Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 25

Lincoln Journal Star Wednesday, January 3. 1 996 3 Page design: Jute Koch Black Shirts show heart, bring Gators back to earth COLLEGE FOOTBALL BY CURT McKEEVER Lincoln Journal Star 6 The secret to our defense is everybody plays with a lot of heart NU defensive back Erie Stokes McBride said the key to NlTs defensive scheme was to get to the Gators' offensive line. And with four receivers often having to block five or six Cornhuskers, Florida was unable to hold off the pressure. "If they get to blocking, we're dead meat," McBride said. "But we have the tendency to mess up blocking." Stokes said his interception, which ocurred well after Nebraska had begun its rout, adding some meaning for a season that was as trying as it was memorable.

"Alot of things happened to me this year, and that was the best," he said. What more could I ask for? This is probably the most-watched game in the history of college otball and I made a big play. "I'm scared to say what it's going to be like in Lincoln. It's been a long time since anyone went back to back." TEMPE, Ariz. Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride had the look of complete satisfaction after the Cornhuskers wrapped up their second straight national championship with a 62-24 Fiesta Bowl victory against Florida in Sun Devil Stadium Tuesday night "Let's say this I don't want to play them tomorrow," said McBride.

"I was just talking to one of the Florida coaches and he was saying they've got a long ways to go, but that's a great team we beat tonight." Florida marched 55 yards for a field goal on its first possession of the game, as quarterback Danny Wuerffel completed four passes for 56 yards to wide receiver Chris Doer-ing. The Gators then marched 54 yards for a touchdown on their third drive to go up 10-6. But Florida didn't put any more points on the scoreboard until Nebraska had moved ahead 42-10 late in the third quarter. "I don't think our defense is overpowering," said McBride after NU limited the Gators to 269 yards and sacked Wuerffelseven times, "but we do adjust to thing quick." Scoring story NU-FLA How it I F'i VJ4!" Vv A Nebraska's Terrell Farley (43) sacks Tuesday. TED KIRKUncoln Journal Star sacks Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel (7) for one of NU's seven Black Shirts level Gators in high-scoring Fiesta Bowl 6 tStf 1 jiffSwIl.

0-3 6-3 6-10 scored FIRST QUARTER Edmiston 23 field goal Drive: 55 yards 1 1 plays. Highlighted by four Chris Doering from Danny Wuerffel for 56 yards. Lawrence Phillips 16 pass from Tomtnie Frazier Drive: 52 yards six plays. Highlighted by Phillips 23 run, Frazier 4 run on third-and-2. Conversion: kick blocked.

Wuerffel 1 run Dnve: 54 yards in 12 plays. Set up by Teako Brown interception of Frazier pass and 5 run to Gator 46. Highlighted by Reidell An thony 26, 14 passes trom wuerrtei. conversion: tomiston kick. SECOND QUARTER 13-10 Phillips 42 run Drive: 71 yards in 6 plays.

Highlighted by Phillips 7, 8 runs. Con 15-10 22-10 25-10 32-10 35-10 version: brown kick. Jamel Williams sacked Wuerrtei in end zone Ahman Green 1 run Dnve: 51 yards in seven plays. Highlighted by Frazier 32 run. Conversion: Brown kick.

Brown 26 field goal Drive: 33 yards in nine plays. Highlighted by Clester Johnson 7 pass from Frazier, Jeff Makovicka 13 run and aided by Florida defensive holding penalty. Michael Booker 42 interception return Conversion: Brown kick. Brown 24 field goal Drive: 59 yards in six plays. Highlighted by Phillips 12 run, Bren dan HoiDein 33 pass trom i-razier.

THIRD QUARTER 42-10 Frazier 35 run Drive: 70 yards in six plays. Set up by Eric Stokes 1 1 interception return. Highlighted by Frazier 11 run, Phillips 11, 6 runs, Mako vicka 7 run. conversion: brown kick. Ike Hilliard 35 pass from Wuerffel Drive: 77 yards in five plays.

Highlighted by Terry Jackson 10 pass from Wuerffel, Doering 30 pass from Wijerffel. Conversion: Anthony pass trom Wuerffel. Frazier 75 run Drive: 80 vards in two plays. Conversion: Brown kick. 42-18 49-18 FOURTH QUARTER 55-18 Phillips 15 run Drive: 22 yards in six plays.

Set at Florida zz. Higniigntea Dy Anthony 93 kickoff return Conversion: kick failed. 62-24 Eric Stokes, who started the first two games of the season at cor-nerback and then moved to free sae-ty after Michael Booker emerged, made one of three interceptions against Wuerf feL "The secret to our defense is everybody plays with a lot of heart," said Stokes, a junior who has di-played all of his during an injury-plagued carer. "Like us, I'm sure their first 15 plays were scripted, so we were going to see their best and then just had to tighten up the screws." Time left 11:06 8:10 1:17 14:28 12:42 9:13 3:46 2:40 0:08 2:21 0:52 0:01 8:25 4:31 up by Holbein recovery of fumble a run. Florida Offense Rushing No.

