Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 24

1 i 3JC Unooh Journal Star Sunday, Novambar 3, 1996 HUSKERS Paga design: Julie Koch starts Wingback Vedral jump Husker offense iSiow-stanmg SSOOK3 CUARTER BY STEVE SIPPLE Una Journal Star NEMASKA 3, OKLAHOMA 0 Kriairown 28 fMd goal (7:57) Drive yard In 7 plays. Sat up by Chad Keteay's recovery of fumbled punt. Kay plays DeAngelo Evana 3. 3 runs, Scott Frost 9 run. NEBRASKA 10, OKLAHOMA 0 Evan 1 run (5:43) Drive 1 9 yard in 3 plays.

Set up by Jay Foreman Interception return to OU 19. Key playe Joel Makovfcka 11 run, Verahan Jackson 6 pass from Frost. Conversion Brown kick. NEMASKA 17, OKLAHOMA 0 Ahman Green 4 run (2:14) Drive 38 yards in 4 plays. Set up by Shevin Wiggins 10 punt return to OU 35.

Key plays Jon Vedral 1, 12 passes from Frost. Conversion Brown kick. i I -hp Its' a 4." THIRD QUARTER NEMASKA 24, OKLAHOMA 0 Ralph Brown II Interception return (9:56) I Conversion Brown kick. ASSOCIATED PRESS NORMAN, Okla. Yes, the scoreboard was correct: Nebraska 33, Oklahoma 21.

Having lived through Nebraska's Offensive problems in the first half, Jon Vedral found the final score of -Saturday's football game hard to be-lieve. "The 73 points totally shock me," said Vedral a senior wingback. "In the first quarter, there was not a lot going on. But we just kept rolling and rolling as the game went on." Vedral helped start the roll late in the second quarter with recep-; tions of 18 and 12 yards during Ne-' braska's four-play, 35-yard touchdown drive that gave it a 17-0 lead with 1 minute, 15 seconds left in the first half. I Until that drive, Nebraska had managed just 21 yards passing and 11 yards rushing.

The Cornhuskers had built a 1(M) lead with the help of a fumbled punt by Oklahoma's Jar-rail Jackson, which led to Kris Brown's 25-yard field goal; and an interception by NU's Jay Foreman, which led to I-back DeAngelo Evans' 1-yard touchdown plunge. On Nebraska's next drive, quarterback Scott Frost and Vedral began connecting, providing a cold splash of water to the face of an offense that needed to wake up. hope (my catches) kind of helped kick-start our offense," Ve-; dral said. "We knew we needed to hit some plays to kind of loosen them up I a little. I was just trying to do my job, and hopefully it helped." Vedral's 12-yard catch during the 35-yard drive gave Nebraska the ball at the OU 4.

I-back Ahman Green rushed for the TD on the next I- play. i Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said his offense "was kind of search- ing" early in the game, in large part, NEMASKA 31, OKLAHOMA 0 Lance Brown 41 pass from Frost (3:59) Drive 71 yards in 6 plays. Key playe Frost 7 run, Evans 8 run. Si Conversion Brown kick. NEBRASKA 31, OKLAHOMA 0 Vedral 10 pass from Frost (1:05) Drive 24 yards fan 6 plays.

Set up by Mike Minter interception of OU pass. Key plays Frost 10 run. Conversion Brown kick. NEMASKA 45, OKLAHOMA 0 Evans 7 run (0:03) Drive 17 yards In 4 plays. Set up by Eric Warfield interception at OU18.

Key playe Evans 7 run. Conversion Brown kick. TED KIRKLincoin Journal Star A Nebraska wingback Jon Vedral flips into the end zone after catching a 10-yard pass from Scott Frost in the third quarter Saturday. A Nebraska tight end Vershan Jackson can't pull down this pass in the end zone Saturday. Si Conversion Jeremy Alexander kick.

NEBRASKA 59, OKLAHOMA 7 Jay Sims 1 run (5:03) Drive 81 yards in 6 plays. Key plays Matt Turman 9 run, Sims 8, 49 runs. Conversion Retzlaff kick. NEBRASKA 59, OKLAHOMA 14 Parker 17 run (4:10) Drive 80 yards in 4 plays. Key plays Jason Freeman 1 2 pass from Justin Fuente, Parker 24 run.

SI Conversion Alexander kick. NEBRASKA 66, OKLAHOMA 14 Sims 22 run (2:30) Drive 43 yards in 4 plays. Set up by NU recovery of onside kick. Key playe Sims 6 run. Conversion Retzlaff kick.

