St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 55

5 OCT 1.3 2002 ST, LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SPORTS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2002 www.STLtQday.conv 1 COLLEGE FOOTBALL BIG 12 ROUNDUP Brown gains 309 yards to lead Colorado by KU -5f STANDINGS 1 'Mm? -v. m) Conference Overal NORTH Iowa State 2 0 5 1 Colorado 2 0 4 2 Kansas State 115 1 Nebraska 115 2 Missouri 0 2 3 3 Kansas 0 3 2 5 Conference Overall SOUTH Oklahoma 2 0 6 0 Texas Tech 10 4 2 Texas 115 1 Texas 114 2 Baylor 113 3 Oklahoma State 0 2 2 4 The Associated Press Chris Brown was piling up yardage so quickly against a soft Kansas defense, he had trouble keeping up with himself. "I thought I was at 170," said Colorado's 6-foot-3, 220-pound tailback. "But I guess I was way off." He was off by 139 yards. Brown shredded the Jayhawks for 309 yards in 25 carries, including touchdown sprints of 78 and 51 yards, and Robert Hodge threw three touchdown passes as visiting Colorado beat Kansas 53-29 Saturday.

Brown, the Big 12's leading rusher, had 164 yards in the first half against a defense ranked 112th among 117 Division I-A teams. He also had a 48-yard run and raised his six-game total to 987 yards. Brown had 25 carries as the Buffaloes totaled 429 yards on the ground. "I am very thankful for my line and (blocking back) Brandon Drumm," said Brown. "They opened some huge holes and got me into the secondary.

I just had to make one man miss." Donald Strickland returned an interception 95 yards for another touchdown for the Buffaloes, and Derek McCoy caught two touchdown passes. "Their backs hit the hole about a thousand miles an hour," Kansas linebacker Leo Etienne said. Kansas (2-5, 0-3) quickly fell behind 14-0 for the third game in a row but rallied to take a 15-14 lead on Bill Whittemore's 5-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. "There's one thing we have to do," said Kansas coach Mark Mangino. "We have to stop spotting the other team 14 points every game." THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Nebraska's Philip Biand (21) and Ryon Bingham bring down Mizzou QB Brad Smith, who found little room to make plays all afternoon.

Cornhuskers bottle up Smith They collapsed the pocket so well, he had no running lanes." As he struggled, the frustration mounted for the 18-year-old. "We expected them to do what they did," Smith said. "We just had to react to it and make the adjustments on the field, and we didn't do that. The plays that we were running were there. We just needed to execute them." This time, the youngster couldn't carry the load.

"Brad had a struggle today, and that's part of his maturity, and now he's going to grow," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "And hell bounce back. He just looked a little more human today." Reporter Bill Coat E-mail: Phone: 314-340-8189 were bringing too many guys for us to block," MU tailback Zack Abron said. And when the Cornhuskers dropped back into normal coverage, their front four was able to apply enough pressure to keep Smith from dancing away for big yardage. "As the game went on, our defense adjusted to what they were doing pretty well and I thought really controlled the football game," Nebraska coach Frank So-fich said.

It achieved that at least to some extent by taking away Smith's penchant for making something out of nothing with his fancy footwork. "We never had any defense put in where we were 'spying' him," that is, assigning a defender to stay with Smith exclusively, Shanle explained. "I think our front four just did a great job. containable in his first five games. His total-offense average of 332 yards per game was No.

6 nationally, and his rushing average of 121.4 was No. 15. Just a week ago, he'd shredded Oklahoma's vaunted defense for 391 yards. Plaudits and publicity were piling as high as his gaudy numbers. And then thud! Smith managed 34 yards on the ground and 123 in the air against the Men of Corn, who whipped MU 24-13.

"We had guys coming from every different angle," Cornhuskers linebacker Scott Shanle said. "You could sense by looking at their offensive linemen that they had no idea where we were coming from. Guys made plays when they had chances to make plays." Nebraska blitzed, blitzed and then blitzed some more. "They MU quarterback held to 157 total yards By Bill Coats Of the Post-Dispatch LINCOLN, Neb. Nebraska tugged on Superman's cape Saturday.

And he fell from the sky. "I'm not particularly sure what they did," Missouri quarterback Brad Smith said. "But I know they were making plays. Sometimes it seemed like they had guys everywhere, covering everything and just rushing. They did a great job." Smith, the Tigers' thrill-a-min-ute redshirt freshman, was un- MU NOTEBOOK Mizzou punter Harvey's big day is spoiled by 89-yard return for TD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Buffs tailback Chris Brown breaks away for 78 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter Saturday against Kansas.