Yds. Ave. Elijah Williams 6 6 1.0 Danny Wuerf fel 9 -37 Terry Jackson 4 4 1.0 Reidel Anthony 2 -1 Passing No. Co. Yds.

Int. Danny Wuerffel 31 17 255 3 EncKresser 7 3 42 0 Receiving No. Yds. Chris Doering 8 123 Ike Hilliard 6 100 Reidel Anthony 2 40 Jerome Evans 1 5 Terry Jackson 1 10 Travis McGriff 2 19 Defense Tackles UT AT TT Lawrence Wright 2 7 9 AnthoneLott 4 2 6 Ben 4 5 9 Mike Harris 1 1 2 Fred Weary 2 2 4 Demetrlc Jackson 12 3 Mike Peterson 14 5 1 Teako Brown 3 6 9 Johnie Church 1 1 2 James Bates 6 4 10 Jason Bartley 0 11 Dexter Daniels 4 8 12 Willie Rodgers 0 1 1 Johnny Rutledge 18 6 Keith Council 2 4 6 Mark Campbell 1 0 1 TimBeauchamp 0 11 EdChoster 3 3 6 David Barnard 0 3 3 Interception returns No. Yds.

Teako Brown .1 6 AnthoneLott 1 0 Punting No. Yds. Ave. Robby Stevenson 4 165 41.3 Punt returns No, Yds. Reidel Anthony 1 -6 Kickoff returns No.

Yds. Jacquez Green 2 48 Reidel Anthony 6 195 2 25 the first half. Nebraska's defense, which had five sacks for 24 yards in losses in the first half, stuffed Florida the next two times and Brown added two field goals sandwiched around a 42-yard interception return for a touchdown by Michael Booker to put Nebraska ahead 35-10 at halftime. "Last year, we wore Miami down in the fourth quarter," Peter said. "This year, we may have worn them (Florida) down in the second quarter." Florida was held to minus-one yard of total offense and just one first down in the second quarter as Grant Wistrom, Chad Kelsay, Farley swept in from the outside of the line and defensive tackles Christian and Jason Peter, Scott Saltsman and Jeff Ogard constantly caved in the middle of the Gator line.

As further evidence of Nebraska's defensive domination, Wuerffel managed to complete just one pass to Doering in the second quarter. He didn't find his favorite receiver again until Nebraska had a 42-10 lead with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. "I give great credit to our defensive coaches," Osborne said. "We did some things we haven't shown before. The pressure was generally good and the coverages, in man-toman and zone, were good.

"Florida got some yards and did some good things on offense, but we got the pressure on Wuerffel to throw him out of rhythm," he said. The Huskers, with just one loss in the last three seasons, could challenge to be among the best of all time, according to some observers. Osborne wasn't going to argue too hard against that thought. "This three-year run and we played well enough to win three national titles losing to Florida State 18-16 in 1994 Orange Bowl) in a row has been remarkable. I'm glad it's over.

I'm ready for a vacation." Design NC95-OH (Black Shirt) 475-6182 to order your Nebraska sportswear and receive a Nebraska Spirit catalog featuring the special 1994-1995 National Championship products. Design NC95-09 (White Shirt) Individual statistics nrimaroc Hi irinn thn cernnH ni lartpr ranked Nebraska Tuesday in the braska then spread the field with five wideouts for the first time this year and Frazier took off on a 32-yard run that included breaking three tackles on his way to the 16-yard line. Frazier then pitched to freshman Ahman Green on Nebraska's first option pitch of the game, for a seven-yard gain to the five. Brian Schuster burst through the middle for a four-yard gain and Green finished the drive with a one-yard dive behind Clester Johnson to give the Huskers a 22-10 lead with 9:13 left in NUDetermined Continued from Page 1C On defense, Nebraska made a shambles of what had been called the most advanced, most dangerous offense in college football. The Gators finished with just 269 yards of offense, including minus-28 yards rushing, thanks mostly to seven quarterback sacks and 12 runs of less than three yards.

Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel, who set an NCAA record for passing efficiency this year, said the pressure was too much. "We had success but they did a good job of getting pressure," he said. "They came a lot and came from different spots. We didn't get everybody blocked." The Huskers racked up seven quarterback sacks for minus 40 yards on Wuerffel, who also had a season-low of 17 completions for 297 yards and one touchdown. It just wasn't supposed to be a blowout.