NEBRASKA 66, OKLAHOMA 21 Parker 51 run (00:41) Drive 80 yards in 4 plays. Key plays Parker 13 pass from Fuente, aided by pass interference penalty. Conversion Alexander kick. NEBRASKA 73, OKLAHOMA 21 Cheatham 85 kickoff return (00:28) Conversion Retzlaff kick. FOURTH QUARTER because Oklahoma frequently switched out of its typical 4-3 defense.

Vedral said the Sooners' secondary used more man-to-man coverage than he anticipated. "Right away they kind of caught us off-guard," Vedral said. "It took us awhile to adjust. We punted four or five straight times, and that's not good. "We knew they had a great front seven but were a little vulnerable in the secondary, and I think we exploited that some today," Vedral said.

Vedral caught his first touch down pass of the season, a 10-yarder late in the third quarter that gave Nebraska a 38-0 lead. He finished with four catches for 49 yards. "On all my passes today, Scott threw the ball right where it needed to be," Vedral said. Vedral became Nebraska's leading receiver, bumping his season totals to 14 catches for 234 yards. Last season, Vedral had 14 receptions for 272 yards.

"To me, stats are no big deal at all," he said. "I just want to see our team do well. I'm just as happy making a good block as I am catching passes." NEBRASKA 82, OKLAHOMA 0 Jeff Lake 51 pass from Frost (12:04) Drive 63 yards In 3 plays. Key plays V. Jackson 10 paes from Frost.

Conversion Ted ReWaff kick. 1 NEBRASKA 52, OKLAHOMA 7 De'Mona) Parker 34 run (7:37) Drive 34 yards in 1 plays. Set up by OU recovery of Evans fumble and return to NU 34. Nebraska notes Scott Frost 10-22-1 163 3 Matt Turman 2-2-0 16 0 Jeff Perino 0-1-0 0 0 RECEIVING Player No. Verde Avg.

Jon 4 49 12.3 Jeff Lake 2 58 29.0 Vershan Jackson 2 16 8.0 Lance Brown 1 41 41.0 Kenny Cheatham 19 9.0 Ahman Green 1 5 5.0 DeAngelo Evans 1 1 1.0 Eric Warfield 1 0 1 Jerome Peterson 1 0 1 Octavious 10 1 Greg List 1 0 1 SACKS Player No. Yards Jared Tomich 2 6 Jason Peter 1 7 Ryan Terwilliger 1 7 Derek Allen 1 1 INTERCEPTION RETURNS Player No. Yards Ralph Brown II 1 83 Mike Minter 1 6 Jay Foreman 1 6 score: "Maybe it's something I shouldn't have done." He noted that Oklahoma had scored 28 points in the fourth quarter last week against Kansas State. "They put a lot of people up on the line of scrimmage and crowded us a bit. What we wanted to do was get them back." Frost said the pattern was a bump-and-run.

"Jeff Lake has the speed and he got open." Ahmaa Greet, who dida't play in the secaad half: "I wasnlt hurt that bad (re-aggravated turf toe) but they wanted to hold me out unless there. was an emergency. We wore them down because what were 3-and 4-yard runs became 8- and 9-yard runs," he said. Injuries for the Huskers were not serious: Billy Legate, re-injured hamstring; returner Shevin Wiggins, thigh bruise; Damon Benning, thigh bruise; Jeff Ogard, slight ankle sprain; linebacker Jon Hesse, slight ankle sprain; Grant Wistrom, mild shoulder bruise. Kris Brown said his short kick-offs were not by design.

Although Oklahoma started most drives inside its 20-yard line, Brown said that kicking into the north wind was hard. i "I wanted to kick deeper, but the results were probably better than if I kicked through the end zone. I wasn't happy. It wasn't a good day kicking." Brown kicked a 25-yard field goal to open the scoring. He is 22-of-29 on his career and 9-for-13 this year.

The school record for field goals in a career is 27. Nebraska earned its sixth consecutive win over Oklahoma and notched its 28th consecutive conference victory, and assured itself of a 35th consecutive winning season best all-time in NCAA Division I-A. Nebraska dumped Oklahoma's offense for losses or gains of no yards 19 times in 29 plays in the first half. "You get a team three-and-out on that first series and then the first couple of series and you can take the crowd out of the game," NU rush end Jared Tomich said. Nebraska had not given up a rushing touchdown in 27 quarters before the fourth quarter Saturday.

NU forced OU three-and-out on five of its first six possessions. Against its last five opponents, NU has forced them to go three-and-out on 38 of 74 drives. Since losing to Arizona State 19-0, NU has outscored opponents 313-50. Lance Brown, who had a 41-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter, ended up doing a front flip into the end zone. A year ago he did a back flip after catching a touchdown pass against Arizona State.