After Whittemore's TD in the second quarter, Colorado scored three touchdowns in the next 10 minutes to take command. Texas 41, Baylor 0: Dustin Long and Reggie McNeal each threw two touchdown passes and the Aggies' defense got back on track as the Aggies romped on the road. Texas (4-2, 1-1) bounced back from its highest-scoring loss ever, a 48-47 overtime loss to Texas Tech in which Long set a Big 12 record with seven TD passes and the defense allowed 544 yards. The Aggies had five interceptions that led to 17 points and held Baylor (3-3, 1-1) to just 229 yards in first shutout since a 24-0 win against the Bears two years ago. Baylor's second shutout loss this season came a week after the Bears ended their 29-game Big 12 losing streak with a 35-32 win over Kansas.

home. The Tigers (3-3, 1-2), hurt their chances with two turnovers late in the fourth quarter. Tulane 35, Cincinnati 17: J.P. Losman threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as the Green Wave (4-3, 2-2 Conference USA) beat the visiting Bearcats (2-4, 1-1). Tulane forced four turnovers and had six sacks, three by Kenan Blackmon.

UAB 51, Houston 34: Darrell Hackney threw three touchdown passes and Alabama-Birmingham(3-3, 2-0 CUSA) overcame a 22-point first-half deficit to beat visiting Houston Mississippi St. 11, Troy St 8: Fred Reid ran for a career-high 111 yards and scored Mississippi State's only touchdown, on a 15-yard pass from Kevin Fant, as the Bulldogs barely atoned for last year's embarrassing loss to Troy State. The Bulldogs (2-4) intercepted six passes and limited visiting Troy State to 197 total yards. Despite that, the Trojans (2-5) still had a chance. Wake Forest 36, Duke 10: The Demon Deacons scored on a 90-yard return of a blocked field goal by Eric King, a 29-yard interception return by Kellen Brantley and turned a Duke fumble into a 15-yard scoring drive en route to winning at home.

Duke (2-5, 0-3) lost its 20th straight ACC game. Chris Barclay and Nick Burney each had 54 yarrt rushing and a touchdown Wake Forest (4-3, 2-2). NATION ROUNDUP Bowling Green remains unbeaten; McCluer Vandever lifts Drake happen." Gage sets another record With his first catch of the game, a 7-yarder from quarterback Brad Smith late in the first quarter, senior wide receiver Justin Gage broke the Mizzou career record for receiving yardage. He wound up with seven receptions for 47 yards, giving him a three-year total he was a quarterback as a freshman of 2,189. Victor Bailey (1990-92) had the old record, 2,144.

Gage also holds the MU career mark for receptions (167), as well as single-game records for catches (16) and yards (236). Missouri 10 3 0 0 13 Nebraska 7 7 7 3 24 FIRST QUARTER MU: Abron 1 run (Matheny kick), 12:14 Home 5 run (Brown kick), 4:17 MU: FG Matheny 22, :04 SECOND QUARTER MU: FG Matheny 44, 9:27 Golliday 1 pass from Lord (Brown kick), 43 THIRD QUARTER Groce 89 punt return (Brown kick), 7:24 FOURTH QUARTER FG Brown 42, 11:39 TEAM STATISTICS MU NEB. First downs 11 20 Rushes-yards 30-97 62-325 Passing 123 34 Comp-Att-Int 14-29-0 4-12-0 Return Yards 29 225 Punts-Average Fumbles-Lost 2-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 7-44 6-66 Time of Possession 27:02 32:58 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Ruthing Missouri, Abron 12-65, Smith 17-34, team l-(minus 2). Nebraska, Lord 17-98, Home 20-88, Diedrick 14-61, Da-vies 3-33, Collins 4-17, Ross 1-14, Larson 1-8, Kriewald 1-3, Simmons 1-3. Patting: Missouri, Smith 14-29-0-123.

Nebraska, Lord 4-12-0-34. ReceMnc Missouri, Gage 7-47, Outlaw 5-71, Coffey 1-6, Leon Mminus 1). Nebraska, Pilkington 1-17, Ross 1-13, Diedrick 1-3, Golliday 1-1. son average, and was sacked four times. His total offenre sum of 157 yards was less thin half his By Bill Coats Of the Post-Dispatch LINCOLN, Neb.

Missouri punter Brock Harvey had a terrific day against Nebraska: He averaged 47.8 yards on eight kicks, including a stunning 69-yarder into a 24-mph gale that settled at the Cornhuskers' 4-yard line. But Harvey, a sophomore from Jefferson City, will be haunted by the one mistake he made in Miz-zou's 24-13 loss at Memorial Stadium. DeJuan Groce, Nebraska's punt returner extraordinaire, turned it into a momentum-shifting, 89-yard sprint to paydirt "It was my fault I shouldn't have kicked it in the middle of Missouri Despite good start, Tigers fall again to Nebraska Continued from Dl Adding to the pain was the Cornhuskers' uncommon vulnerability. Nebraska (5-2 overall, 1-1 Big 12 Conference) was unranked in the polls and nearly unhinged after spankings by Penn State and Iowa State by a total of 55 points. This one was there for the taking.

But Missouri (3-3, 0-2) bungled away the chance. "I thought we had a great opportunity, and I feel the team thought we had a great opportunity," Gage said. "We just made more mistakes than we should've, and that told the tale of the game." The errors piled up in the form of dropped passes, errant throws and poor kick coverage. "We don't ever just blame players. We (coaches) always look at ourselves," MU coach Gary Pinkel said.