"I thought it would be down to the wire," Osborne said. "It was one of those nights and we happened to hit them right. "Anything else?" Top-ranked Nebraska completed a sweep of 25 consecutive victories, a second straight national championship with a victory unpredecented in the previous five matchups of unbeaten and untied bowl teams. About the only thing not in Nebraska's favor was a strutting, long-striding run by defensive tackle Christian Peter that was ruled down before he made his march in the Florida end zone late in the game. "Oh, this is great," Peter said as he was swept away by the fans who swarmed the field following the game.

"But they called back my 98-yard run (after Nebraska stopped a point-after try by Florida, and Peter scooped up the ball) and I almost had a heart-attack at the 10-yard line. "Maybe we can check the tape," he said with a laugh. Nebraska wasn't laughing to start the game. The Huskers got an early taste of Florida's passing offense when Danny Wuerffel and his favorite receiver Chris Doering combined for four completions for 56 yards to set up an opening field goal. The Florida 23-yard field goal by Bart Edmiston put Nebraska behind for only the second time this season.

But Nebraska, the leading rushing team in the country, rolled into the lead three minutes later. After grinding out 39 yards on the ground, Frazier rolled to his right and threw back to his left to hit Phillips on a new play. Phillips then raced to the end zone and teammates Aaron Graham and Aaron Taylor threw finishing blocks for the touchdown with 8:10 left in the first quarter. Florida regained the lead on a 12-play, 54-yard drive that included a 26-yard pass from Wuerffel to Reidel Anthony to the Nebraska 3-yard line. Two plays later, Wuerffel slipped over the goal line from the one to give the Gators a 10-6 lead with 1 17 left in the first quarter.

The Huskers quickly bounced back when Phillips, who gained 105 yards in the first half, tore through the middle of the line, then Juked two would-be tacklers and outran the rest on a 42-yard touchdown run with the second quarter 35 seconds old. a if fern- A FlnriHa fnaf Qtouo Qni irrior of the No. Gators' 62-24 loss to Fiesta Bowl at Tempe, Ariz. Nebaska's defense, which limited Florida to 124 yards in the first half, then tore through the Gator line for back-to-back sacks by Terrell Farley from the left, then Jamel Williams from the right the latter for a safety and a 15-10 Nebraska lead. The Huskers took the free kick and with a 34-yard return by Clinton Childs, set up another quick scoring drive.

This time, Frazier, lining up in a three-point stance similar to a fullback, then walked to the line. Ne unit Design NC95-03 (Red Shirt) T-SHIRTS 100 cotton heavyweight short sleeve t-shirts $14.00 2 for $25.00 SWEATSHIRTS 9oz. heavyweight sweatshirts $28.00 2 for $45.00 Design NC95-07 (White Shirt) Design Inot Kicron ml I Itm action i Nor twI Twj iNTHtnaiTMiaLnivl tm -A fciV a il i. UN HSU IHniMM top Many sm College ll 1 NEBRASKA SPIRIT 1120 'I' STREET LINCOLN, NE 58508 SPECIAL STORE HOURS. Jan 3 thru Jan 6 9am 9pm Normal Business Hours Begin January 7th.

Mon-Sat 10:00 6:00 Sun new sportswear products wtswioltioe sirrivino flnilvt iiriuiu hi i rnfy Nebraska Offense Rushing No. Yds. Ave. Lawrence Phillips 25 165 6 6 Joel Makovicka 2 4 2.0 Tommie Frazier 16 199 12.4 Ahman Green 9 68 7.6 Clinton ChiWs 3 14 4.7 Brian Shuster 1 4 4.0 Jeff Makovicka 6 32 5.3 Damon Benning 1 3 3.0 Brook Berringer 1 1 1.0 James Sims 2 35 17.5 Billy Legate 1 1 1.0 MattTurman 1 -2 Pawing No. Co.

Yds. kit Tommie Frazier 14 6 105 1 Lawrence 10 0 0 Receiving No. Yds. Jeff Makovicka 1 8 Brendan Holbein 1 33 Clester Johnson 2 43 JonVedral 1 5 Lawrence Phillips 1 16 Defense Tackles (IT AT IT TonyVeland 0 2 2 Terrell Farley 4 4 8 EricWarfiled 1 0 0 Tyrone Williams 112 MikeMinter 4 15 Eric Stokes 0 0 0 Michael Booker 3 14 Jamel Williams 2 13 PhdEHis 3 3 6 Christian Peter 1 12 Jay Foreman 2 13 Scott Saltzman 10 1 MikeRucker 10 0 JerodTomich 12 3 Jason Peter 112 Grant Wistrom 3 2 6 Interception returns No. Yds.

Michael Booker 1 42 Eric Stokes 1 11 TonyVeland 1 -3 Punting No. Yds. Ave. Jesse Kosch 1 36.0 36.0 Punt returns No. Yd.

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