"This time I just lost my balance," he said. Scott Frost joked, "I'll never throw you another one." Tom Osborne on if going for a 51-yard touchdown pass from Frost to Jeff Lake with the score 45-0 in the third quarter was running up the DEFENSE TACKLES Player UT Jason Peter 4 Jared Tomich 4 Grant Wistrom 3 Terrell Farley 3 Jon Hesse 3 Julius Jackson 2 Mike Minter 2 MikeRucker 3 Jeff Ogard 1 Jason Wiltz 0 Ryan Terwilligeri 2 Jay Foreman 2 Jamel Williams 0 Eric Walther 1 Derek Allen 1 Ralph Brown II 1 AT 2 0 1 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 SPECIAL TEAMS PUNTING Player No. Yards Avg. Jesse Kosch 6 252 42.0 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yards Avg.

Lance Brown 1 6 6.0 Shevin Wiggins 5 42 8 4 Octavious 1 4 4.0 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yards Avg. Kenny Cheatham 1 85 85 0 Shevin Wiggins 1 9 9.0 OFFENSE RUSHING Player N. Veres Avg. Jay Sims 7 98 14.0 DeAngelo 13 36 2.8 Damon Benning 28 4.3 Scott 14 1.8 Joel Makovlcka 3 14 ,4.7 Matt Turman 1 '9 9.0 Ahman Green 9 5 0.6 Brian Schuster 3 4 1.3 Shevin Wiggins 1 2 2.0 PASSING Player C-A-l Yards TD NUHuskers, Sooners left shaking their heads after game 11 Jarrail Jackson 1-10 Justin Fuente 4 -17 PASSING Player C-A-l Yards Justin Fuente 6-15-3 68 Eric Moore 2-7-1 18 RECEIVING Player No.

Yards James Allen 3 14 MoUttle 1 27 DeMond Parker 1 13 Stephen 1 12 Jason Freeman 1 12 Michael McDaniel 1 8 DEFENSE 1.0 Dale Allen. 2 1 3 Anthony Fogle 2 13 Gana Joseph 12 3 Mike Woods 3 0 3 Steve Ridley 2 0 2 TD Travian Smith 2 0 2 Martin Chase 1 0 1 Ryan Allen 1 0 1 Rod Henderson 1 0 1 SACKS Player No. Yards 27 Travian Smith 1 6 n.o i 2 0 SPECIAL TEAMS 80 PUNTING Player No. Yards Avg. Brian Lewis.

10 425 42.5 PUNT RETURNS jj Player No. Yards Avg. Jarrail Jackson 3 1 0,3 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yards Avg. James Allen 1 5 5.0 5 Brandon Daniels 5 53 10.6 4 Jarrail Jackson 3 42 14.0 4 Secrks Jones 1 8 8.0 OFFENSE Player Tyrell TACKLES UT 5 4 5 RUSHING Terry Ne, Yards Avg.

Barron AT 4 3 1 4 3 2 2 151 11.6 Broderick Simpson Player DeMond Parker James Allen Eric Dwayne 13 16 4 3 1 2 2 2 32 28 4 2.1 Roderick Manuel 7.0 Kelly Gregg 1.3 Chris Justice I (ifflSBSBiaSg 313 Foreman snagged a pass with his outstretched right hand and returned it to the OU 19-yard line. Three plays and Nebraska's third first down of the game later, DeAngelo Evans scored on a 1-yard leap over the line. Nebraska's defense, led by Jared Tomich and Jason Peter slammed Oklahoma again for minus-3 yards in three plays. After a short punt and a 10-yard return by Shevin Wiggins to the OU 35-yard line, Nebraska scored quickly. Frost threaded a pass to Jon Vedral for 18 yards, found Vedral running backwards for another 12 yards and Ahman Green scored from the 4-yard line to give Nebraska a 17-0 lead with 2: 14 left in the first half.

Nebraska scored three more touchdowns off Oklahoma turnovers in the third quarter. "Their defense got 31 points for them, that's just too much," said Oklahoma quarterback Jason Fuente. "We had too many mistakes." Nebraska freshman cornerback Ralph Brown II stole a pass from Sooner quarterback Eric Moore and raced 83 yards to score. Oklahoma threatened to score when Moore scrambled on a 29-yard run and Nebraska was tagged for 30 more yards in penalties. But that drive ended with a missed 41-yard field goal i Evans fumbled on Nebraska's second play following the miss, and the Nebraska defense stopped OU again.