"I've got to do a better job of coaching, and we've got to do a better job of execution." Tailback Zack Abron put Mizzou on top 7-0 with his ninth rushing touchdown of the year, a 1-yard trot after the Tigers recovered a Nebraska fumble 33 yards from the end zone. Nebraska I-back David Home countered with a 5-yard TIj burst, but MU was in solid position to regain the edge the Harvey said. "We were supposed to go left and out of bounds, and a lot higher, of course. Low hang time and poor placement. And they got a touchdown off it." Nebraska had scratched out a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter when Groce fielded Harvey's line-drive punt at the 11-yard line.

When Groce looked up, he liked what he saw. "It was wide open," said Groce, who has three punt returns for TDs this season, one short of the NCAA record. "You just have to get people on people, and everyone matched up with someone. Once I broke through there, I just had to make something when it rolled to a first down at the Cornhuskers 2-yard line. Abron got a yard on the first down, but instead of going to the 225-pound ballcarrier again, a pass was called, and Smith missed tight end Ben Fredrick-son, who was open in the end zone.

On third-and-goal from the 1, Abron, hardly a speed demon, tried to go wide and was hauled down at the 5. The Tigers got a 22-yard field goal by Mike Matheny and were up 10-7 with 4 seconds left in the opening period. But the momentum was beginning to shift toward Nebraska. Another Matheny field goal, a career-best 44-yarder, made it 13-7 with 9:27 remaining the first half. At about that point, Missouri changed its approach on offense.

And it blew up in the Tigers' faces. Abron had seven carries for 57 yards, including a career-long 48-yard burst up the middle, in the first quarter. Mizzou's well-balanced attack had produced 136 yards to Nebraska's 71. Suddenly, Abron disappeared and Smith morphed into Vinny Testa-verde. "I was a little surprised," Abron acknowledged after getting a mere five carries two in the second half the rest of the way.

"The coaching staff seemed to feel we could pass well against them." But after hitting on six of 10 passes for 62 yards in the opening period, Smith was only eight of 19 for 61 yards in the, last three. Admittedly hesitant, uhe ran for just 34 yards, almost 90 below his sea- Tiger tales Brandon Barnes started at free safety in place of Marcus King and recovered a fumble on Nebraska's first play. Mizzou took a 7-0 lead four plays later. Barnes also was credited with 12 tackles. With 34 rushing yards, QB Brad Smith boosted his season total to 641, tying the MU freshman record set by tailback Brock Oli-, vd in 1994.

MU receiver Dari-sus Outlaw, had career; highs in catches (five) and yards' frl) MU ran 23 offensive play in the i second half; Nebraska rari3T. 'Reporter Bill Coat E-mail: Phone: 314-340-8189 season norm of 332. "Our first goal was to stop the run and make them throw and throw in a hurry," defensive end Demoine Adams said. "Once we shut down the run, they went to the passing game, but we were after them and held that in check." It could be argued that Missouri held itself in check with blunders on the sideline as well as the field. Whatever the case, Nebraska clearly had the Tigers by the tail, and it outscored Mizzou 17-0 in the last 39 12 minutes.

Nebraska led 14-13 at the half. An 89-yard burst to the end zone with a punt return by DeJuan Groce, his third such journey of the season, expanded the edge, and Josh Brown's 42-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter made it 24-13. The 'Huskers out-gained Mizzou 190-28 over the final 30 minutes. And remember, this Nebraska team was giving up 361.5 yards and 21.5 points per game. Final evidence of MU's frustration came with about 3 minutes remaining and the Tigers facing fourth and 6 at their 24-yard line.

Though Mizzou was desperate for points, Pinkel ordered a punt, and the Tigers never touched the ball again. "We're certainly a different team this year than last year," when the 'Huskers walloped MU 36-3, Pinkel said. "But we still aren't good enough to beat Nebraska." Reporter Bill Coata A E-mail: The Associated Press Josh Harris ran for three touchdowns and threw for 176 yards and another score as Bowling Green beat Central Michigan 45-35 Saturday to remain unbeaten. The Falcons are 5-0 for the first time since 1985. Harris threw for 176 yards with one interception and then ran for 138 yards in 22 carries for the visiting Falcons (2-0 MidAmerican Conference).

The Chippewas fell to 3-3, 1-1. Drake 49, Afcany 42: Ira Vandever (McCluer North High) passed for a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to tie it in regulation and ran 20 yards for the winning score in the second overtime, giving the Bulldogs a victory at home. Drake (5-2) scrambled to its fifth straight victory after Albany (3-3) rallied from a 27-14 deficit to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Vandever finished 23-of-32 passing for 337 yards and three touchdowns and added 87 yards rushing in 17 carries. Colorado St 44, Wyoming 36: Cecil Sapp ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns and freshman Justin Holland threw two scoring passes as Colorado State won at home in the Mountain West opener for both teams.

Colorado State (5-2) out-gained Wyoming (1-5) 501-362 in yardage. Virginia 22, Clemson 17: Billy McMullen ran for the go-ahead touchdown and Matt Schaub threw for another TD as the Cavaliers (5-2, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won at.