record-holder for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 51. He scored on runs of 1, 4, 25 and 1 yard "We came out and established our power game and ran the ball when we needed to," Crouch said. "I think the offense was almost unstoppable in the first half." Nebraska led, 20-0, after the first quarter. Two of the touchdowns were directly or indirectly the result of Wallace passes that were intercepted. Cornerback Keyuo Craver returned Wallace's first interception 57 yards for a touchdown on Iowa State's first possession.

The play, a pass intended for Jack Whitver, ended what started as a good opening drive against the second-ranked defense in the nation. "Their guy closed on the ball real well," Wallace said. "Like I said before, we didn't play well in the first half." Dahrran Diedrick scored on a 2-yard run through the middle of the line and Nebraska had a 14-0 lead just 6 minutes 11 seconds into the game. The Cornhuskers' third touchdown of the opening quarter followed Wallace's second interception, this one by DeJuan Groce at the Iowa State 23-yard line. Crouch scored on a 1-yard run four plays later, then added second-quarter touchdown runs of 4, 25 and 1 yard.

The Cornhuskers led, 21-0, after the first quarter in 1998 and again in 1999; they led, 35-7, after one quarter in 1997; and 200 after the first quarter in 1996 and 1995. "There were not a lot of surprises," McCarney said. "That shows you how bad we were and how good Nebraska was." Young for Iowa State's second touchdown. "A lot of times, a player can fall apart with two early interceptions," Nebraska coach Frank Solich said. "I thought he came back and still made plays." Sept.

8 Northern Iowa W.45-0 ISU defense: 6 INTs Sept. 22 at Ohio 31-28 Haywood: 219 rush yds. Sept. 29 Baylor 41-0 Wallace: 22-24 passing Oct. 6 at Nebraska 48-14 41-0 at the half Oct.

13 at Missouri 1p.m. Oct. 20 Oklahoma State 1 p.m. Oct. 27 at Texas TBA Nov.

3 Kansas State 1 p.m. Nov. 10 Colorado 1 p.m. Nov. 17 at Kansas TBA Nov.

24 Iowa Noon But Crouch had already made enough big plays for Nebraska to win. when you look at how he ran the ball in the first half, that was critical to us in terms of keeping drives alive," Solich said. "We used him as an I-back pretty IOWA STATE ATT. YDS Haywood 20 61 Wallace 14 45 Wagner 3 11 Montgomery 1 5 NEBRASKA ATT. YDS Diedrick 15 107 Crouch 15 104 Collins 4 62 Grlxtiy 5 26 Lord 8 24 Davis 1 12 Miller 2 11 Oavies 3 10 Krierwald 1 3 IOWA STATE HO.

YDS Danlelson 5 82 Campbell 2 51 Montgomery 2 39 Young 2 27 Banks 1 16 Haywood 1 -1 NEBRASKA NO. YDS Collins 5 33 Gibson 3 35 Thomas 2 29 Wistrom 1 20 IOWA STATE C-A INT YDS Wallace 13-29 2 214 NEBRASKA C-A INT YDS Crouch 10-14 0 110 Lord 1-2 1 7 IOWA STATE A Word 2 14 Forrest 6 3 NEBRASKA A Craver 5 4 Vedral 4 2 Booker 4 2 SACKS NEBRASKA: Thomas 1-24, Kelsay 1-6, Wichmann Ruud INTERCEPTIONS IOWA STATE: Loyd 1-14. NEBRASKA: Craver 1-54. Grace 1-9. Big first half will help Grouch's bid for Heisman Cornhaskers quarterback sets NCAA record, finishes with 214 yards of offense.

By TOM WIT0SKY REGISTER STAFF WRITER Lincoln, Neb. Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch's first-half performance Saturday night against Iowa State could boost his Heisman Trophy chances as much as his 95-yard touchdown run against Missouri last week. through 1998, and Cornhusker running back Mike Rozier, who played from 1981 through 1983, each had 49 career rushing touchdowns. Crouch left Saturday's game at the end of the third quarter with 51 touchdowns. His stats for the night: 214 total yards with 104 rushing yards on 15 carries and 10 pass completions for 110 yards.

"Eric Crouch is the real deal," said Kevin DeRonde, an Iowa State defensive end. "He is their offense." Nebraska coach Frank Solich agreed. "Eric showed his quickness, speed and just great ability to make play after play in the running game." Wait for respect: Iowa state will have to wait a little longer for the national respect it seeks. Early in the week, Cyclones coach Dan McCarney made it clear he felt that the Associated Press top 25 dissed his team when no votes were cast for the Cyclones, despite their 34) record this season and a 9-3 record last season. Calling it no "national respect," McCarney said the refusal to recognize Iowa State's rise over the past two seasons took a toll on team members and coaching staff because "I see how hard they work every day." Iowa State's hopes for national recognition in the near future went out the window when the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers scored 41 unanswered points in the first half.

"I'd hard to find a whole of positives right now," McCarney said after the game. "I'm proud of how we came back in the second half, but we aren't going to accept this kind of stuff. We have come too far to let these things happen." McCarney said he hoped the big loss would have no long term effect. "Fortunately or unfortunately, I have had some practice at this," he said. "We will find out what we are made of because we still can achieve a lot of our goals." Bob Montgomery, a Cyclone offensive guard from Lincoln, said the biggest disappointment will be getting people to believe Iowa State is better thin it played "Nobody will believe how good this team is," Montgomery said.

"We aren't the team that played out there." Turnovers key: Iowa state's hopes of breaking Nebraska's 17-game home winning streak vanished in the first quarter when quarterback Seneca Wallace threw two interceptions equaling his total of the seasoa The Cyclones began the game ranked third nationally in turnover margin with 11 takeaways and only four turnovers. "The turnovers just killed us," McCarney said. "We gave them the ball twice deep in our territory. You can't do that with Nebraska's offense. They get a short field and they make you look silly." Crouch rushed for 100 yards on 13 attempts and scored four touchdowns in the first half of the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers' 48-14 L(W A- ..,1 romp over the Cyclones.

His third touchdown a 25-yard run broke the NCAA Division I-A all-time record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and the Nebraska record for rushing touchdowns. DOUG WELLSTHE REGISTER Turnover: Nebraska's DeJuan Groce, left, intercepts a pass intended for Iowa State's Craig Campbell (19) on Saturday. Kareem Wilson, who played quarterback at Ohio from 1995.