This time the Sooners missed a 46-yard field goal attempt. 1 Finally, Nebraska put together its first drive of more than 35 yards and more than five plays. Runs by Evans and Frost set up a 41-yard touchdown pass from Frost to Lance Brown with 3:59 left in the third quarter to give Nebraska a 31-0 lead. On Oklahoma's first play, Nebraska safety Mike Minter picked off a pass that was tipped by teammate Peter to set up a 25-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Frost to Vedral. One OU play later, Eric Warfield intercepted a pass and returned it to the OU 17-yard line.

Evans scored on a seven-yard run to put Nebraska ahead 45-0 with three seconds left in the third quarter. "I thought the way Oklahoma played the last three weeks, it could be anybody's ball game," Osborne said. "Our defense could hold us in there and they did. "We were searching and it became apparent that we needed to throw the ball a fair amount. We began to throw on first down and we were not comfortable with it.

"They were crowding us, blitzing us a lot and their secondary, which had been zone, was playing man-toman and you're asking for the deep pass." Frost said that two of his passes missed the mark, a few were dropped and protection was inadequate on some others in the first half. He hit six of 14 passes for 51 yards in the first half. He hit four more passes, including three for touchdowns of 41, 10 and 51 yards, in the second half. "We were frustrated a bit in the first half, but they were coming on strong and playing with a lot of emotion," Frost said. "Give our defense credit for scoring or setting up 31 points.

"We also overcame getting shut down early, came back and wore them down the way we're supposed to," he said. "The mark of a good team is the ability to bounce back and we did that. There wasn't the urgency that we had in the first half against Arizona State because we had 17 points on the board." I Continued from Page 1C I we're trying to figure if we're ever going to stop them." With just under 10 minutes left in the third quarter, Nebraska's of-- ense had 95 yards of offense and the Husker defense had 118 yards, including tackles for losses and interception returns. "We were bad on offense in the first half, but they didn't move much either," Osborne said. By the end of the game, Nebraska had 387 yards of offense and the defense had given up three rushing touchdowns and they had only al-f lowed one rushing touchdown all Oklahoma's offense was nowhere to be found until the final seven min--utes when the Sooners cracked the and third-team NU defense.

"When you 70-something to 21 the "rkey was the defense, it doesn't make a lot of sense," Osborne said. "Obviously, we played real well ly throughout most of the game." Osborne, Frost and Nebraska center Aaron Taylor said that Okla-i homa's defensive scheme confused the Husker defense in the first half, oklahoma did not play a stan-dard 4-3 defense that we had practiced against," Osborne said. "I'm not sure I adjusted well "i TBy halftime, we thought that going for a few passes would help," Jhesaid. 'Nebraska's defense didnt wait for the changes to be made. Sooner returner Jan-ail Jackson -'fumbled a punt and Nebraska's Chad Kelsay recovered at the Okla-, noma 17-yard line.

"Seven plays and 9 yards later, kicked his field goal. defense added to the 'opportunities when linebacker Jay In what Is becoming ordinary fare, the Nebraska defense looked like as if had been fired out of a cannon onto the field against Oklahoma Saturday. Defensive tackle Jason Peter sacked OU quarterback Jus Nebraska's Jesse Kosch was a busy man early In game, punting after the Cornhuskers' first six 07 tin Fuente for a 7-yard loss on the Sooners' first play from scrimmage. On the next snap, rush end Jared Tomich nailed halfback James Allen for a 4-yard loss, and after an Incompletion, OU's Brian Lewis took the field for the first of his 10 punts. "I think It's real important," Peter said of the first defensive series, "Every-hndv knows about our defensa end After that, Kosch could enjoy a leisurely afternoon on a sunny, 50-degree day In Norman, Okla.

"Once we got the momentum going, it was all downhill," he said, Kosch averaged 42.0 yards per punt. He boomed a 58-yarder on his fourth try after leaping to grab the snap and then seeing the maroon jerseys of oncoming OU defenders in his face. "I think there were four guys right there," he said. "I was like, I can't believe I got It off." 1 wn9r toe offense thinks 'maybe we 1 can't move the ball' and we come out and sack them, then maybe they really ni eeml atari thinklnn that in'i' mfl PETER Oklahoma managed just 89 yards of offense and scored no points in three KOSCH quarters against the Cornhuskers' top defensive players. Nebraska helped Fuente and No.

2 quarterback Eric Moore combine for an 8-for-24 passing performance that Included four Interceptions. "Fuente? I'd say we got Into his head," Peter said. 1 don't think he's seen a defense go after him like we did today,".